Chief constable retires after 32 years in the police

Mr Nixon took on the role - the highest post an officer can hold in Leicestershire Police - in March 2022, following the retirement of the late Simon Cole.

His departure will bring to an end a 32-year policing career, which the force said had been ‘defined by a commitment to service, innovation and collaboration’.

Mr Nixon described his career as being ‘very varied, interesting and, sometimes, challenging’.

As a detective, he said, he was involved in crimes ranging from ‘homicide to kidnaps to some fairly horrific crimes’.

Trust in policing:

Following a number high-profile crimes by serving officers, there is a national discourse around a weakened trust in policing.

Mr Nixon said ‘what I see probably 98-99 per cent of the time is people who come to work to do an absolutely sterling job to serve the communities and they're good people. These are good people that put their lives at risk’.

By focusing on the negative and not celebrating officers’ hard work, Mr Nixon said, he believes that we could be heading for ‘a major problem’ in policing.

He added: “We will find ourselves in a position where people don't volunteer to do (the job).

“There are many, many officers who feel that the job is very, very demanding, very tricky, very challenging, and they're not recompensed either financially or through the support from the public (...) That worries me."

Calls for more bobbies on the beat:

Public comments often include concerns over a lack of visible policing in communities.

Mr Nixon commented: “Back in the '90s, (crime) was all 'what was visible and on the street'.

"Now you've got what's invisible - hidden crime, safeguarding and cyber crime.

“We need to do all of that mission, so we're visible in the right places. We're preventative in cyberspace and we're responsive to where there is online crime. We need to deliver all of that within the finite number of resources that we've got.

“Do I think we will get to a position where we've got police on every street corner? Not unless there's massive investment in policing.

“What I think we are starting to do, which I think is probably the good thing, is being really, really efficient and making sure that officers are in the right place at the right time.”

Huge increase in demand for police resources:

The number of crimes forces have to deal with has doubled since Mr Nixon started policing in 1993, he said.

Crimes have also ‘significantly’ increased in complexity, with the rise of technology bringing about new offences.

“We've seen the explosion (of technology), which has led to technology that (has) enabled crime - online crime, stalking, harassment," said Mr Nixon. "You've seen organised crime, from global to local, and you've seen in the middle of that a whole explosion of safeguarding requirements.”

He added: “Social media will pick up and amplify things very quickly. You end up with people adding an opinion from outside of the area, and often that opinion is ill-informed, not factually accurate, and that can be really unhelpful.”

Mr Nixon said that because of that, he believed the police also needed to work online to get “trustworthy” information out to the public, including by collaborating with the Press and influential community figures.

Need to engage more with the public:

Public engagement with policing has also ‘shifted’, Mr Nixon feels. There was more of a ‘sense of entitlement’ now, he said, and people’s level of tolerance had decreased. This had led to a ‘24/7’ culture with people ‘expecting an instant response’.

“Being able to manage expectations, I think, is a challenge not just that policing will suffer, but I think every business will suffer," he said.

Shortfalls in police funding:

Mr Nixon said he believed there was a ‘resource shortfall’ in policing which, when coupled with the ‘expanded mission’, was creating a ‘capacity gap’.

Leicestershire Police has been making efficiency savings for 15 years, he added, but spending cuts and further reductions in the coming years were ‘likely’. He said he hoped that reformed ways of working, through more automation and a greater role for technology, would help bridge the gap.

Lack of space in prisons to house criminals:

Mr Nixon has led on government attempts to try to resolve the prisons crisis, including the early release of some prisoners.

He commented: “When people aren't in prison or they're given an alternative [sentence], we've got to be really clear that it's a really robust management [...]. You can't see that risk being passed back onto the police. If people are in the community and they're not in prison, then there's a greater risk of further offending. Those people that are in the communities need to receive effective offender management."

One last message:

Mr Nixon added: “I've got so many good memories. The thing about policing is everybody's fixated on the negative.

“Actually, I look at it and I think I have had the privilege of helping so many people over 32 years. I have categorically shaped and influenced people's lives to the positive. I take great pride

“My message to them is thank you for their support. Thank you for the friendship I've received from so many different people, so many different communities over the years through so many difficult and challenging times, and I leave with so many fond memories of them.”