Gloucestershire’s new interim chief constable Maggie Blyth’s first task is to find and appoint a deputy and a chief of staff as she seeks to stabilise the force following recent high profile suspensions.

Ms Blyth, 59, took up her new role last week and has been seconded to the constabulary from the College of Policing where she is deputy chief executive.

Her appointment follows the suspension of Chief Constable Rod Hansen and chief of staff Gary Thompson pending an inquiry by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

The force has also been without a deputy chief constable since the retirement of Shaun West in June this year.

As the disciplinary investigations are expected to take a considerable amount of time, Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson is looking to appoint a temporary chief constable to lead the force.

This will be done via a competitive recruitment process and Ms Blyth says she will be among those “throwing her hat in the ring”.

“I wanted to do the right thing for policing, which is to stand in for a force that had a particular need,” she said.

“I live in the vicinity of Gloucestershire and I was able to make it all work. My role and my background probably fitted well for Gloucestershire.”

She says she has been made very welcome at the constabulary. Having previously been assistant chief constable at Wiltshire Police, Ms Blyth says she knows a lot of officers and staff across the south west.

“That really helps,” she said. “I’ve been out and about meeting officers and staff.”

She has been really reassured that front line officers and staff are continuing with the job despite the recent turmoil at the top of the organisation.

“They’re continuing with the job that they do every day, responding to crime, investigating crime, ensuring that the communities here have the best possible service,” she said. “That’s all continuing very much as business as usual.

“Our performance here is good and we can continue to improve. With some of the financial decisions that we will make over the next few months, it’s right and proper that any organisation and police forces aren’t exempt from this look at efficiencies and effectiveness.”

She explained the process of appointing a temporary chief constable is a “fair and slower process”. “It was a very quick process to find an interim that could start immediately,” she said.

“The temporary process will start pretty much soon, in the next week or two and I will put my hat in the ring for that. But that temporary role will then be as long as the investigation into Chief Constable Hansen takes place.”

Ms Blyth has more than 30 years’ experience as a dedicated public servant. She started in the probation service and then went on to specialise in youth justice, creating the first youth offending team in 1998 and taking a leadership role at the Youth Justice Board from 2000 to 2005.

From 2006 to 2016 she worked for local government child protection services, where she had senior oversight of child protection arrangements, and worked on a number of high profile child sexual exploitation and domestic homicide operations. After completing the College of Policing’s strategic command course, she was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable in May 2019, overseeing local policing and public protection across Hampshire.

In October 2021 she took up the role of National Police Lead for violence against women and girls (VAWG)at the National Police Chiefs’ Council where she was responsible for designing and delivering the first national police strategy for tackling VAWG. She also implemented the first national threat assessment and advising the Government on plans for a new national co-ordination centre for tackling VAWG.