Christopher Peter Sims

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, QPM, DL is the former Chief Constable of

West Midlands Police West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. The force covers an area of with 2.93million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, W ...

(WMP), England's second largest and the United Kingdom's third largest police force.

Police career

Sims began his policing career in 1980 with the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

force, rising to the rank of chief inspector. He moved to

Staffordshire Police Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authorit ...

in 1994 on promotion to superintendent. He worked in the professional standards unit, helped establish the performance development team, worked in CID at headquarters and spent a short time as divisional commander at

Wombourne Wombourne is a large village and civil parish located in the district of South Staffordshire, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is 4 miles (6 km) south-west of Wolverhampton and just outside the county and conurbation of the W ...

before taking up the role of divisional commander at

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

. He left

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in March 1999 to take up the role of Assistant Chief Constable for

. Sims was later appointed Deputy Chief Constable – a post he held for three years. During his time with West Midlands Police, Sims was seconded to

Nottinghamshire Police Nottinghamshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the shire county of Nottinghamshire and the unitary authority of Nottingham in the East Midlands area of England. The area has a population of just over 1 million. ...

to act as a strategic advisor. Before taking up his previous role as Chief Constable of Staffordshire in September 2007, Sims was the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Policing Policy and Practice at the

National Policing Improvement Agency The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom, established to support police by providing expertise in such areas as information technology, information sharing, and recruitment. It was ...

(NPIA) based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was responsible for research and evaluation, doctrine development and implementation and portfolio management. Sims took up new responsibilities as Chief Constable of West Midlands Police on 1 June 2009, and was paid a salary of £172,000 a year. He retired as Chief Constable of the force on 31 December 2015 and was replaced by Deputy Chief Constable Dave Thompson. Sims was awarded an

for services to the police in the 2003 New Years Honours List and a

Queen's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, most of whic ...

for distinguished service in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

Personal life

A graduate of St Peter's College,

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Sims also achieved an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Warwick University , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

. Sims has three children.

Honours

Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon

UK Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ribbon

Police Long Service and Good Conduct ribbon

* He also serves as a Deputy Lieutenant for the

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. This gives him the right to the

Post Nominal Letters Post-nominal letters, also called post-nominal initials, post-nominal titles, designatory letters or simply post-nominals, are letters placed after a person's name to indicate that the individual holds a position, academic degree, accreditation, ...

"DL" for Life.

References

External links

Chris Sims biography on WMP website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Chris Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Warwick Chief Constables of West Midlands Police Deputy Lieutenants of the West Midlands (county) Officers of the Order of the British Empire English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Metropolitan Police officers Living people 20th-century births Year of birth missing (living people)