Chief Inspector Recruitment
Introduction from our Chief Constable
Thank you for your interest in developing your career with Lancashire Constabulary. We believe in individuality, diversity, and initiative – people who can be counted on – not simply counted.
We have a fantastic force of over 6,000 police officers and staff, all sharing a passion and determination for keeping Lancashire’s people safe. Here at Lancashire Constabulary we are committed to a nationally recognised set of behaviours and values. All employees who join the team believe in a common code of ethics and are dedicated to demonstrating all that this entails and creating an inclusive and open-minded workforce that reflects our local communities. Serving our public respectfully and fairly with integrity and transparency is at the heart of everything we do as reflected in our Vision and Values;
Our Vision – Preventing and fighting crime. Keeping our communities and people safe.
Our Values – We’re professional, accountable, and united. And we do everything with respect.
We are extremely fortunate in Lancashire to be in the very safe hands of an exceptional team of chief officers and senior staff who possess an enormous range of skills and experience between them. Each has their own areas of expertise, and together they strive to ensure our constabulary is the best it can be.
If you are interested in joining this team and resonate with our values, then we look forward to hearing from you.
Sacha Hatchett
Chief Constable
Why Lancashire?
Founded in 1839, Lancashire Constabulary covers an area of 1,189 square miles. The county has a population of nearly 1.5 million people with a rich diversity of communities, all with specific policing needs. Serving them is demanding and challenging but incredibly rewarding. We enjoy one of the most diverse and interesting regions in the UK, and no day is the same.
The constabulary is split into three divisions, West, South and East and our Headquarters is based in Hutton, Preston, with our Dogs and Mounted section nearby. Each division is run by a Chief Superintendent. To accommodate our workforce of just over 5,500 people we have an extensive network of locations across the county.
To ensure we fulfil our commitment to policing Lancashire, we have a very special workforce made up of over 3,000 Police Officers and 2,500 Police Staff – of which 290 are PCSOs and 460 Special Constabulary Officers, Police Cadets and Community Volunteers.
Our force covers a hugely diverse geographic area, from coastal towns, including Blackpool and Morecambe, to the buzz of our large towns, city centres, and rural communities too.
Lancashire has a £30.8bn economy, 1.5m residents, 732,000 jobs and 53,000 businesses. There is a large visitor economy worth £4.4bn, attracting almost 69m visitors annually.
By joining Lancashire Police you will become part of a force which is as wonderfully diverse as the geography. We have renewed our commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion and formalised the strategic priorities in the strategy below;
Daily Demands…
Take a look at some of the demands of Lancashire Constabulary
Received 887 999 calls and 1678 non-emergency calls
20 burglaries
The Opportunity – Chief Inspector
Salary £70,344 – £73,149
Vetting Level: MV & SC
Applications close at 10am on Monday 26th January 2026.
Lancashire Constabulary are looking to recruit numerous Chief Inspectors across both Detective and Uniformed portfolios. Applications are invited from substantive Inspectors for promotion to the rank of Chief Inspector and substantive Chief Inspectors looking for a lateral move to Lancashire Constabulary.
Here at Lancashire Constabulary, we are truly victim focused and have high performance expectations. We have a genuine commitment to health, well-being, diversity, equality and inclusion. We are looking for candidates who share our passion for these areas and would encourage those to apply.
Our ideal candidate will
- Demonstrate confident and decisive decision making skills.
- Inspire people to meet challenging organisational goals, creating and maintaining the momentum for change.
- Be proactive in nature.
- Be able to establishes a clear future and direction for the operational unit, focused on delivering the force vision and strategy.
- Act with integrity, in line with the values and ethical standards of the Police Service. Delivers on promises, demonstrating personal commitment, energy and drive to get things done.
- Promote a real belief in public service, focusing on what matters to the public and will best serve their interests.
- Have a dedicated and genuine passion about health, wellbeing, diversity, equality and inclusion.
- Build effective working relationships with people through clear communication and a collaborative approach.
Chief Inspector Application Process
Applications will be live from Monday 5th January 2026 at 10am and will close on Monday 26th January 2026 at 10am.
If you identify as being from a protected characteristic background and would like any additional support in the recruitment process (from application to interview), please contact our HR Workforce Representation Team on [email protected].
Tuesday 13th January 2026, 13:00pm – 16:00pm, at Hutton Headquarters or via TEAMs.
Internal and external candidates are invited to attend a Familiarisation Day at Hutton Headquarters. For those unable to attend in person, there will be the option to attend via TEAMs.
This is a great opportunity to meet the Chief Officer Team and Lancashire Constabulary Staff, learn about the force and our Chief Inspector roles. To book onto this session in person or MS Teams, please email [email protected].
All submitted applications will be shortlisted on Friday 30th January 2026.
Candidates will be notified of their paper sift result via the online application portal.
Candidates successful at paper sift will be invited to attend a formal Interview and briefing exercise with Senior Officers and Staff at Hutton Headquarters on either Tuesday 10th, Wednesday 11th or Thursday 12th February 2026.
Any candidates that require any reasonable adjustments in order to participate in the recruitment process are to email [email protected] in the first instance. Reasonable adjustment requests will be considered accordingly.
If successful at interview, candidates will be provided with a final offer of appointment.