Chief officers
Find out about our chief officers.
CC Stephen Watson is amongst the most experienced senior officers in the country, having joined Lancashire Constabulary in 1988. He was appointed to Merseyside Police in 2006 on promotion to Chief Superintendent, where he initially headed up the force's Strategic Development Department. He subsequently served for 3 years as Area Commander for Liverpool North, one of the largest and most challenging Basic Command Units in the country.
In 2011, he was appointed to the Metropolitan Police as Commander for the East Area, with responsibility for all aspects of operational policing across nine London boroughs. This dynamic and diverse area is home to over 2.3 million Londoners, and he held command of 6,250 police officers and staff with a total operating budget of £325 million.
As a qualified Firearms and Public Order Commander, he regularly performed Gold Command roles in a number of high-profile policing operations and critical incidents, including a fatal helicopter crash in central London and in working with partner agencies across East London so as to restore public confidence in the aftermath of the 2011 riots. As a senior member of the 2012 Olympic Command Team, he was awarded the Commissioner’s Commendation in recognition of his role, which involved the planning and delivery of all territorial policing across London throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
In June 2015, Stephen returned to the north of England, having been appointed Deputy Chief Constable for Durham Constabulary, and in July 2016 Stephen took up his appointment as Chief Constable for South Yorkshire Police (SYP). During his tenure, SYP became one of the most improved forces in the country for 3 consecutive years and is today amongst the very top tier of high performing forces.
Stephen became Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police in May 2021.
He is the Chairman of the England Police Rugby Union Football Club. His formal management qualifications include a Master's Degree in Business Administration. In 2019, Stephen was awarded the Queens Police Medal (QPM) for distinguished service.
DCC Terry Woods began his policing career in July 1996 when he joined Lancashire Constabulary as a Police Constable having previously been a Special Constable in Greater Manchester.
He enjoyed a wide and varied career within Lancashire serving the public across many areas in including Burnley, Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool. He has served in several departments including Response, Road Policing & Motorway, Operational Support Unit, Child Sexual Exploitation Teams, Neighbourhood and Change Management.
Terry is an accredited Specialist Strategic Firearms, CBRN, Public Order and Multi Agency Commander and has commanded many large-scale operations over a number of years including firearms and counter terrorism operations, civil emergencies, demonstrations, football matches and security operations. He also led the initial multi agency response in the early stages of COVID pandemic within Lancashire as chair of the Lancashire Resilience Forum.
He was promoted to ACC in 2017 before being appointed as the Deputy Chief Constable in 2019. In 2021 he was awarded the Queens Police Medal for his services to policing being described as an ‘exemplary operational leader’. He is also the NPCC lead for Police Driving.
On 1 September 2021 he was appointed as the Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police.
ACC Matt Boyle joined GMP as Assistant Chief Constable in April 2023 leading on local policing after a 25-year career at Merseyside police where he started in 1998 as a PC in Huyton in the Knowsley borough of Merseyside.
Matt has worked across many roles in Merseyside including the Force Dog Section and overseeing a new leadership framework and police uplift programme, however his primary focus has been across neighbourhood policing – from Neighbourhood Inspector for St Helens and Superintendent for Sefton to Chief Superintendent over local policing.
Matt has also been Public Order Commander for several high-profile incidents across the Merseyside region as well as being an accredited match commander and has commanded high risk football fixtures and worked abroad at several Champions League fixtures.
Lead for Specialist Operations
ACC Wasim Chaudhry is responsible for Specialist Operations across Greater Manchester Police. He was previously Head of the Specialist Operation Branch, and was the acting Gold Commander for Operation Protector, which was the policing operation for the 2021 Conservative Party Conference that was hosted in Manchester.
Wasim started his career over 25 years ago as a Police Constable in Moss Side and has since held a range of posts across the City of Manchester and Tameside. He became a member of the Force Leadership Team back in 2003 and has held responsibility for various portfolios, including neighbourhood policing, operations and volume crime as well as strategic partnership roles working alongside local authorities.
