Gwent Police is taking the opportunity during National Volunteers’ Week to celebrate the roles volunteers play, to thank them for the contribution they make and to announce the appointment of the new Special Constabulary Chief Officer.
National Volunteers’ Week takes place between the 1st and 7th of June and Special Constabulary Chief Officer Richard Jones takes up his post at the beginning of the week.
Forty seven year old Richard is originally from the Rhondda. He joined the Royal Navy at 17 and, over the last 30 years, has held a variety of senior posts in the Legal and Justice Sectors in Wales and more recently with Border Force at Heathrow Airport. He has managed several large scale projects, including one to transform Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff into a Centre of Excellence. He currently runs a Change Management Consultancy.
For over ten years Richard has been a Special Constable with the British Transport Police rising to Special Chief Inspector for Wales and Western Sector. He has also worked as the Civil Contingencies Advisor to St John Cymru and has planned for all major events in Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium.
In his spare time, as a police trained motorcyclist, he still volunteers as a motorcycle responder with St John Ambulance.
Richard said: “Having worked in the Gwent area on operations with British Transport Police I look forward to leading the Gwent Police Special Constabulary and working closely with regular officers and the Senior Management Team”
Assistant Chief Constable of Gwent Police Lorraine Bottomley said:
“It’s the 30th year of Volunteers’ Week, when members of the public are encouraged to get involved in volunteering and organisations celebrate the work of their volunteers.
“It is timely for us to announce the appointment of our new Special Constabulary Chief Officer Richard Jones who I am confident will lead us forward to begin a new chapter for the Special Constabulary. Richard has an impeccable record of strategic, management and practical experience of Wales and indeed Gwent. I look forward to working closely with him for the good of the community and the Special Constabulary.
“All of our volunteers including members of the Special Constabulary, Cadets and Community Volunteers are truly valued and appreciated members of the policing family and we are extremely grateful to them. The Special Constabulary alone put in well over 26,000 hours last year and I look forward to highlighting their work as well as the other volunteers throughout the week”
Police and Crime Commissioner Ian Johnston said:
“I am delighted to welcome Richard to Gwent Police Special Constabulary. He knows as well as anyone the extra dimension that volunteers bring to policing and I am looking forward to working with him in the future.”
To find out more about national volunteer week please go to www.volunteersweek.org.uk.
