Honours and awards
 | Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal | 2002 |
 | Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | 2012 |
 | Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal | 2010 |
William Alan Skelly QPM was the Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police in England. Skelly joined Devon and Cornwall Police from the Police Service of Scotland in December 2013 where he had been Silver Commander for Safety and Security for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. [1]
Skelly started his police career with Lothian and Borders Police in 1990 and held a number of posts across the force area. In 2004 Skelly completed the Strategic Command Course at the Police Staff College, Bramshill.
In 2005, he was seconded to New Scotland Yard leading the Immigration Crime Team within the Covert Policing Branch of the Metropolitan Police, followed by nine months in charge of the operational strands of the UK campaign targeting criminals involved in the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation. His work in this area was recognised by the award of his second Chief Constable's commendation.
On his return to Lothian and Borders, he led on a number of national policing issues including Liquor Licensing, CBRN, Public Protection and Ports Policing.
In 2007 he participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program organised by the US State Department and was made an honorary Colonel of Kentucky.
In 2009 Skelly took up post as head of HM Inspector of Constabulary [2] for Scotland by Royal Warrant, [3] on the retirement of Paddy Tomkins HMCIC. He was seconded from Lothian and Borders Police where he was serving as temporary Deputy Chief Constable, having previously been the Assistant Chief Constable (Crime and Operational Support).
Skelly was appointed as Silver Commander for the Safety and Security operation in support of the 2014 Commonwealth Games at the inception of the Police Service of Scotland.
In December 2013 Skelly was appointed as Deputy Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, replacing previous Deputy Chief Constable David Zinzan who retired at the end of November 2013.
Skelly was appointed the role of Chief Constable of the Lincolnshire Police in November 2016, with the role to begin in the February of the next year. Crime commissioner Marc Jones selected Skelly after the announcement that Neil Rhodes would retire in 2017. On 18 June 2020, it was announced that Skelly would retire from policing after 31 years, stepping down on 18 December 2020. [4]
Skelly was awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) in the 2021 New Year Honours. [5]
He grew up in the small Angus village of Auchterhouse, was educated locally at Newtyle and Harris Academy, and went on to read mathematics and physics at the University of Edinburgh. Skelly also has a Diploma in Applied Criminology from Cambridge.
He is the chair of Police Sport UK Volleyball Section, [6] and in January 2009 reached the personal milestone of playing in a European match, as a member of the Great Britain Police Team competing against Finland. [7]
| | Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal | 2002 |
| | Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal | 2012 |
| | Police Long Service and Good Conduct Medal | 2010 |
John Arthur Stevens, Baron Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, is a former Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, having served from 2000 until 2005. From 1991 to 1996, he was Chief Constable of Northumbria Police before being appointed one of HM Inspectors of Constabulary in September 1996. He was then appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Met in 1998 until his promotion to Commissioner in 2000. He was a writer for the News of the World, for £7,000 an article, until his resignation as the hacking scandal progressed.
Devon and Cornwall Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial counties of Devon and Cornwall in South West England. The force serves approximately 1.8 million people over an area of 3,967 square miles (10,270 km2).
Patrick Tomkins QPM was appointed HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland by Royal Warrant in March 2007 and retired from the post in April 2009. He was formerly the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police, which he joined in 2002 and was succeeded by David Strang. He initially joined Sussex Police in 1979 and in 1993 transferred to the Metropolitan Police Service as a Chief Superintendent. He served as divisional commander at Paddington Green before being promoted to Commander to attend the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1997, where he took the prize for the best research paper that year. He served as Commander (Crime) for the then 1 Area (Central), where he led a multi-force search for the serial rapist Richard Baker, and was the day shift Gold commander for the policing of the occupation of the Greek Embassy in London in 1999. In 1999 he was seconded to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner.
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary was the territorial police force responsible for Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland until 1 April 2013.
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 are covered by Humberside Police instead.
Maria Wallis QPM was the Chief Constable of the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in the United Kingdom from 2002 until 26 July 2006. A native of County Fermanagh, she commanded the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary which included responsibility for 3,500 police officers, more than 2,000 civilian staff and 362 police community support officers. Chief Constable Wallis commanded the largest geographical police area in England, extending 180 miles from the Dorset and Somerset borders in the east to the Isles of Scilly in the west.
David James Reid Strang is a former senior police officer and public servant from Scotland. He has worked in a number of senior roles in the criminal justice sector, most notably as Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons for Scotland.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Robert Maunsell Bacon was a British police officer.
Patricia Ferguson Gallan QPM is a British former police officer who served as Assistant Commissioner Specialist Crime and Operations of the Metropolitan Police in London. She previously served as Deputy Assistant Commissioner from 2012 to 2015, Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police from February 2006 to 2012, and also served as temporary Deputy Chief Constable of the force from October 2009 to February 2010. She was the most senior female ethnic minority police officer in British history. She retired from the police service in August 2018.
Sir John Ritchie Inch CVO CBE QPM was a police officer who was successively Chief Constable of three Scottish police forces.
Stephen Otter is a former chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, a post he held from joining the force in January 2007 until his departure in March 2012. He was succeeded by Shaun Sawyer.
John Cottingham Alderson was a senior British police officer and expert on police and penal affairs.
Police Scotland, officially the Police Service of Scotland, is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist services of the Scottish Police Services Authority, including the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency. Although not formally absorbing it, the merger also resulted in the winding down of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.
Dame Lynne Gillian Owens, is a senior police officer in the United Kingdom. She was made interim Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service in September 2022 before being confirmed as that role's permanent holder in February 2023, the first-ever such female holder.
Philip Michael Christopher Gormley, is a British former senior police officer. He is the current CEO for EACH based in Norfolk, England.
Sir Lawrence Byford was an English police officer who served as Chief Inspector of Constabulary from 1983 to 1987. His inquiry into the failings of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation by West Yorkshire Police earned him the description "the man who changed the face of modern policing" because it "led to fundamental changes in the way serial killer investigations would be carried out in future across the world".
Sir Hugh Roy Graham Cameron, QPM was HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland from 2002 to 2004.
Sir Iain Thomas Livingstone, is a Scottish retired police officer who served as Chief Constable of Police Scotland. He was previously Deputy Chief Constable Designate of the force. He was named as the next Chief Constable on 15 August 2018 and took up office formally on 27 August 2018. He retired from Police Scotland in August 2023.
Shaun Sawyer QPM was the chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police until 2022, having been appointed in February 2013 to succeed Stephen Otter.
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