Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary announces first home-grown chief constable

Scott Chilton will take over the hotseat in February from the departing Olivia Pinkney who announced her decision to leave policing earlier this year after 31 years service. The force’s crime panel ratified the selection of the new chief constable after crime commissioner Donna Jones chose him as her preferred candidate earlier this month.

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Chief constable Chilton said: ‘I am honoured to have been chosen and look forward to working with police and crime commissioner Donna Jones to keep our communities safe and deliver the best policing services we can. It’s a real privilege to be the first home grown chief constable in the force where I began my career in policing, and to be given the opportunity to lead the dedicated and committed officers, staff and volunteers.’

Ms Jones said: ‘I am delighted that Scott will be the next chief constable and I would like to take this moment to congratulate him. I know he is an ambitious officer with an outstanding record, who brings with him a wealth of experience from his extensive policing career.’

Chief constable Chilton joined Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary in 1992, working his way through uniformed policing before joining CID in 1996 and spending the next 16 years as a detective progressing through the ranks to chief superintendent. His time there included a tour of duty overseas in Afghanistan in 2008, where he led the tackling of corruption and police reform on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

He has also previously headed Hampshire Special Branch, been a crime and operations commander in western Hampshire, and led the Joint Operations Unit across the Hampshire and Thames Valley areas. He worked his way up to assistant chief constable at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, where he was strategic lead across all investigations teams, custody, the wider criminal justice system and intelligence. He joined Dorset Police in July 2020 as deputy chief constable and was then promoted to chief constable in July 2021.

Chairman of the force’s crime panel, Simon Bound, said: ‘Scott Chilton is an excellent candidate. Hampshire and the Isle of Wight will have a new chief constable of very high calibre.’