Northumbria Police

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By Craig WilliamsBBC Scotland

The incoming chief constable of Police Scotland takes up her post on Monday.

Jo Farrell is The First woman to lead The Force .

She joins from Durham Constabulary , which she has led since 2019. She was previously assistant chief constable at Northumbria Police .

She was appointed to her new role by the Scottish Police Authority and approved by Justice Secretary Angela Constance .

Ms Constance previously said Ms Farrell " has shown she has the skills needed to lead the service".

The Appointment means Ms Farrell moves from running one of the smallest police forces in the UK with just 1,266 officers, to the second-largest with 16,805.

She faces A Number of challenges in the new role.

The Force is struggling with a projected £19m budget overspend and has announced plans to sell off buildings and cancel the recruitment of 200 new officers.

It is also redeploying staff from the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, Fife, to back up front-line officers during the busy Christmas and New Year period.

And the conduct of Police Scotland officers is at the centre of The Inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh, who died while in police custody in Kirkcaldy in 2015.

Last month, the retired senior officer who was in charge of The Police response after Mr Bayoh's death family for The Way they had been treated by officers.

'Institutionally racist'

In May, the outgoing chief constable Sir Iain Livingstone was " institutionally racist and discriminatory".

His verdict came after uncovered first-hand accounts of racism, sexism and homophobia by serving officers.

Sir Iain said prejudice and Bad Behaviour within Police Scotland was " rightly of great concern" but he stressed that his admission did not mean individual officers and staff were racist or sexist and he also expressed pride and confidence in their work.

In another ongoing controversy, The Force is currently More Than two years into an investigation into the SNP's finances.

Officers are looking into What Happened to More Than £600,000 of donations given to the SNP by supporters since 2021.

The Investigation has seen former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrested before being released without charge.

The same thing has happened to her husband, the SNP's former chief executive Peter Murrell , and The Party 's former treasurer, Colin Beattie .

Ms Farrell joined The Police aged 22 in 1991.

She is no stranger to controversy, having dealt with A Number of high-profile and difficult policing decision in her Four Years in charge of the Durham force.

She was in charge during the " beergate" investigation into Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer , who was cleared of any wrongdoing following allegations he had breached coronavirus rules.

And she led The Force during Dominic Cummings ' infamous trip to Barnard Castle , County Durham , during The Height of the Covid pandemic.

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Source of news: bbc.com