The Executive Team
Durham Constabulary is led by Chief Constable Michael Barton and his executive team:
The team is based at force HQ in Aykley Heads, Durham, but they are all regular visitors to officers and staff in police stations throughout the force area.
They maintain close links with colleagues at the office of the Durham Police Crime Commissioner and work closely with partner agencies, including Durham County Council and Darlington Borough Council.
This helps them to have a clear understanding and appreciation of the issues affecting local communities in County Durham and Darlington, so they direct and shape an effective, responsive policing service.
Chief Constable
Michael Barton
Michael is a proud Lancastrian and
adopted North Easterner who served in Lancashire Constabulary for 28 years
before joining Durham Constabulary in 2008 as Assistant Chief Constable.
He has been Chief Constable since 2012.
Michael has led new ways of tackling
organised criminals with local beat officers and PCSOs through challenging
traditional ways of policing and encouraging paradigm shifts. Durham is now
recognised as a leading force in tackling serious and organised crime as well
as managing offenders. A glance at the most recent HMIC PEEL inspection will
show a police force at the top of its game with an enviable slew of outstanding
grades. He attributes this to inspired and positive staff that have their feet
on the ground and a burning desire to look after victims of crime and
anti-social behaviour. The most often repeated phrase of visitors to Durham
Constabulary is ‘it feels different here!’
He has long been a keen exponent of
problem-orientated policing and integrated offender management, including
restorative justice, and has successfully embedded these concepts in Lancashire
and Durham. Durham has been in the final five initiatives in the Herman
Goldstein Awards for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing in both 2017 and
2018 with both a burglary reduction initiative and a project to safeguard
vulnerable people within the community.
Michael is the National Policing Lead
for Crime Operations and has used this position to ensure British Policing is
in the vanguard of tackling crime on the internet.
He has attracted a degree of media
attention through his advocacy for a ‘grown up’ debate on drugs – challenging
the efficacy of outright prohibition.
Michael was awarded the Queen’s Police
Medal in the Birthday Honours list in 2014. In 2017 he was inducted into
the Evidence-Based Policing Hall of Fame and in 2018 he received the Sir Robert
Peel Medal for Outstanding leadership in Evidence Based Policing.
Michael at his worst has been described
as a maverick and at his best as a maverick. He has enjoyed a few scrapes and
still pinches himself every morning that someone asked him to be a Chief
Constable.
The Chief Constable’s annual salary is
£139,890.
He
does not have any business interests.
Deputy Chief Constable
Jo Farrell
Jo Farrell joined Northumbria Police in 2002 as a Chief Inspector, having previously served within Cambridgeshire Constabulary. In total she has 25 years policing service.
As an Assistant Chief Constable at Northumbria she had responsibility for response and neighbourhood policing as well as the communications department. She was also the force lead for mental health matters.
Her service profile within the police is extensive and varied, working predominantly within operational and neighbourhood duties.
Jo has also performed specialist public order and firearms duties, completing the Gold Commander’s course in both fields, and in January 2013 she completed the Strategic Command Course.
She has extensive experience in the strategic management of high profile events and critical incidents and took up her post as DCC in Durham in mid-November 2016.
“I was delighted to join the team at Durham. I relish the challenge of becoming the Deputy Chief Constable and will work to ensure the constabulary continues to deliver a top quality service to the communities of Durham and Darlington.”
She is married to a retired police officer and has two stepsons and a daughter. Away from work, Mrs Farrell enjoys family life, cooking and keeping fit.
The deputy chief constable's annual salary is £115,383.
She does not have any business interests.
Assistant Chief Constable
Dave Orford
After growing up in County Durham, Dave attended Manchester University gaining a degree in physics before being commissioned into the Royal Engineers.
After leaving the Army he joined his home force in 1995 as a police constable at Consett. Dave has worked in all response and neighbourhood ranks across the county from Peterlee, to Darlington, to Bishop Auckland.
He also spent time in specialist roles within firearms operations, training and professional standards. This included heading up the joint firearms training facility with Cleveland Police.
Prior to promotion to assistant chief constable, Dave was chief superintendent of the tasking and co-ordinating command within the force, encompassing operational police intelligence, planning and resourcing, and corporate support activities.
Dave is very keen on mountain sports and can often be found on his mountain bike in the summer and skis in the winter.
The assistant chief constable's annual salary is £111,249.
He does not have any business interests.
Assistant Chief Officer
Gary Ridley
Assistant Chief Officer Gary Ridley has overall responsibility for finance, information technology, estates, business support and personnel.
He has a background in local government, having previously worked at Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council in the finance and chief executive’s departments, then worked as assistant treasurer at Castle Morpeth Borough Council for ten months before he joined Wear Valley Council as head of finance in 1997.
In 2001 he became strategic director of resource management at Wear Valley and was made acting chief executive in 2008 before moving to Durham in 2009.
His aim is always to ensure that the force provides an effective service which represents excellent value for money, with systems which enable us to have the right people in the right places at the right times.
The Assistant Chief Officer’s annual salary is £109,575.
He does not have any business interests.
Special Chief Officer
Dale Checksfield
The Special Constabulary is headed by Chief Officer Dale Checksfield.
A member of the force executive, he works closely alongside the executive, senior leadership team and partner agencies to deliver an effective Special Constabulary, supporting the needs of the communities of County Durham & Darlington
Dale joined Durham Constabulary in 2009, transferring from Northumbria Police, having served as a Special Constable in South Tyneside policing South Shields, Hebburn and Jarrow
During his career Dale has worked alongside neighbourhood and response teams in the south and west areas as well as performing road policing duties in the Cleveland & Durham Specialist Operations Unit Roads Policing Team
Promoted to temporary chief officer in December 2014 and substantive in December 2015, Dale retains an operational output alongside his leadership role and can often be found across the county supporting response, neighbourhood and roads policing using his skills as a response and pursuit trained driver to support the communities of County Durham & Darlington.
Dale is a member of the executive of the National Association of Special Constabulary Chief Officers (ASCCO) holding the national media, marketing & communications portfolio. Supporting this national role, he is a keen social media user and can be followed on his force account @durhamscchief
Dale juggles a busy family life as a father to two young daughters, with his full-time job as offshore installation manager of an oil and gas production platform in the North Sea. When he has spare time he has a passion for running half marathons, albeit not very effectively.