Otter misses out on Scotland Yard role

STEPHEN Otter, the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, has failed in his bid to win the post of Deputy Commissioner at Scotland Yard.

Mr Otter was one of four candidates who applied and were shortlisted for the job – second-in-command of the largest police force in Britain – after Sir Paul Stephenson's promotion to Commissioner.

Interviews for the £204,075-a-year position in the Metropolitan Police were carried out on June 15 and 19.

However, Mr Otter told yesterday's meeting of Devon and Cornwall Police Authority that his name had not been forwarded to Home Secretary Alan Johnson. "You know that I had applied to become Deputy Commissioner in London," said Mr Otter. "Many of you will now know that I didn't get that.

"I spoke to the permanent secretary this morning and I'm very pleased with the feedback. I am genuinely happy to be Chief Constable here – there was no sense at all of me being unhappy here.

"I am not fishing or looking for other jobs at all. It was very much about managing my professional career and as far as I am concerned, I am staying in Devon and Cornwall as long as you will have me."

Mr Otter joined Devon and Cornwall Police on a five-year contract in January 2007. When the Western Morning News revealed that he was a candidate for the post, the then chairman of the authority, John Smith, said: "The fact that Stephen Otter's name is being linked to this role is a testament to the difference he has made to policing in Devon and Cornwall over the past two years."

He added: "We would be very sad to lose Stephen."

Staff at all levels expressed similar sentiments, particularly given the progress that has been made under Mr Otter's leadership and his ambitious strategy to make Devon and Cornwall a top 10 force in the country by 2012.

He arrived from Avon and Somerset , where he was Deputy Chief Constable, in the wake of Devon and Cornwall's failed job evaluation project which led to staff protests, embarrassing reports into what had gone wrong and, ultimately, the immediate retirement of his predecessor, Maria Wallis. Mike Bull, who was elected as chairman of the authority at yesterday's meeting, said: "I am sure everyone in this room sympathises with your position personally and shares your disappointment with the outcome.

"Having said that, I am sure everyone in this room, in fact I know everyone in this room, is extremely pleased that you are staying with us and are committed in the way you described.

"Personally, I am extremely relieved."

Others in the frame for the Deputy Commissioner's post are believed to include Britain's highest-ranking black police officer Mike Fuller, the Chief Constable of Kent, as well as the current Acting Deputy Commissioner, Tim Godwin, and the Chief Constable of Merseyside, Bernard Hogan-Howe.