Ian Learmonth QPM is a retired senior British police officer. His final position was the Chief Constable of

Kent Police Kent Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the and approximately 1.8 million inhabitants of Kent, a county in South East England. History On 14 January 1857, a 222-strong 'Kent County Constabulary' was formed under C ...

, from which he retired in January 2014.

Early life

Ian Learmonth was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, Scotland.

Career

Learmonth policed since starting with

Essex Police Essex Police is a territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Essex, in the East of England. Essex Police is responsible for a population of over 1.8 million people and an area of . The chief constable is Ben-Julian Harring ...

in 1974 as a

Police Cadet A police cadet can refer either to a trainee police officer or to a member of a youth organisation in which young people learn about and/or participate in law enforcement and police work. Many police departments in the United States offer police ...

; he joined its regular force as a

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

in 1976. His career in Essex progressed through specialist work as a

police dog A police dog, also known as a K-9 (phonemic abbreviation of canine), is a dog that is trained to assist police and other law enforcement officers. Their duties may include searching for drugs and explosives, locating missing people, findin ...

handler, working with general purpose dogs and the more specialist explosive dogs. He then set on the promotion process being posted as a

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

and later as

Police Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

for

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

division in 1989. His career moved from operational policing to working at the Essex Police HQ in Chelmsford, working on IT projects before being promoted in 1995 as Chief Inspector for Operations back at Harlow. He then worked as temporary Superintendent for the Operations Division (Dog Section, Force Support Unit, Marine Unit, Air Support Unit and Horses). In 1999 he was fully promoted to Superintendent at

Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...

, seeing through critical operations involving a Boeing 747 crash and a hijack. Once again he returned to Harlow as

Chief Superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the United Kingdom, British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief S ...

2000 and then later as Temporary Assistant Chief Constable (Crime). In May 2005 his 28-year career in Essex ended and he returned to his birth country of Scotland as he was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable at

Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, Glasgow City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, ...

. His portfolio at Strathclyde was Operational Support and as such was responsible for Support Services, Roads Policing, emergency planning and other major projects affecting the operational policing of the force. In August 2007 Learmonth returned to England and became Deputy Chief Constable at Norfolk Police. He was responsible for human resources, legal services, professional standards and the force's business performance unit. On 5 July 2010 Learmonth succeeded Britain's first black Chief Constable, Michael Fuller, as Chief Constable of Kent Police.

Retirement

In January 2014, Learmonth retired from policing and was in turn succeeded by the current chief constable of Kent, Alan Pughsley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Learmonth, Ian British Chief Constables Living people People from Edinburgh Scottish recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Year of birth missing (living people)