In addition to his core roles, Wasim serves as a Strategic Public Order and Firearms Commander. He has a particular interest in working closely with communities, and was awarded a QPM in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2021.
Lead for Crime
ACC Sarah Jackson started her career in policing with GMP in 1994 as a member of staff, before she became a police officer a year later.
A career detective, she headed up countless complex investigations whilst working in Bolton, Salford, Bury and the City of Manchester - delivering justice for victims in their time of need.
Sarah also worked in GMP's Force Intelligence Branch before being seconded to Manchester City Council Children's Services where she played a key role in making improvements to the early intervention service and how the directorate supports vulnerable people.
She moved to Cumbria Constabulary in 2017 and during her time there she worked as the Head of People, Head of Professional Standards, and as the Commander of Operations & Neighbourhood Policing.
Sarah returned to GMP in February 2022 and holds responsibility for the crime portfolio, which includes serious and organised crime, public protection, forensic services, intelligence and crime investigation.
Lead for Prevention, Criminal Justice and Custody
ACC Colin McFarlane joined GMP in January 2023, leading on Prevention, Criminal Justice and Custody, after a 27-year career in South Yorkshire Police.
Originally from Gateshead in the North East, Colin studied at Sheffield Hallam University and has recently submitted his Masters in Criminology and Police Management at the University of Cambridge. His policing career began as a PC within South Yorkshire Police in 1995. Six years later, he spent 18-months as a Custody Sergeant, before moving to Doncaster as an Inspector in 2003 on a Response team.
Colin then returned to Sheffield working in neighbourhood policing and as a Chief Inspector working across the Force Control Centre and in district policing. Promoted to Superintendent, Colin held several district roles and was then the Director of Intelligence and Operations. More recently, as a Chief Superintendent, he managed the Force Governance and Performance department, HMICFRS actions, custody function and Violence Reduction team.
Colin has been a Firearms Commander for 12 years, recently undertaking Strategic Firearms Command and Public Order qualifications.
Describing GMP as a force that attracts people from far and wide, he was keen to be a part of the journey of improvement after witnessing impressive growth in his previous force. Colin was inspired to transfer after seeing a great opportunity to implement change and best practice in GMP.
Lead for Counter Terrorism Policing in the North West (CTPNW)
ACC Rob Potts joined GMP in 1992, and was appointed Assistant Chief Constable in April 2016. He has worked on a number of divisions and branches including being the Divisional Commander for South Manchester between 2009 and 2014, following a period of time as Temporary Divisional Commander at Salford.
During that time, Rob was a member of the Manchester Community Safety Partnership Board as well as chairing the Manchester Violent Gangs Board. His time at South Manchester involved significant change including the merger of the South Manchester and Metropolitan Divisions and the piloting of a new policing model.
Rob grew up in Greater Manchester and attended school in Bury before studying for an Economics Degree. He subsequently obtained a Masters Degree in Police Management and Leadership from the University of Manchester.
Rob is currently the Chief Officer responsible for Counter Terrorism Policing in the North West (CTPNW). CTPNW is an alliance of forces across the country and the North West forces of Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside and Cheshire form the NW region.
CTPNW comprises around 1,000 staff from across the NW forces who work with the Security Service to protect our communities from terrorism. Rob is responsible for:
- Counter Terrorism - CTPNW and chair of the regional CT Management Board
- National CT - National lead for CT Policing Intelligence
Lead for Force Contact Crime and Operations Branch (FCCO)
ACC Chris Sykes has worked at Greater Manchester Police since 1994.
He is currently responsible for the Force Contact Centre (FCCO) in Greater Manchester Police, having previously led as the Senior Responsible Officer for the Information Services Transformation Programme – a huge programme transforming the way that GMP uses information services to protect its communities. He has a passion for leading change, particularly through the use of new technologies.
Previously, Chris was the Head of Local Policing and Criminal Justice based at GMP's headquarters and was responsible for public service reform, neighbourhoods, confidence and equality, and criminal justice and custody. He is an experienced operational commander. Over the years he has led policing in Bury, Rochdale and Stockport, and previously held senior roles in Manchester and Oldham.
