DEVON & Cornwall Police have appointed two new Assistant Chief Constables to the Force’s Executive team.

Following a nationally advertised and a highly competitive process, Chief Superintendent Nikki Leaper and Chief Superintendent Glen Mayhew will formally start in their roles in February. Both officers have a long service within the force across many disciplines and working across Devon and Cornwall.

Chief Superintendent Leaper is appointed as Assistant Chief Constable for Innovation, Contact and Demand; a role which includes the contact centre for 999 and 101.

Chief Superintendent Mayhew is appointed Assistant Chief Constable for Operations; a role which he carried out during the successful G7 Leaders Summit in 2021.

Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer QPM said: “I am pleased to welcome Nikki and Glen to their new roles within Devon and Cornwall Police.

"They bring with them a wealth of experience and a career in serving the public and those in need.

"They have worked in roles across the force and will bring that expertise and knowledge with them into the executive team.

"They are respected by colleagues, partners and will bring increased focus on delivering operational policing and improved service to our communities and visitors.

"Together with Executive colleagues and the wider workforce, we are intent on delivering the Police and Crime Plan as well as the wider government focus in reducing crime and violence”.

Chief Superintendent Leaper joined Devon & Cornwall Police in 2003 having previously worked in international customer service.

During her policing career she has held a number of roles in uniform, intelligence, business and operations. In 2008, she spent 16 months of her career at the Home Office on secondment.

In 2014 Nikki was invited to be part of the Strategic Alliance. A collaboration programme between Devon and Cornwall and Dorset Police and took on the role of Programme Delivery Manager in charge of implementation. Three years later she moved to Head of Alliance Specialist Operations.

Nikki received a National Special Recognition award from the British Association for Women in Policing in 2017, in recognition of her work with mentoring and coaching others.

In 2019 she successfully passed the National Chief Officer selection process and attended the Strategic Command Course in 2020.

Since then she has carried out the roles of Head of Alliance Operations, Policing Commander for South Devon and in 2021 took on the role of Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Operations, responsible for the Force’s capability for operational policing, specifically including specialist capabilities and strategic policing requirements.

Nikki is a Strategic Firearms Commander, Public Order Public Safety Commander and a Major Incident Commander. She also holds a Masters in Applied Criminology from Cambridge University which focused on evidence-based policing.

Chief Superintendent Mayhew has been with Devon & Cornwall Police since 1993. He has since held Command roles including Director of Intelligence, BCU Commander for South Devon and Commander of Alliance Operations (covering Devon & Cornwall Police and Dorset Police)

He is the South West regional lead for public order, armed policing, roads policing and hostage and crisis negotiation.

Glen was the Police Gold Commander for the G7 world leaders’ summit in St Ives as well as the Devon & Cornwall Police Gold Commander for COVID-19 and the Chair of the peninsula strategic co-ordinating group, co-ordinating the partnership response to COVID-19.

He is the Chair of the Local Resilience Forum overseeing partnership preparation and planning for major incidents and civil emergencies across Devon & Cornwall. He is a qualified Specialist Strategic Firearms Commander, Public Order Public Safety Commander and Major Incident Commander and has previously led the negotiator team across Devon & Cornwall.

Glen has been actively involved as a surf lifesaving instructor for over 20 years and in 2018 he was elected onto the board of Trustees for Surf Life Saving GB.

He is national police lead for Search & Rescue and drowning prevention.