Senior leaders

Jo joined Sussex Police in 2018 as Deputy Chief Constable and became the force’s ninth Chief Constable in July 2020. She is the first female Chief Constable in the history of Sussex Police. Jo is the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for Roads Policing, she has always had a strong belief that the effective policing of our roads will reduce crime and save lives.

Jo’s career in the police spans nearly 28 years, during which time she has undertaken a wide variety of roles. These have predominantly been operational, both in uniform and within Child and Adult Protection Units, CID and as Firearms, Public Order and Critical Incident Commander.

Jo started her policing career in Norfolk in 1993, serving up to the rank of Chief Superintendent. She then transferred on promotion to Kent as Assistant Chief Constable in 2014. Throughout her career she has been committed to taking a preventative and proactive approach to policing – working closely with partners. Her strong belief is that there are very few circumstances where policing alone is the answer.

As Deputy Chief Constable in Sussex, Jo was responsible for the effective and efficient running of Sussex Police, and delivering the services that communities expect and deserve. She has been pivotal in ensuring that additional investment into the force has bolstered operational policing and delivered visible results. This includes new proactive Tactical Enforcement Units, an increased pan-Sussex Rural Crime Team and Local Resolution Teams, which protect and support victims of domestic abuse. Jo has also overseen investment in additional PCSOs, Roads Policing officers and has driven the recruitment of more police officers, as well as investment in the Force Contact Command and Control Department. 

On becoming Chief Constable of Sussex, Jo set out three clear priorities:

• To protect communities
• Catch criminals
• Deliver an outstanding service to victims and witnesses

This is underpinned by a professional, healthy, diverse and inclusive workforce that take pride, and are valued, for the work they do.

Dave started his career in Fife Constabulary in 1996 prior transferring to Police Scotland during police reform in 2013. Throughout his career he has worked in mainly detective roles at every rank covering Major Crime, Organised Crime, Public Protection and Local Crime.

In 2020 having successfully completed the Strategic Command Course he moved to the Metropolitan Police (MPS) as Commander for Specialist Crime. As Commander in the MPS he led on homicide, organised crime, gangs and gun crime.

In July 2022 Dave joined Sussex Police as Deputy Chief Constable.

Simon has 28 years’ service having commenced his career in Essex Police working in rural communities before moving to the Met Police specialising in firearms within SO19. Following several years as an operational firearms officer, he transferred back to Essex Police to lead Neighbourhood Policing in Basildon before moving to head up crime reduction initiatives across the force. He then became the District Commander for Basildon, co-chairing the Community Safety Partnership whilst also deploying as a Hostage and Crisis Negotiator. Returning to the Met, as a Chief Inspector he moved into the world of protective security within Diplomatic Protection, looking after the armed operations across Government and foreign embassies and consulates. He returned to SO19 as the Chief Firearms Instructor where he worked with a range of partners and other emergency services to develop the Met’s operational firearms capability alongside the wider UK’s wider more specialist capabilities.

During the Olympics, Simon was a Tactical Firearms Commander before swiftly moving onto a full-time role as a Strategic Firearms Commander, commanding pre-planned and spontaneous firearms operations including Counter Terrorism, crime in action and large-scale events. Simon then trained and deployed as a Public Order Commander, performing the role of Bronze, Silver and Gold Commander.

Simon then took up the role of the Greenwich Borough Commander before becoming the South East BCU Commander in 2018 where he led the successful merger of Lewisham, Greenwich and Bexley Boroughs to form the South East BCU.

In July 2020 Simon became a Commander in Specialist Operations, with responsibility for the Security portfolio, covering Protective Security Operations and delivering the Protect strand of the Government's CONTEST strategy and Aviation Security covering London airports. Simon also held the organisational wide responsibility for the Met’s estate and its physical security strategy alongside being the Met’s lead for CBRN.

IN May 2022, Simon moved to Sussex Police where he leads on the joint operations for Surrey and Sussex Police, whilst also leading on behalf of Chiefs’ Council for all UK matters relating to Aviation Security & Airport Policing.