Chris leads the work in GMP to ensure we are the most armed forces friendly police force in the country, recognising the skills our Armed Forces Community bring into the organisation, keeping the UK and many other countries safe.
Chris is a Strategic Firearms Commander and Gold Public Order Commander.
Finance Director
ACO Ian Cosh joined GMP in March 2022, in the newly created Assistant Chief Officer role of Finance Director.
Ian joined GMP from Lancashire Police where he was Director of Resources. In this role he was the Constabulary’s Chief Finance Officer and had responsibility for a wide range of services including, procurement, legal services, information technology, estates, fleet and facilities and was the force Senior Information Risk Owner.
Ian has over 36 years’ experience in public finance including a significant period of that time dealing with policing. He brings experience of working nationally on police financial matters and his influence and experience in policing is highly regarded.
As the Assistant Chief Officer for Finance, Ian has overall responsibility for GMP’s financial position. In addition, he has overall responsibility for Legal Services and is the Senior Information Risk Owner for the force.
Director of IT & Digital
ACO Dougie Henderson was appointed to GMP in the newly created Assistant Chief Officer (ACO) role of Director of IT & Digital in December 2022.
Dougie joins us from Lancashire Constabulary where he was Head of ICT & Digital. In this role he was the Constabulary's technical lead and was responsibility for the delivery of a wide range of IT, digital and bespoke developed services to the business.
Dougie has over 25 years' experience in private sector with a significant period of that time spent in UK Rail. He brings experience of managing large complex IT teams across many different disciplines of IT. This has aided him to design robust, resilient and cost effective IT services, working with both in-house and third party providers in the UK, across Europe (Netherlands, Germany & Czech Republic) and the USA (Atlanta and Louisiana).
During his career, Dougie has delivered several large complex programmes of work, which include a data centre migration between two outsourced partners, creation of a single service desk model across four legal entities, fully outsourced network implementation across the UK and USA, and an SAP ERP implementation to name a few.
Although technically focused, Dougie has a strong commercial background and a passion for customer service ensuring that the customer plays an integral part of any change or new service introduction.
Dougie joins us from Lancashire Constabulary where he was Head of ICT & Digital. In this role he was the Constabulary's technical lead and was responsibility for the delivery of a wide range of IT, digital and bespoke developed services to the business.
Dougie has over 25 years' experience in private sector with a significant period of that time spent in UK Rail. He brings experience of managing large complex IT teams across many different disciplines of IT. This has aided him to design robust, resilient and cost effective IT services, working with both in-house and third party providers in the UK, across Europe (Netherlands, Germany & Czech Republic) and the USA (Atlanta and Louisiana).
During his career, Dougie has delivered several large complex programmes of work, which include a data centre migration between two outsourced partners, creation of a single service desk model across four legal entities, fully outsourced network implementation across the UK and USA, and an SAP ERP implementation to name a few.
Although technically focused, Dougie has a strong commercial background and a passion for customer service ensuring that the customer plays an integral part of any change or new service introduction.
Director of Human Resources
ACO Charlotte Layton joined Greater Manchester Police in March 2023 in the new role of Director of Human Resources.
Charlotte has more than two decades experience as a senior people leader with a background in both the public and private sector. She joins GMP from the NHS, where she was the Director of Human Resources for Salford Royal Foundation Trust for almost five years. At Salford, Charlotte led on the development and implementation of their people and wellbeing strategies and their alignment to the NHS people plan and promise.
Committed to leading sustainable cultural change, modernising policies and procedures, and improving processes through staff engagement, Charlotte is committed to helping GMP become a great place to work and learn in order that we can continue to deliver to the communities that we serve.
Charlotte holds a BA Hons in Retail Marketing, a PG Diploma in Healthcare Leadership and is a qualified leadership coach and MBTI practitioner. In 2017, Charlotte achieved Chartered Fellowship of the CIPD.
