Chief constable apologises after misconduct warning

North Yorkshire’s top officer, Grahame Maxwell, 50, was given a final written warning after he made his admissions at a secret hearing in the county on Tuesday.

He faced a misconduct panel after he helped a relative, and also a relative of his deputy, gain an advantage in a force-wide recruitment exercise last year.

In a personal statement released on Wednesday, Chief Constable Maxwell said: “Over the past 24 hours I have reflected on the outcome of the hearing into my actions during the recruitment campaign in February last year.

“I would like to reaffirm my deep and sincere apology to the residents of North Yorkshire, my officers and my police staff.

“The last thing in the world I would want to do is undermine the reputation of North Yorkshire Police.

“I have been Chief Constable for almost four years. North Yorkshire Police has been my life during that time.

“I am immensely proud to be the Chief Constable of NYP and immensely proud of what the people who make up our police force have achieved in that time.

“I want to reassure the public of North Yorkshire and the City of York that it is very much business as usual. Every day our officers, staff, special constables and volunteers are out there doing an excellent job, dealing with many difficult and challenging situations.

“My role now, is to continue to lead North Yorkshire Police and work with the members of the Police Authority to continue our good work and deliver the best possible policing service we can to the communities of North Yorkshire.”

“I would like to reaffirm my deep and sincere apology to the residents of North Yorkshire, my officers and my police staff.”

Grahame Maxwell became the first UK chief constable in 34 years to face a disciplinary hearing when he admitted breaching professional standards.

His legal representatives confirmed the chief constable had received a final warning which will remain in force for 18 months, saying he “accepts that his conduct has been discreditable to the force and amounts to gross misconduct”.

Chief Constable Maxwell faced five counts of breaching police conduct regulations and abusing his authority. He denied the charges, which challenge his honesty and integrity, until Monday of this week.

The case against Mr Maxwell centred around a recruitment exercise to the North Yorkshire police force last spring.

A phone bank was set up to filter candidates and restrict applications to the first 1,000 suitable applicants. However, the system crashed after 350,000 calls were made – most of which were unable to get through.

When the lines were restored, Mr Maxwell helped man the phones. But an inquiry by the Independent Police Complaints Commission found he had rung a relative who had been unable to get through.

The entire recruitment process was later scrapped due to financial cutbacks.

Two members of the North Yorkshire Police force have already been dismissed for gross misconduct over attempts to circumvent the same recruitment process for their own gain. They submitted forms without going through the initial stage of registering their interest by phone.