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April 20th, 2009, 10:25 PM
Top gardai line up for orde PSNI job
Three from Republic in running for main post
At least three senior Garda |officers are being tipped to toss their hats into the ring to succeed Sir Hugh Orde.
Bookies list the current Deputy Garda Commissioner Nacie Rice — who is experienced in fighting the threat from terrorists — at 18/1 to take PSNI Chief Constable post.
Rice has spent most of his career in the Garda Special Branch waging the undercover war against the IRA and more recently against dissident republican groups before he became Deputy Commissioner last September.
A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Rice has served in both Donegal and Co Louth running undercover operations against subversives and is currently responsible for strategy and change management within the Garda structure.
Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty is also being tipped as a possible successor to Sir Hugh, who announced last week that he would be stepping down as Chief Constable to take up the post of President of the Association of Chief Police Officers. AC Carty led the Omagh bomb investigation in the Republic and is currently on secondment as the police advisor for the Organisation for Security Co-operation in Europe in Vienna.
From Ballymote in Co Sligo, Carty and has served in the Cavan/Monaghan border.
He also conducted the Garda investigation into corruption in Donegal and recommended that six Gardai face criminal charges.
Another senior Garda officer with knowledge of the terrorist picture here is Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings, who is also from Sligo.
Dermot Jennings served in Dublin Castle and at Garda headquarters. But Paddy Power makes Ian Johnston, the current Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, the 3/1 favourite for the post.
His second favourite is Merseyside Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe at 4/1, with Julie Spence — the current Chief Constable of the much smaller Cambridgeshire Constabulary — at 5/1.
One name which doesn’t feature in the bookmaker’s list is Tom Halpin, the Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Constabulary.
But the top Scottish cop is regarded by policing insiders as someone who would be a strong contender if he went for the job.
Sir Hugh Orde has generally won plaudits for his seven years at the helm of the PSNI.
But he suffered his biggest embarrassment as Chief Constable in 2007 when the married dad was revealed to have been having an affair with a divorced Metropolitan Police officer.
Keen runner Sir Hugh and his lover Denise Weston were photographed as they took part in marathons and fun runs.
Sir Hugh and his wife Lady Kathleen separated sometime later following media revelations about the affair and in February last year, Sir Hugh and Weston posed for their first media |pictures.
It also emerged that Ms Weston had moved to Northern Ireland and had joined to the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team.
A spokesman for bookmaker Paddy Power said: “From a betting point of view the race to find Sir Hugh’s successor looks wide open.
“We expect the odds to fluctuate over the weekend as the money continues to pour on the respective candidates.”
Belfast Telegraph
What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Don't care as long as whoever it is can do the job?
Three from Republic in running for main post
At least three senior Garda |officers are being tipped to toss their hats into the ring to succeed Sir Hugh Orde.
Bookies list the current Deputy Garda Commissioner Nacie Rice — who is experienced in fighting the threat from terrorists — at 18/1 to take PSNI Chief Constable post.
Rice has spent most of his career in the Garda Special Branch waging the undercover war against the IRA and more recently against dissident republican groups before he became Deputy Commissioner last September.
A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Rice has served in both Donegal and Co Louth running undercover operations against subversives and is currently responsible for strategy and change management within the Garda structure.
Assistant Commissioner Kevin Carty is also being tipped as a possible successor to Sir Hugh, who announced last week that he would be stepping down as Chief Constable to take up the post of President of the Association of Chief Police Officers. AC Carty led the Omagh bomb investigation in the Republic and is currently on secondment as the police advisor for the Organisation for Security Co-operation in Europe in Vienna.
From Ballymote in Co Sligo, Carty and has served in the Cavan/Monaghan border.
He also conducted the Garda investigation into corruption in Donegal and recommended that six Gardai face criminal charges.
Another senior Garda officer with knowledge of the terrorist picture here is Assistant Commissioner Dermot Jennings, who is also from Sligo.
Dermot Jennings served in Dublin Castle and at Garda headquarters. But Paddy Power makes Ian Johnston, the current Chief Constable of the British Transport Police, the 3/1 favourite for the post.
His second favourite is Merseyside Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe at 4/1, with Julie Spence — the current Chief Constable of the much smaller Cambridgeshire Constabulary — at 5/1.
One name which doesn’t feature in the bookmaker’s list is Tom Halpin, the Deputy Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Constabulary.
But the top Scottish cop is regarded by policing insiders as someone who would be a strong contender if he went for the job.
Sir Hugh Orde has generally won plaudits for his seven years at the helm of the PSNI.
But he suffered his biggest embarrassment as Chief Constable in 2007 when the married dad was revealed to have been having an affair with a divorced Metropolitan Police officer.
Keen runner Sir Hugh and his lover Denise Weston were photographed as they took part in marathons and fun runs.
Sir Hugh and his wife Lady Kathleen separated sometime later following media revelations about the affair and in February last year, Sir Hugh and Weston posed for their first media |pictures.
It also emerged that Ms Weston had moved to Northern Ireland and had joined to the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team.
A spokesman for bookmaker Paddy Power said: “From a betting point of view the race to find Sir Hugh’s successor looks wide open.
“We expect the odds to fluctuate over the weekend as the money continues to pour on the respective candidates.”
Belfast Telegraph
What do you think? Good idea? Bad idea? Don't care as long as whoever it is can do the job?