Kate Meynell: Technology threat is a challenge, says new police boss

Kate Meynell joined the police in 1993

Police face a battle to deal with criminals using the latest technology to target victims, Nottinghamshire's new chief constable has said.

Kate Meynell, who grew up in Arnold, was appointed to the role in September and started last week.

She said despite the new problems presented by technological changes, community policing was still an important part of officers' work.

The new boss also said delays in the courts were affecting victims.

'More complex'

Ms Meynell - who recently had a senior role with the neighbouring Derbyshire force but has spent most of her career in her native Nottinghamshire - joined the police in 1993, when mobile phones and the internet were in their infancy.

She said keeping pace with the latest developments was key in countering criminals using new tools to hit vulnerable people.

"I think when you look at policing it's much more complex than it was before," she said.

"If you look at [the period] through Covid, criminals changed the frauds that they committed, so it's important that we keep pace with that.

"There's a lot of things that are going really well within Nottinghamshire Police, but we're not complacent, and there are gaps, so I need to understand where we can improve what we do."

Ms Meynell started in the role last week

Ms Meynell also said victims of crime were not being served well by problems in the criminal justice system, with some court cases taking years to come before judges.

"I think the backlog in the courts is something we should all be concerned about because there are victims and witnesses who are sitting for an extremely long time waiting to see justice," she said.

"Some people are having to live through that trauma until the court case, and a lot of people are finding that really difficult.

"We are finding that we are actually losing some cases because people just feel that they can't wait any longer, so it's important that we get wait down."