Lincolnshire's new chief constable vows to fight for fairer policing funding

Paul Gibson has pledged to work alongside the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) to advocate for more equitable funding, recognising that Lincolnshire’s police force is the least funded per capita in the country.

Chief Constable Gibson said: “The fact is, we are the least funded force per head of population in the country and I will work alongside the PCC to make sure that we are lobbying for a fair kind of settlement for Lincolnshire’s public.”

The newly-appointed chief constable described taking on his new role as a “proper privilege,” having begun his career with the force as a beat cop in Grantham in 1998.

He continued: “It’s difficult to put into words how pleased I am. I’ve been meeting with lots of people in the first few days, as you can imagine, and there’s so many familiar faces I recognise and many new ones.

“But what I can say is that the feeling of the force when I left, which was a friendly force, committed to duty, service, and public commitment, still remains the same.”

When asked about his policing priorities moving forward, CC Gibson mentioned his intention to foster a force where the public has confidence in the service provided, noting the importance of two-way communication where local communities contribute to shaping the police force.

He said: “I know over the last few years, we’ve seen some terrible atrocities where police officers have abused their position. I know that’s been centred perhaps in the capital, but we know that there will be elements of that throughout all of policing.

“I’ve just done an internal communication to our staff, and there’s three simple principles that I’ve been talking about around leadership expectation.

“Number one is genuine support. We look after our people. Number two is we give them clarity of direction.

“Finally, number three is what we do is expect the highest standards, and that’s in terms of behaviour and performance, and anybody who doesn’t adhere to those standards, I have no hesitation to remove them from the service.”