SUPERINTENDENT Ian Arnott has been named as the new East Division Commander with responsibility for an overview of Policing services in Inverness, Badenoch, Strathspey and Nairn.
Supt Arnott takes over from Supt Andy Cowie, who was recently promoted to Chief Superintendent in charge of Support Services following the recent retiral of his predecessor Laurie Stewart.
Supt Arnott will be based at Burnett Road Police Station in Inverness and his new team will include Chief Inspector Andrew MacLean, who formerly headed up the Professional Standards and Conduct department.
Chief Inspector MacLean will replace Chief Inspector Julian Innes, the previous Inverness Area Commander, following his promotion to Superintendent and new position as North Division Commander based in Wick.
Originally from Nairn, Ian joined Northern Constabulary through the cadet scheme in 1975 before joining the regular ranks in 1978. After serving an initial post in Dingwall. He served at various other posts in Ross-shire before transferring to the Western Isles in 1985. He returned to Dingwall in 1989 where he remained until 1991 when he was promoted to Sergeant and posted to Lerwick, Shetland.
After eight years in his Sergeant’s post he was promoted to Inspector in 1999. In 2000 he transferred back to Inverness to maintain his Inspector rank with the Performance Service Unit. After a year in that unit he moved to Inverness Area Command at Burnett Road where he continued his Inspector role.
He moved to Headquarters as Inspector in January 2003 within the Operational Support Service Unit before being promoted to Chief Inspector with the unit in April that year. The Chief Inspector’s role within Operational Support, gave Ian responsibility for areas such as firearms, dog section, emergency planning, road safety, media and road policing.
He was promoted to Superintendent in September 2007 and moved to Wick to take up the position of North Division Commander, with responsibility for Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Sutherland and East Ross.
Superintendent Arnott said: “I am very much looking forward to returning to Inverness and the challenge of working in Northern Constabulary’s East Division.
“It is an area I was brought up in and lived in for a number of years. It is one of the safest areas to live in the UK, although I am aware of the policing challenges which exist. I look forward, with my team, to addressing these issues.”
His team at East Division includes Badenoch, Strathspey and Nairn Area Commander, Chief Inspector Donald Henderson, Chief Inspector Jim Neill and newly appointed Inverness Area Commander, Chief Inspector Andrew MacLean.
Chief Inspector MacLean is also an experienced officer with 30 years police service, over 20 of these in the Highlands. He joined Strathclyde Police in 1979 and transferred to Northern Constabulary in 1986.
He has served in various roles in different parts of the Northern Constabulary area which include Skye, Inverness, Mallaig and the Western Isles. He leaves his post as Head of the Professional Standards and Conduct Unit where he served for almost 5 years.
Prior to that he served as Area Commander in the Western Isles. His other posts have included Force Operations Centre Inspector, Crime Prevention Officer for Inverness and Nairn and Staff Officer to the Chief Constable. He also has previous experience working as a constable in Inverness and served as an Inspector instructor at the Scottish Police College.
Chief Inspector MacLean said: “I am delighted to have been appointed to this challenging post and I am looking forward to working with my new colleagues in delivering a quality police service to the people of Inverness. I am encouraged by the professional standards of the police officers and staff serving Northern Constabulary in the Inverness Area Command. The previous divisional management team have initiated and taken forward a lot of good police work. I would hope to bring my own particular skills and experience to the role, which will help me enhance the problem solving policing approach that Northern Constabulary applies to its work in the community.”
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Chair: Jim Ferguson
