Retiring West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Dee Collins reveals greatest frustration

Retiring Chief Constable Dee Collins has revealed her greatest frustration in policing just days before she retires from a career spanning three decades.
West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Dee Collins is to retire from policing on Tuesday.West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Dee Collins is to retire from policing on Tuesday.
West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Dee Collins is to retire from policing on Tuesday.

In an open and honest interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Chief Constable said she and other officers have had to make difficult decisions every day due to not having enough resources.

Ms Collins said: "This is probably my greatest frustration.

"We could do so much more if we had more money.

"Our communities deserve better we have let them down too often. It is not because we don’t care it is because we can’t do everything."

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The Chief Constable admitted the force has faced some "complex challenges" during her time in charge, but she states the commitment from officers to get the best results for the public is stronger than ever.

She said: "Our officers care about people immensely, but are frustrated about the inability to do as much as they can because we just don't have the resources.

"The impacts of government cuts were really starting to show when I joined the force, but I recognised that I could help and bring in some change to support people within the work place and enable them to be the best they can be with what we have got for the public."

The Chief Constable, who retires from her role on Tuesday, also admitted a stigma still exists with some of the most harrowing crimes her force investigates.

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Ms Collins said: “There is still some work to do in society because we still see far too much domestic violence which manifests itself in different communities.

“We still see far too many sexual offences, so whilst things are improving and changing and people are valuing difference, there are still far too many that don’t recognise or understand why it is so important or choose to ignore it.”

It was growing up on a council estate in Cheshire that first inspired Ms Collins to become a police officer.

“I had seen first hand the impact on communities that needed support,” she said.

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“I was very much encouraged by my grandmother to do something to help and support people.”

Ms Collins also said she was inspired by her best friend’s father, who worked as a dog handler for Greater Manchester Police.

She said: “He was always coming back and telling interesting stories about his job and how no two days were the same and that is what I wanted in my career.”

Ms Collins, who joined Cleveland Police as an officer in July 1987, became the first female officer to work in the roads policing team and also the first female on the armed response team.

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She recalls how she was told “it wasn’t a role for a woman” but that her “stubborn streak” spurred her on to prove people and their perceptions around women and policing wrong.

“I would quite regularly get comments from members of the public saying a woman shouldn’t be doing the job I was,” she said.

“I would tell them I was good enough, but make light of it. It is only going out and pioneering around this that things change.”

The Chief Constable, originally from Lymm in Cheshire, has now served 31 years in policing, 12 of those as Assistant Chief Constable of Derbyshire Constabulary. It was during her time there she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

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She said: “I had fantastic support from the whole force as was the support from the Royal Derby Hospital. I was very fortunate because the lump was very small and I only had two weeks off work. It was very important for me to keep some normality for myself and family.”

Ms Collins joined West Yorkshire Police in January 2014 as the Deputy Chief Constable.

She temporarily took over the role of Chief Constable in June that year, before being promoted permanently in November 2016.

Ms Collins says her proudest moment of her career was when she was awarded a CBE by the Queen for services to policing and to the British Association of Women in Policing, which she chairs.

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“I would like to be remembered for raising and encouraging more and more women to join policing,” she said. “I have seen women in this organisation feeling far more confident and putting themselves forward for selection opportunities.

“There are opportunities out there for all, but for a long time I think a lot of women didn’t feel quite confident enough. Having been the first female Chief Constable in West Yorkshire, I hope it has encouraged others to think anything is achievable.

“I am someone who started their career as a 22-year-old PC with an ambition to get to inspector at most. No-one is more surprised than me that I am Chief Constable, but, if in my own way I am encouraging others to enjoy policing and the fantastic career I have had, then that has got to be a good thing.”

Ms Collins is stepping down from her role due to health challenges and said she hopes to have them “resolved over the summer”.

She said she would like the public to remember her in her role as “someone who tried their best” and someone who encouraged people to understand the human side of policing.