ONE of the youngest police chief superintendents in the country, Ian McPherson, takes over as commander of the Pennine Division tomorrow.

Chief Supt McPherson, 38, will be the youngest of the six Lancashire divisional commanders. He is moving from Blackpool where he is operations superintendent.

He will be in charge of policing in an area covering all of Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale local authority districts.

He joined the police as a constable in Preston in 1979. He became a detective constable in 1985 and moved to Skelmersdale on promotion to detective sergeant in 1987. He then went on a special course for accelerated promotion at Bramshill.

In 1991, he became geographic inspector at Blackpool until moving to Hutton in charge of the headquarters' support unit overseeing incidents of public order.

He played a key role in the police response to the Stoops and Hargher Clough estate riots.

Promotion to chief inspector followed in 1993 when he became staff officer to the then Chief Constable Brian Johnson.

In 1995, it was back to Preston as chief inspector of operations before returning to headquarters as acting superintendent and department head of the organisational change unit managing the change process implemented by chief constable Pauline Clare. During that time he was chosen as one of a team to travel to America, Australia and Hong Kong to observe police styles in those countries. It is as a result of that trip that the problem solving policing ethos is now part of Lancashire Constabulary's culture.

Mr McPherson then took a year out at the University of Central Lancashire to complete a masters degree in business administration where he achieved a distinction.

He returned to the force last year in his present post at Blackpool.

He said: "I am following in the footsteps of a well respected member of the force who has provided great service for a long time. Pennine Division has many excellent officers who work very hard. I aim to support them in their roles and build upon the existing good relationship with partner organisations."

Mr McPherson lives near Preston with his wife and their two children.

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