'˜My door is always open to ideas' promises preferred candidate to be new Cambridgeshire police chief constable

Nick Dean and Jason Ablewhite at the confirmation hearing

Nick Dean was speaking to members of the Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel at his confirmation hearing yesterday (Monday, July 30) after being recommended for the top role by police and crime commissioner Jason Ablewhite.

It follows the announcement of current chief constable Alec Wood that he will retire in September.

DCC Dean, who is currently Deputy Chief Constable for Norfolk Constabulary, told panel members: “My values are dear to my heart in terms of how I police and I want to connect with this community.

“With over 26 years in Norfolk I learned a lot about both city and rural policing and I gained a vast amount of experience networking and making communication work, all of which I believe will stand me in good stead here in Cambridgeshire.

“I look forward to the challenge of the next five years very much and I want to let the people of Cambridgeshire know that I am here to work for them and that my door will always be open to ideas. Together we can make policing our communities much better for the people of Cambridgeshire.”

DCC Dean was joined by Mr Ablewhite at the Noel Cantwell Suite at Peterborough United’s ABAX Stadium.

Mr Ablewhite said: “If you consider his long service, distinguished career, his movement up the ladder of promotion and the accolades he has received along the way, then I think that the people of Cambridgeshire have the best, the most competent man for the position of chief constable.

“There we two applicants for this job and I have to say the level of applications was very high indeed.”

He added: “I would just like to say a huge thank you to outgoing chief constable Alec Wood.

“We should all pay tribute to him for the way in which he has served Cambridgeshire over the past two and a half years, which incidentally is longer service that the national average for a chief constable - although I’ll be looking to keep Nick, if accepted, for much longer than that!

“I know that Alec feels we have chosen the right successor in Nick Dean, and when I spoke with his chief constable over in Norfolk he said to me ‘don’t take my Nick away from me’, so that is a real endorsement for Cambridgeshire.”