The City of London is beginning its search to find a new Commissioner to replace Ian Dyson who has announced his retirement.

The Square Mile's force has revealed Commissioner Dyson is standing down after six years in charge in a planned retirement. He will leave at the end of the year.

It is a unique role with significant responsibility because of its position as the force overseeing the UK’s financial centre and the National Lead Force for fraud and economic crime.

He carries out this role in collaboration with the Home Office, law enforcement agencies, the private sector and the other 43 forces.

Commissioner Dyson is NPCC lead for Information Management. He also helped negotiate a deal that will enable staff to move to a new purpose-built headquarters that will share space with the Courts Service.

But there have been challenges too; the Action Fraud national reporting centre which is outsourced to a commercial provider but part of CoLP's remit, received bad publicity over the number of investigations being carried out and the way calls to report fraud offences were handled.

The service now receives 800,000 reports a year. It accounts for one third of all crimes, and is of increasing importance nationally, but only receives a fraction - just under 2% - of police resources to tacke it.

The City of London Corporation’s Police Authority Board (PAB) will begin a recruitment drive for a new Commissioner next week. The role carries with it a slalary in the region of £176.000.

Chairman of the City of London Police Authority Board, James Thomson, said: “Ian has led the City of London Police with outstanding dedication and commitment to deliver the best in policing.

“Under his leadership, the force has become widely recognised as a world leader in protective security and economic crime and he has made a significant contribution to ensuring that the Square Mile is a safe place to work, live and visit – indeed, the safest city area in the world.”