South Wales Police’s current Deputy Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan will take over from Matt Jukes who is set to become Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Mr Vaughan, who currently has responsibility for the day to day running of the force, transferred from North Wales Police in 2016. He was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable of South Wales Police in December 2019.

The appointment will renew the debate raised by HM Inspectorate on whether forces should recruit more from outside their organisations for top posts.

 But knowledge of the force and its neighbour, and having the contacts that go with it, are clearly an advantage.

The fluent Welsh-speaker began his policing career in 1996 with North Wales Police. He served the communities of North Wales across a number of roles for 20 years, working up to the rank of Chief Superintendent.

As well as his daily responsibilities, he is also deputy chair of the UK Police Counter Corruption Advisory Group and chair of the South Wales Local Resilience Forum. With Wales in a separate lockdown to England and the COVID-19 crisis set to continue well into 2021, that lead role will be crucial for the force.

He is also the UK Police lead for Facial Matching (Identification), supporting the national development and use of facial recognition technology by the police forces of England and Wales.

Mr Vaughan is the Welsh lead for gender equality and was recognised for his work in this area by the International Association of Women in Policing in 2019 with the HeForShe award. 

Alun Michael, Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales, has put him forward as the preferred candidate subject to confirmation by the Police and Crime Panel for South Wales on 3 November.

He was selected from a final group of three Deputy Chief Constables.

Mr Michael said: “The three candidates who were short-listed demonstrated high levels of competence and vision. Jeremy Vaughan came through all those elements of the process as being the stand-out candidate.

“Despite the difficulties created by an unremitting period of tough financial cuts – and the financial challenges have not gone away - Matt Jukes has continued the journey aimed at developing South Wales Police into one of the leading forces in the UK.”

He added: “In recommending Jeremy Vaughan for appointment, I am confident that we have the right person with the right skills and commitment to lead South Wales Police through the challenging times ahead.”

Deputy Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan said: “It has been privilege to work alongside Matt Jukes as his deputy and with the support of the Police and Crime Panel I look forward to leading a fantastic team of officers and staff who are so committed to keeping South Wales safe.”