Simon is a member of the Forward Institute and is passionate about pursuing the agenda of responsible leadership and the development of leaders both in and outside of policing. He is passionate about driving change in organisational culture and have been a senior sponsor within the Met for leading work in support of improving inclusivity, diversity and equality. Simon holds a Masters degree in Risk, Crisis and Resilience Management (Merit) with the University of Portsmouth.

Simon is enjoys hiking and hill walking, road and trail running and taking part in cross country and triathlon events. He has an interest in military history and toured extensively around Europe vising historic sites. He also has a passion for American Football and is currently training to be an official having played extensively throughout the 1980s and 90s and almost made it to US College level - but that is another story.

Tanya is the Temporary Assistant Chief Constable for local policing in Sussex, being responsible and accountable for policing across the divisions of Brighton & Hove, East and West Sussex, along with Public Protection, Criminal Justice and Custody. She is passionate about preventing crime, working in collaboration with partners, and tackling crimes that cause the highest harm in Sussex.

Tanya joined Sussex Police in 1997 and has worked across a number of departments and disciplines including response, CID, proactive investigations, intelligence and led a collaborated change programme. In recent years she has been a senior investigating officer, was the head of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, and is an accredited strategic firearms commander. Her most recent posting was a divisional commander for East Sussex.

She has recently finished a masters in Applied Criminology and Police leadership which has focused her attention to ensuring that what we do is evidence based.

Clare is an Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) and leads the South Region Integrated Policing (SERIP) programme.

SERIP is a four-force funded programme identifying opportunities where the forces involved (Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and Thames Valley) would be better off working together, introducing new programmes of work and seeking to ensure the public are protected and staff and officers are better supported. SERIP also ensures that the four forces are able to speak with one voice on national programmes and issues of shared importance to all.

In addition, Clare is the SRO for the Surrey and Sussex ERP Programme. This programme is ensuring that our pay, duties, HR and finance systems are upgraded in both forces to ensure that they are fit for purpose, resilient and robust.

Clare graduated from the Strategic Command Course in March 2019 having passed Senior PNAC in November 2018. She previously worked for Hampshire Constabulary for 17 years in a variety of roles from research and analysis to Head of Performance. Most recently Clare was the Head of Organisational Learning, identifying opportunities to prevent repeating mistakes and learning from innovative and outstanding work that keeps the public safe and helps the lives of those who work with us.

Prior to working for Hampshire, Clare worked as an employment and education policy researcher/advisor in the House of Commons, the Employment Department and the University of Sussex.

Adrian is responsible for all People Services across Surrey Police and Sussex Police – this includes HR, Shared Business Services, Learning & Development and Occupational Health. He has worked for the police service for over 26 years, mainly in roles within Sussex Police which have included Divisional HR Manager roles as well as Head of HR Services and the Lead for Occupational Health and Wellbeing across both Surrey Police and Sussex Police. In addition Adrian is the NPCC Lead for the Job Related Fitness Test, Vice Chair of the CIPD Police Forum and a member of the Police Clinical Governance Group. Adrian is a Chartered Member of the CIPD and holds a BSc(Hons) degree from Manchester University.

Outside of work, Adrian is a keen tennis player, playing regularly and acting as a Team Captain for his local Club. He also enjoys walking, cycling, gardening and travelling.

Justin joined Sussex Police in 1997 when he was posted to Brighton & Hove Division. He spent 16 years there working on several departments including response, investigations, neighbourhoods and operations.

On promotion to Chief inspector Justin became the District Commander of Chichester later adding Arun to his geographic responsibility. He became head of Firearms, protective security and the Gatwick Airport Commander on promotion to Superintendent and whilst there became the chair of the UK airport commander group.

His proudest moment was also his toughest, leading the initial response to the Shoreham Air Disaster. Justin is a Strategic Firearms Commander (SFC) and a Specialist SFC managing high threat crime responses and major operations anywhere in the UK.

When not at work Justin is a huge Tottenham Hotspur fan and enjoys spending time with his family or relaxing by a lake fishing.

