Lauren Poultney is a British police officer and currently the Chief Constable of

South Yorkshire Police South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England. The force is led by Chief Constable Lauren Poultney. Oversight is conducted by Mayor Oliver Coppard. History The force was fo ...

Early life and education

Poultney attended

Edge Hill University Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England. The university, which originally opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, was the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, befo ...

from 1992 to 1995. She holds a BA (Hons) in Communication Studies with Community and Race Relations, and an MSc in Police Leadership and Management Studies.

Career

In 2021, Poultney was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable and she was appointed Chief Constable in June 2021, succeeding Stephen Watson (who went onto to lead

Greater Manchester Police Greater Manchester Police (GMP) is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester in North West England. , Greater Manchester Police employed 6,866 police officers, 3,524 memb ...

). Poultney is the first woman to hold the position. In November 2022, following a report from the Police Inspectorate stating that senior officers in police forces across the UK had failed to tackle predatory officers, Poultney said that she planned to "root out" sexual abusers from the police force. In June 2023, the Peter Thatchell Foundation ran a campaign asking UK police forces to apologise for historic homophobia and failing the

LGBTQ+ community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individua ...

; Poultney issued an apology on behalf of South Yorkshire Police in an email to local LGBT youth charity ''SAYiT'', making South Yorkshire the third UK police force to respond to the campaign. In December 2024, speaking to the

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

following riots the previous summer, Poultney said that South Yorkshire Police's riot response was 'insufficient' stating "Knowing what we know now, of course there are things we would have done differently."

Personal life

Lauren Poultney is married and has one child.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poultney, Lauren British police chief officers British women police officers Alumni of Edge Hill University British Chief Constables People from South Yorkshire Year of birth missing (living people) Living people