Simon Byrne was appointed Chief Constable on 1 July 2019.
Simon began his police career in 1982 in the Metropolitan Police, where he pounded the beat in Paddington for over three years
He transferred to Merseyside Police in 1985 where he served over 20 years rising through the ranks to the role of Assistant Chief Constable. He led the force’s ‘war on crime’, seeing crime fall by a record amount in his first year. An architect of new ideas to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour hotspots.
He was promoted to the rank of Deputy Chief Constable in Greater Manchester Police in April 2009, where he served with Sir Peter Fahy. He led the force’s efforts to address a range of performance failings that they had inherited and was threatening draconian Home Office intervention. Simon also led the force work to meet the challenges of austerity under the banner of the ‘Optimus’ programme.
In December 2011 he returned to the Metropolitan Police as Assistant Commissioner for Territorial Policing, holding the largest operational command in Europe. He was responsible for the day to day policing of London’s 32 Boroughs, call centres, criminal justice services and the Safer Transport command. He was part of the team that policed the 2012 Olympic Games and was a member of the Commissioner’s Management Board, driving the strategic direction of the Metropolitan Police Service. He introduced UK policing’s largest performance management process ‘Crime fighters’ and overhauled the local policing of London working closely with the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime. He also chaired the London Criminal Justice Board.
In June 2014, he took up the role of Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary. Working with his Police and Crime Commissioner, they introduced a new policing model in less than 18 months, invested heavily in technology to fight crime and opened up the workings of the force to a number of popular TV documentaries. Their work to fight crime and manage the challenges of modern policing were frequently rated as ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ by the main inspection body HMICFRS.
Simon obtained a Master of Arts Degree with distinction in Police Management from the University of Manchester in 1996 and was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for services to policing in 2016.
He has held numerous national portfolios for Police Chiefs, including the misuse of cannabis, automatic number plate recognition, performance management, the policing of sex workers and prostitution, national air operations and criminal justice and has been a member of the Police Chiefs Council and College of Policing.
He was also a member of the prestigious Sentencing Council for England and Wales in 2016/2017.