Jeff Farrar announced as the 'proposed candidate' to become the new Chief Constable of Gwent Police.

This decision will now be the subject of a confirmation hearing by the Gwent Police and Crime Panel (PCP) on November 8th Mr Farrar, who has served the public as a Police Officer for 29 years, joined Gwent Police from South Wales Police in 2009 having been appointed as Assistant Chief Constable. He was then promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in April 2011.

Commenting on today's announcement Police and Crime Commissioner Ian Johnston commented: "I am delighted to nominate Jeff Farrar as my proposed candidate for Chief Constable. During the time I have worked with Jeff Farrar he has proved himself to be a highly competent and effective officer, the kind of leader Gwent Police needs at this time. "The interview panel assembled for today's challenging interview was a very experienced group of stakeholders who are well known and respected in their fields of expertise.

"Dr Andrew Goodall, Sir Hugh Orde, Mr Paul Matthews, Ms Sarah Payne, Mrs Gill Parker and I were all impressed with Jeff's presentation and the answers he gave in response to some challenging and difficult questions. The interview process was also observed by Councillor Frances Taylor, the Vice Chair of the Gwent Police and Crime Panel. "I will now commend his appointment to the Police and Crime Panel."

Mr Farrar added: "I am honoured to have been chosen as the proposed candidate for the role of Chief Constable, and look forward to the opportunity to address the members of the Police and Crime Panel next month."

JEFF FARRAR - BIOGRAPHY:

Jeff Farrar is the T/Chief Constable of Gwent Police and is the National Policing Lead for Crime Statistics. He has a Masters in Public Administration from Cardiff University (Business School) and a BSc (Hons) in Public Administration from Portsmouth University.

He is the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead for Wales on Protecting Vulnerable People, Performance Management, Human Trafficking and he is Chair of the South West region Air Consortium (8 Forces). He is also the National Policing lead for the Airwave Health Screening, a member of the National Policing Air Service (NPAS) Programme Board and part of the National Counter Terrorism Cadre. He is the Vice Chairman of Police Sport UK, Chairman of Police Sport (Wales), and Chairman of British Police Basketball. Sport remains a central pillar in his life and he has represented GB Police at Basketball, still competes in the annual GB Basketball Masters events and has completed half and full marathon races.

Jeff has planned and commanded over 40 of the most high profile sporting events in the UK including two FA Cup and League Cup finals, The Ryder Cup (2010), Rugby Internationals, International Cricket and World Championship Boxing Events. He has been seconded to National Police Training and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary as part of the Inspection team that inspected the police service on equality and diversity after the death of Stephen Lawrence. He is married with four Children.