A NEW assistant chief constable has been appointed at Avon and Somerset Police.

Rachel Shields will step into the role, which was vacant after the retirement of former ACC Will White earlier this year.

Having started her policing career with Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Northern Ireland in November 1999, as a response constable, Rachel went on to spend much of her career in Northern Ireland in detective roles at every rank within CID, including in rape crime, organised crime, CID and specialist investigations.

After almost 22 years of service in Northern Ireland, she made the move to Avon and Somerset Police in September 2021 as a detective superintendent.

Within six months, she was promoted to Head of Investigations (now CID) and remained head of CID for two and a half years before completing an eight-month-long Executive Leadership Programme.

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“I applied to be ACC because I believe in the importance of policing, especially during times of instability and fear in our communities,” she said. “I believe I have the experience and values needed to help shape the forthcoming years.

“I believe in this organisation and the people in it and I want to make sure the decisions we take support officers and staff to do their job well and get the support needed.

“I want to instill hope, confidence and trust. I will specifically seek to guide our efforts in improving our overall performance, be productive and impactful with the resources we have, support our anti-racism strategy and role model service leadership.”

Describing her move to Avon & Somerset as being “disorientating” at first, Rachel said she had been “welcomed with open arms”, and treated her with kindness and patience.

From her time policing in Ireland, Avon & Somerset Police said the mum-of-two brings experience of fractured communities and working to heal divides.

When not policing, she spends her time cheering her children on from the sidelines of a hockey pitch watching them play all over the country, a sport she played as a child.

Chief Constable Sarah Crew said: “I’m really pleased to welcome Rachel to the Chief Officer Group and to see one of our own officers progressing through our ranks and bringing their wealth of knowledge to our leadership team.

“It’s rewarding to see someone who so naturally aligned with our vision and values bring her wealth of experience to Avon and Somerset and go on to develop a depth of knowledge of the organisation, its people and our communities.”