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’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.

Jo is the national NPCC lead for Children and Young People and sits as a Trustee for the charity Embrace (Child Victims of Crime).  She is a keen advocate for fitness, regularly signing up for events including marathons and long bike rides to fund raise for various charities, including The Beachy Head Chaplains who save hundreds of lives every year. She also volunteers at ground level for a couple of local charities.

Jo is married to Andrew and is also the proud owner of a very exuberant, and much loved rescued Mountain dog, whom she adores.

Julia joined Sussex Police in 2019 as ACC for Local Policing, becoming Temporary Deputy Chief Constable in June 2020 and Deputy Chief Constable in August 2020.

Before joining Sussex Police, Julia spent over 26 years in Kent Police, which provided a wealth of experience across both crime and uniform roles in Local Policing, Criminal Justice and Public Protection. She served as Divisional Commander for West Division, as well as a Strategic Firearms and Gold Public Order Commander.

Now residing in Kent, Julia grew up in Sussex and her family still lives in the county. She enjoys spending time visiting the coast and villages, along with the South Downs.

Julia enjoys running and belongs to a local running club. She also enjoys travel, and socialising with her husband, friends and family.

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 currently seconded from Hampshire Constabulary as Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) to lead 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 together and seeks to ensure the public are protected and staff and officers are better supported.

Clare's single and simple aspiration for SERIP is to make the most of collaboration opportunities where frustrating barriers can be removed and make operational and organisational policing fit for the 21st century.

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.

Peter has over 30 years’ experience in local government finance and senior management, having held Chief Finance Officer, Resources Director and Head of Paid Service roles.

His portfolio, across both Surrey and Sussex forces, includes Finance, Procurement, Fleet, Estates and Facilities.

A CIPFA qualified Accountant, he has previously been s151 Officer at three local authorities - Malvern Hills, Gloucester City and Bristol City Councils. During his career he has become renowned for both service transformation, and for implementing alternative service delivery models, including innovative partnerships with the private sector.

Peter also holds the role of Senior Responsible Officer for the Policing National Commercial board, which has recently launched BlueLight Commercial Ltd – a wholly-owned Police company, providing commercial and procurement expertise to all forces, to deliver cashable savings and to improve value for money for policing.  He is also a champion for the ‘Achieving Finance Excellence in Policing’ programme, having sat on the initial steering group and is co-chair of the programme’s People development sub group.

Outside of work, Peter is married with three children, all of whom play in bands. With his eldest son based in London, his daughter in Bristol and his youngest son at home, he spends much of his spare time at weekends as an unpaid roadie! He is also a member of his local parish council and a qualified motorcycle instructor, teaching learners on a voluntary basis at a local scheme.

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 manging 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.

Nick is the District Commander for Brighton and Hove. 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 and delivering an outstanding service in the locality.

Nick’s priorities for neighbourhood policing 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.

Alongside his current role, Nick is also an accredited public order Bronze commander and Force Critical Incident Manager. Nick is passionate about leading effective engagement with the many different communities in Brighton and Hove, to fully understand their issues and priorities and to empower them to work in partnership to respond to them.

Profile to follow.

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.

After joining Sussex Police in 1999, Sarah worked as a PC in Hastings on Response, where she spent her first three years. She then moved to Brighton & Hove Division and was promoted to Sergeant in 2004 and then Inspector in 2007. Although Sarah spent time in other uniformed roles, her passion was for Response policing and she remained as a Critical Incident Inspector in Brighton until moving back to East Sussex Division in 2012.

Sarah gained experience in a detective role, which gave an insight into a different area of policing before returning to be a Critical Incident Inspector in East Sussex. In February 2018 she was successful in being promoted to Chief Inspector and later that year took up her current role as District Commander for Hastings and Rother, where her career had started 20 years previously.

Alongside her current role, Sarah is an accredited Tactical Firearms Commander having spent time as the Force Incident Manager and running spontaneous firearms incidents, to now commanding planned firearms incidents across the force area.

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.

Profile to follow.

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.

Shane Joined Sussex Police in 2005 and worked in our Response teams for 9 years before moving to Headquarters in Lewes where he created our combined risk assessment process, allowing us to share more information with our partners in order to better safeguard our most vulnerable people.

He has worked across other areas of Sussex, before becoming Head of Digital Transformation for both Surrey Police and Sussex Police, responsible for creating the forces’ new collaborative Mobile Policing initiative.

Alongside his current role, Shane is also an accredited Tactical Firearms Commander and the force lead for Engaging Communities.