The Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police, Ms Della Cannings QPM BSc, announced to-day that she will retire from that office with effect from 16 May 2007.

In a statement, Ms Cannings said ‘It has been an honour and privilege to lead North Yorkshire Police since 2002. The achievements of the service over that period have been outstanding and I leave my successor with an organisation fit and ready to take on the many challenges which face the police service.’

‘I am immensely proud to be able to leave a legacy of a high performing force that has been modernised and equipped to provide a quality service to the people of North Yorkshire and the City of York. I am very grateful to the people of this area who not only financially supported my vision of creating a leading police service during my term of office, but have constantly and consistently supported the staff in my organisation in bringing about that transformation of the service.’

'Due to that support and the hard work of all staff, I will leave a force that has markedly reduced crime, increased the rates of detections, achieved casualty reduction on our roads and much much more and that has recently been assessed by Her Majesty's Inspectorate as being 'best in class' as one of the top performing forces in the country across the majority of policing activities. The major work and investment undertaken has been tremendous and enabled NYP to ensure it is 'fit for purpose' as a vital local service. It is now excellently placed to continue to serve the communities here very well for years to come and I am proud to have been key to enabling such.'

‘I also want to take this opportunity to thank the public of this area for their friendship and support for me personally. I have made it a principle of my term of office as Chief Constable to ensure that I get out and meet communities as much as I can and to make myself accessible to people. I think that it is essential that leaders of any major public service have direct contact with the people for whom they are delivering the service, to make sure that they are in tune with people’s concerns and priorities. Wherever I have been, I have been warmly received and this is very much appreciated.’

Jane Kenyon, Chairman of the North Yorkshire Police Authority said ‘the people of North Yorkshire and the City of York owe Della Cannings an enormous debt of gratitude for what she has achieved as Chief Constable. She has worked tirelessly, and with considerable success, to rebuild the organisation that she leads to the extent that she has achieved her personal vision, 4 years ago, to make NYP a leading service in the country. The public can ask no more of any public service leader than to deliver continuous improvement in that service during their tenure - and Della has done just that, and more.’

‘She will leave an organisation completely transformed from that which she inherited. There are many more police officers and staff on our streets, delivering both substantial reductions in crime and through the neighbourhood policing initiative, a style of policing which better suits the public’s wishes. The equipment the service uses is becoming modern and effective which will stand it in good stead for further improvement in the years to come. Importantly, the whole organisation is now focussed on providing a quality service to our communities’

‘The Chief Constable has made an immense contribution to making this important service better and in improving the quality of life for the people of this area and for that we all owe her our thanks.’