FORMER Met Police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe has been drafted in to help Devon and Cornwall Police sort out some of its challenges. 

News of his recruitment as a strategic advisor came from Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez who also said a decision would be made on the suspended chief constable this year.

Ms Hernandez says Lord (Bernard) Hogan-Howe, who was commissioner of the Metropolitan Police for six years until 2017, will work with Devon and Cornwall for “short period of time”.

Ms Hernandez, who is also appointing a deputy on a salary of £59,000 to support her, told Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Panel the force needs ‘someone substantive’ to run it.

The service is currently led by acting chief constable Jim Colwell, while chief constable Will Kerr remains suspended. He has been accused of serious sexual offences and denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Kerr joined the force in 2022, and has continued to be paid his £170,000 a year salary since being removed from duty in July 2023 while investigations are ongoing.

Ms Hernandez told the panel she is waiting for the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland, where Mr Kerr previously worked, to tell her if the case against him is being pursued.

The commissioner, who expressed her frustration over the ‘limbo’ situation when she was re-elected for a third term in May, said: ‘The biggest thing that is within my power is to solve is the chief constable’s position and I will be making a decision at some point this year on that.

‘We need someone substantive to be running the force at this stage.’

The recruitment of Lord Hogan-Howe follows a report published this month by the Inspectorate of Constabulary which rated the Devon and Cornwall force as requiring improvement or inadequate in half of the areas it examined.

Ms Hernandez said the force was struggling on everything the public would expect to be ‘bread and butter’.

In common with many police and crime commissioners, Ms Hernandez is appointing a deputy after admitting she needed help in overseeing the service.

She has chosen former Torbay Conservative councillor and mental health professional Mark Kingscote for the political role, despite the police and crime panel recommending against because he ‘did not meet the minimum requirement for the role’.