Black chief constable hopes to step up to senior role at Met

Britain's highest ranking black police officer has applied to the post of Deputy Commissioner at Scotland Yard.

Mike Fuller, the chief constable of Kent, is one of four candidates for the £204,075 role. The others include the current Acting Deputy Tim Godwin, the chief constable of Merseyside Bernard Hogan-Howe and Steve Otter, the chief constable of Devon and Cornwall constabulary.

The successful candidate will be appointed by the Home Secretary and will be a front-runner for the post of Commissioner when the newly appointed Sir Paul Stephenson steps down after his five years in charge.

For the third consecutive time in recent years the deputy has stepped up to take the commissioner's role. Both Mr Fuller, 50, and Mr Hogan-Howe, 51, were among the recent candidates for the post of Commissioner. The Merseyside chief constable, who is a former high ranking Met officer, was in the final shortlist of three.

Mr Fuller, a former senior Met officer, was born in south London to Jamaican-born immigrants and became a Met Police cadet at a time when there were only five other black officers in the force.

He also recently applied to be chief constable of British Transport Police but was beaten to the post by the force's deputy.

Mr Otter, 46, who was born in Bethnal Green, worked for the Hong Kong police and spent 11 years in the Met including spending time as the borough commander of Kensington and Chelsea.

He is currently the lead officer on race and diversity for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

Mr Godwin, 49, who left home at 16 to join the Merchant Navy, is one of the Met's most experienced senior officers and was in charge of Territorial Policing, which is responsible for Safer Neighbourhood Teams, before he took up his current role.

The current Commissioner is likely to have an influence on who his deputy will be but a final decision will be made by the Home Secretary who is also expected to consult the Mayor.

Interviews are expected to start at the end of this month and a final decision is expected in July.

A recent advertisement for the post stated that the successful candidate should have "proven leadership skills in the most challenging elements of operational policing" and be "an innovative individual and supportive team player who is also a key leader of policing nationally.