Lee Freeman is a retired British police officer who served as Chief Constable of Humberside Police until July 2023. Following his decision to step down as Chief Constable of Humberside Police in July 2023. Lee Freeman is serving as an Inspector in His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue since July 2023.

Career

Freeman joined the

City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, including the Middle and Inner Temples. The force responsible for law enforcement within the remainder of the London region, ou ...

in 1993, transferring to Lincolnshire Police in 1996. Having applied for the Accelerated Promotion Course in 1999 whilst still a constable, Freeman was successful and promoted to sergeant in September 2000. Remaining in Lincolnshire, he gained promotion to inspector, chief inspector and then to superintendent in 2005. A spell as an assistant director at Lincolnshire County Council preceded his promotion to chief superintendent as divisional commander for South Division in 2010, with further spells as the divisional commander for West Division and also head of local policing following a major force restructure. In August 2013, he stepped up to assistant chief constable for local policing in Lincolnshire for 18months. Freeman successfully applied for the vacant assistant chief constable post in Humberside Police in 2015. He was given the temporary deputy chief constable's post in February 2017 after the previous chief constable,

Justine Curran Justine Curran, QPM is a retired British police officer who served as Chief Constable of Humberside Police until February 2017. Curran was born in Sheffield and raised in Parbold, Lancashire. After graduating from Hull University with a degre ...

, retired early when she was advised to consider her position by the

Humberside police and crime commissioner The Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by Humberside Police in the English Counties of East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern parts of ...

, Keith Hunter. Freeman applied for the subsequent vacant chief's job and was duly promoted into the rank of chief constable in June 2017. In January 2019, Freeman and the police and crime commissioner, agreed that he would serve a temporary secondment to the Cleveland Police. The three-month secondment arose because of the sudden resignation of Chief Constable Mike Veale. Freeman was awarded the King's Police Medal (KPM) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

. On 27 April 2023, Lee Freeman announced that he will be stepping down as Chief Constable in summer 2023 following his appointment as His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.

Personal life

Freeman was born in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. He is married with one son. Before joining the police service, he attended Kingston Polytechnic where he gained a BSc (Hons) in Sociology.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Lee Living people People from Grimsby Alumni of Kingston University British Chief Constables Humberside Police 1969 births City of London Police officers English recipients of the Queen's Police Medal