Chief Constable Colette Paul

Colette Paul joined Bedfordshire Police on 1 July 2013 and brought with her a wealth of policing experience.

She started her career with the Metropolitan Police Service after graduating from Keele University and first walked the beat in Edmonton, North London.Ms Paul soon progressed into the CID and spent a large part of her career as an operational detective, which included work within the Vice Unit, Murder Squad, and the Race and Violent Crime Task Force. She took a career break in 1998 to work for the British High Commissioner in Ottawa, Canada.

On her return to London two years later she was appointed as the Detective Superintendent of the MPS Anti-Terrorist Branch and set up the MPS War Crimes Unit and the Counter Terrorist Intelligence Cell. She also acted as the Senior Investigating Officer in a number of terrorist investigations. When Ms Paul was promoted to Chief Superintendent in 2004, she served as Staff Officer to Lord Stephens, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, before becoming Borough Commander for Ealing Borough, covering Ealing, Acton and Southall, West London. She thoroughly enjoyed working with very diverse communities.She went on to hold responsibility for all operational strategy in the MPS before joining South Wales Police as an Assistant Chief Constable in 2008, responsible for Protective Services, Serious & Organised Crime, Counter Terrorism, Firearms, Roads Policing and other operational policing specialisms.

She was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable for South Wales, overseeing Professional Standards, Corporate Communications and Performance and Inspection departments; in addition to line managing the ACCs for Specialist Crime, Territorial Policing and Support and the ACOs for Finance, HR and Corporate and Legal Services. She was also the strategic lead for corporate planning, organisational change and collaboration. Nationally, she is the ACPO lead for International Affairs, Senior Responsible Officer for JOA Schengen, and vice chair of Media and Communications