Biography to follow

Kris joined Sussex Police in 2003 and started his policing career as a Response officer on Arun and Chichester Districts, and over the years served in a number of roles on West Sussex Division before becoming a District Commander. In more recent years, Kris has been in detective roles within CID and Public Protection, and is currently Detective Superintendent for Brighton and Hove Division having responsibility for CID, CIT, Coroner’s Officers and the Missing Persons Team.

Alongside his role, Kris has a number of other interests and skills including being the force thematic lead for Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime, and is a Tactical Firearms Commander and Post Incident Manager.

Kris lives in West Sussex with his wife and son, and with an enjoyment of outdoor pursuits including trail running and surfing likes being so close to the sea and hilly countryside including the South Downs.

Katy joined Sussex Police in 1997 and her first posting was in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Her career has predominately been within front line operational policing including Response, Neighbourhood Policing and Operations, and she has worked equally in Brighton and East Sussex.

Katy is also a Gold and Silver Public Commander and has policed many of the largest operations in Sussex including Brighton Pride and Lewes Bonfire, and took command of the policing response to the unlicensed music event in Steyning in June 2021 resulting in the largest number of arrests in a decade.

In addition to Katy’s divisional role, she is the force lead for Wellbeing; Prevent; and Chair of the Superintendents Association. Katy is passionate about ensuring that our staff are aware of all the amazing services available to support wellbeing and resilience, ensuring they can deliver an outstanding service to their communities.

Katy also lives in East Sussex and in her spare time, enjoys walking her dog along the coast, sea swimming and spending time with her family.

Adam was born and raised in Sussex, and is the Superintendent responsible for delivering Local Policing services across East Sussex Division, incorporating Response, Neighbourhoods and Operations policing. 

Working closely with the Detective Superintendent for Crime, Adam supports the Divisional Commander to help ensure the East Sussex team can protect our communities, catch criminals and deliver an outstanding service to our communities.

In addition to his main portfolio Adam is the Force Race Equality Champion, the Force lead for Robotics Process Automation and the PALS 2022 Programme Director, as well as being an accredited Tactical Firearms Commander.

Till (yes an unusual name, but less so considering his part-German heritage) started his career with Sussex Police in 1993 on patrol at Eastbourne. Although he loved response work he moved to CID in 1998, and has been a detective at all ranks almost continually since then, and across many fields – Child and Public Protection, Serious Organised Crime, Economic Crime, Major Crime, Intelligence.

Currently Till is Crime and Operations Superintendent for East Sussex Division, where he is responsible for CID, Misper Teams, CIT, ADDER and Discovery. He is a PIP3 SIO, a Post Incident Manager, Disaster Victim Identification Senior Identification Manager, TFC undergoing accreditation, and the Drugs Portfolio Lead for Sussex Police.

Till’s concern for officers' wellbeing lead to him becoming the Sussex Investigators Wellbeing Lead. A good proportion of his spare time is spent cycling, swimming and running to enable him to pursue his passion for triathlons.

After joining Sussex Police in 1993, Di worked as Response PC in Brighton where she spent her first four years. She stayed in Brighton on promotion to Sergeant in 1997 and then moved to Uckfield. In 2002 Di was promoted to Inspector where she took up a post at Gatwick Airport. After having her daughter in 2003, Di moved to Operations Command in charge of the force Dog Unit – a job that she was passionate about, bringing the Surrey and Sussex Dog Unit together to support both forces with specialist dog resources. After 10 years in this role she moved to support the Change team and then onto head of Licensing for the force. Throughout this time Di was a Public Order Commander.

In 2019 Di was successful in promotion to Chief Inspector where she joined the Force Command and Control department. In 2020 Di joined East Sussex as District Commander for Eastbourne and Lewes, leading the divisional response to Covid-19 which highlighted the importance of neighbourhood policing. She is also an accredited Tactical Firearms Commander.

Di is passionate about the wellbeing of staff and chairs the Mental Health Working Group to enable staff to manage their mental health and get support where needed. She was instrumental in the introduction of Wellbeing Dogs with her Police Wellbeing Dog Milo, offering a time for staff to feel calm and relaxed.

