Lee Freeman is a retired British police officer who served as Chief Constable of Humberside Police until July 2023. Under the leadership of Freeman, Humberside Police improved from being the lowest performing force in the country, to the highest rated in 2022, receiving six Outstanding and two Good grades in their HMICFRS PEEL inspection. During this time, the force were also awarded the Gold medal at the annual Public Sector Transformation Awards category "UK Police Force of the Year" in both 2022 & 2023. On 1 August 2023, Lee Freeman retired as the Chief Constable of Humberside Police and was subsequently appointed as His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

Career

Freeman joined the

City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force#United Kingdom, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle Temple, Middle and Inner Temple, Inner Temples. The for ...

in 1993, transferring to

Lincolnshire Police Lincolnshire Police is the territorial police force covering the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire in the East Midlands of England. Despite the name, the force's area does not include North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, which ...

in 1996. Having applied for the Accelerated Promotion Course in 1999 whilst still a Constable, Freeman was successful and promoted to Sergeant in September 2000. Remaining in Lincolnshire, he gained promotion to Inspector, Chief Inspector and then to Superintendent in 2005. A spell as an Assistant Director at Lincolnshire County Council preceded his promotion to Chief Superintendent as the Divisional Commander for South Division in 2010, with further spells as the Divisional Commander for West Division and also the Head of Local Policing following a major force restructure. In August 2013, he stepped up to Assistant Chief Constable (Local Policing) in Lincolnshire for 18months. In 2015, Freeman successfully applied for the vacant Assistant Chief Constable post in Humberside Police. He stepped up to the role of T/Deputy Chief Constable in February 2017, after the previous chief constable, Justine Curran, retired early when she was advised to consider her position by the Humberside police and crime commissioner, Keith Hunter. Freeman applied for the subsequent vacant Chief Constable job and was duly successful and started as the new Chief Constable in June 2017. In January 2019, Freeman was approached and subsequently agreed to assist Cleveland Police, and was effectively parachuted in to temporarily lead

Cleveland Police Cleveland Police is a territorial police force in England responsible for the policing the boroughs of Middlesbrough and Redcar and Cleveland in North Yorkshire and Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham within North East England. T ...

. The four month secondment arose due to the sudden resignation of Chief Constable Mike Veale. Freeman was awarded the

King's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth countries, most of which now have their own hono ...

(KPM) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

. On 27 April 2023, after six years at the helm, Lee Freeman announced that he would be stepping down as Chief Constable on 31 July 2023. This announcement followed his appointment as His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.

Personal life

Freeman was born in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. He is married with one son. Before joining the police service, he attended Kingston Polytechnic where he gained a BSc (Hons) in Sociology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Lee Living people People from Grimsby Alumni of Kingston University British Chief Constables Humberside Police 1969 births City of London Police officers English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal