A NEW officer has taken on the top job at Bury Police Station — with a new title.

Annette Anderson left the role of Bury divisional commander on March 1 and left on Friday.

Her replacement is Chief Superintendent Chris Sykes, who will be known as territorial commander as he is also the boss of Rochdale Police.

Ch Supt Sykes went to school in West Yorkshire and studied at Salford University.

He has more than 20 years policing experience, working in Manchester city centre, Oldham and areas of South Manchester, including Longsight and Moss Side.

Ch Supt Sykes became a chief inspector in 2007 and superintendent the year later.

He has been chief superintendent of Stockport Police since March, 2012, and took the helm at Bury on Monday where he met Bury Council leader, Cllr Mike Connolly, and the council’s chief executive, Mike Kelly.

Ch Supt Sykes said: “I’m really excited to be the new territorial commander for Bury and Rochdale — a new role.

“I’ve taken over from Annette Anderson, who has been doing a brilliant job in Rochdale.

“I have only been here a few days but Bury has a great feel to it.

“I have met some of the officers and I can see they are committed.”

He added: “One of my priorities is to reassure my colleagues that I intend to be around here longer than my recent predecessors. I’ve got to develop the job as territorial commander for two areas and I have got to make sure Bury and Rochdale can operate within this new structure.

“I plan to split my time between Bury and Rochdale 50/50.

“One of the things I can see already is that we can share good practice between the two areas and we can be flexible to meet the needs of the different communities of Bury and Rochdale, but the policing structure of the two towns will not be merged.

“The number of senior leaders, chief superintendents and superintendents across all divisions in Greater Manchester Police is falling but we want to reassure people that it will not have a negative impact on frontline services.”