Jay is the policing commander responsible for the local policing of Hastings and Rother districts. He leads the local Neighbourhood Policing Team consisting of both police officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who are dedicated to protecting our communities, catching criminals delivering an outstanding service in the locality.

Alongside his current role, Jay is also an accredited Detective and the Chairman of Sussex Police Race Equality Network. He has recently taken up the role coming from a background of managing investigations, child exploitation and missing persons , demonstrating his dedication to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our community.

Biography to follow

Chief Supt Hodges has returned to the force as Divisional Commander for West Sussex after spending 12 months on a secondment with the National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in London where he was the Head of the Operations Unit with responsibility for a range of issues including the resourcing of national mutual aid for large scale events and operations.

He began his career in policing 26 years ago as a response PC based in Bognor Regis, before going on to work through the ranks in a variety of roles within West Sussex, Brighton & Hove and Operations Command.

Among his proudest moments are working on the 2012 Olympics and command roles for both the Labour Party Conference and the Lewes Bonfire Celebrations.

“Throughout my service there have been lots of changes in society and internally within policing. However, what has remained consistent is our core mission to protect our communities, catch criminals and deliver an outstanding service to victims, witnesses and the wider public.”

Chief Superintendent Hodges is born and bred in West Sussex where he still lives with his family. In his spare time he enjoys walking his dog and, when time allows, getting out on his bike.

Alex (she/her) is the Superintendent for Local Policing across West Sussex, which spans both Response and Neighbourhood policing. Working closely with the Detective Superintendent for Crime (investigations), Alex supports the Divisional Commander in delivering the force objectives; to protect our communities, catch criminals and deliver and outstanding service to our communities.

Alongside her Local Policing role, Alex is an accredited Senior Investigating Officer and supports the collaborated Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team SIO cadre.

Andy is the Detective Superintendent - Head of Crime & Operations across West Sussex, which includes CID, Missing & Exploitation and Community Investigations Team (CIT). Working closely with the Superintendent for Local Policing, Andy supports the Divisional Commander in delivering the force objectives on a divisional level; to protect our communities, catch criminals and deliver and outstanding service to our communities.

Andy has a breadth of experience in policing having performed senior roles in reactive, proactive and covert investigations; Response and Neighbourhood policing; Senior Investigating Officer for Serious and Organised Crime; and currently on the force Cadre as a Tactical Firearms Commander.

Sarah has been a Sussex Police officer for 13 years. During this time she has worked in a variety of roles across West Sussex including Response, Prevention, Critical Incident Inspector and a number of strategic and performance positions.

Sarah is a busy working Mum to two small children and when she’s not juggling work and children or walking her excitable Weimaraner dog, she enjoys hiding at the gym and socialising with family and friends.

Nick joined Leicestershire Police in 1993, working on Response policing and in CID. He transferred to Sussex as a Sergeant in 2004, first at Brighton custody, then steadily moving closer to home in West Sussex.

He has worked on a variety of roles in Response and within neighbourhood policing, recently working as the Response and Operations Chief Inspector for West Sussex. He worked on a particularly interesting year seconded to Operation Signature, contributing towards our response to vulnerable victims of fraud. He is an active Public Order commander for a variety of operations in Surrey and Sussex.

Nick is married to Emma, a teacher, and they have two sons. The three males in the house thoroughly enjoy taking out Nick’s small boat in Chichester Harbour and the Solent – sadly Emma gets seasick even thinking about it.

Nick is the District Commander for Crawley and Mid Sussex. He leads the uniformed Policing Teams consisting of both police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) who are dedicated to protecting our communities, catching criminals and delivering an outstanding service in the locality.

Nick’s priorities are to provide an effective partnership problem solving led approach to serious violence and anti-social behaviour, making best use of all available powers to divert offenders from causing harm and preventing people from becoming victims of crime.

Nick is passionate about leading effective engagement with the many different communities in Crawley and Mid Sussex, to fully understand their issues and priorities and to empower them to work in partnership to respond to them.

Alongside his current role, Nick is also an accredited public order Bronze commander and Force Critical Incident Manager.