Acting chief constable wants whistleblowers to come forward
Northamptonshire’s acting chief constable has said he wants any staff who may have ‘concerning’ information about his disgraced predecessor to come forward.
By Sarah Ward
Northamptonshire’s acting chief constable has said he wants any staff who may have ‘concerning’ information about his disgraced predecessor to come forward.
Nick Adderley, 57, was sacked from the force in June due to a string of dishonest claims he made on a CV which he submitted to secure the top job in 2018.
After his initial suspension in October, his deputy Ivan Balhatchet stepped up to the role of chief constable, and is in place until the police, fire and crime commissioner advertises the job.
In an interview with NN Journal last week, following a review of what went wrong in the vetting and employment processes to allow Adderley to slip through the net, Ivan Balhatchet said he wanted staff to have more confidence to report any issues they had concerns about.
Asked whether there are any other matters that needed to be investigated in relation to Nick Adderley’s five year term in charge of the force he said:
“We have got to give the confidence to staff to come forward to us to report any other misconduct or wrongdoing. I know officers and staff have spoken to journalists about concerns so I’ve got to get over to my officers and staff to come forward if they have any other concerns.”
When we put to him anecdotal evidence we had heard from former Northants Police staff who had told us that whistleblowers had in the past been ignored or moved sideways, he said:
“That won’t happen with me as chief constable. I want people to have the confidence to use our reporting systems because we have put in place a new confidential reporting system called Integrity. We are running our standards campaign now; I’ve increased my resources in our professional standards unit and the vetting unit; we’ve published and commissioned this review, but I know there is a long way to get people to trust that. This is a unique situation. A chief constable being dismissed is extremely rare. The circumstances around this are bizarre.”
Following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police officer, the Home Office commissioned a review in 2022 which included looking at the police force’s ability to detect and deal with misogyny. The review found ‘a culture where misogyny, sexism and predatory behaviour towards female police officers and staff and members of the public still exists’ citing incidents such as senior ranking male officers pursuing junior female officers for sex.
Northants has had to deal with its own high profile case of misogyny after the former police, fire and crime commissioner called the county’s chief fire officer a ‘bitch’ in a private meeting with other male firefighters. He stood down after widespread condemnation of his language.
We asked the interim chief constable whether the force was a ‘meritocracy or a boys club’.
He said:
“It’s not a boy’s club. I’m the chief constable. I’m not in any club.
“I think any organisation this size will have pockets of problems with misogyny. We have got to improve behaviours. We have just run a whole standards campaign and I hope people saw me speak out against the commissioner when he made those abhorrent comments. I want everyone to feel they are treated well in Northants police and can thrive here. Do I think there is more work to do, of course there is and that’s what I intend to do with my team.”
Ivan Balhatchet began his policing career in Northants and after working for several years at the Metropolitan Police, he returned to Northants in 2022 to become Nick Adderley’s deputy. He said he had kept in touch with Nick Adderley up to the hearing in order to check on his welfare, but has not spoken to him since, and said he will never speak with him again.
He said he felt ‘let down’ by his former boss.
He said:
“There are a lot of different emotions from officers. I knew Nick Adderley for 18 months in all. He hasn't explained to me what has happened and why. I will never know. This is my home force, my home county and I don’t want to see anything done to tarnish its reputation and lose the confidence of the public. It’s sad. I feel let down. But we do have to draw a line.”
With Adderley’s departure and his own temporary promotion, he has now assembled his own senior team, with internal staff rather than advertising externally.
Ash Tuckley, who has been an officer in Northants since 2004, has been temporarily promoted to deputy chief constable, with Adam Ward and Emma James becoming temporary assistant chief constables, moving up from chief superintendent. He says Ash Tuckley was the only person in the force who had the qualifications to step up to deputy.
Ivan Balhatchet said:
“I wanted continuity in the leadership team. People who knew Northamptonshire Police and where we need to get to.”
The Crown Prosecution Service is currently assessing a report sent to it by the Independent Office for Police Conduct and will decide whether Nick Adderley will face criminal charges. He is also one of the officers under investigation by Staffordshire Police relating to possible fraud connected to the maintenance of police vehicles. Northants Police’s professional standards department has also started an inquiry into the sale of bikes that belonged to the Bike Safe programme.
Take it from someone who has first hand experience of the consequences - if you're going to whistleblow in NorPol do so very discreetly and very anonymously.
Mind you, if everyone gets it off their chest there'll be no one left in PSD, never mind the wider force.
Situation is "Bizarre" said Balhatchet! "Concerned about Nick Adderley's welfare" like Cllr Gonzalez have said before that is the Bizarre part. Why? Because by now everybody knows the truth about Adderley. Yet you have Balhatchet who wants his staff to come forward as "whistle-blowers". Too late in the day! The public are now very aware of the corruption in Northants Police force. Balhatchet has done nothing to correct that image. The facts that he internally promoted officers within the existing force instead of externally advertising speak volumes. What he should have done is contracting an independent firm to do a Due diligence on the Northants police instead of handing over a seven page of report that is absolutely meaningless and badly written.
Once a public office is tarnish in such away, it is almost impossible to recover. Respect and trust is gone! In my opinion.