THE longest serving chief constable in Britain has complained to the Northern Secretary that he has not been granted an interview for the position of RUC chief constable.
Interviews to choose a successor to the present Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, will be held by the Police Authority for Northern Ireland (PANI) next week.
Just three candidates are believed to be on the shortlist: the two RUC Deputy Chief Constables, Mr Blair Wallace and Mr Ronnie Flanagan, and the City of London Police Commissioner, Mr William Taylor.
The Northern Ireland Office confirmed yesterday that Sir Patrick Mayhew's office had received a letter from Dr Ian Oliver, Chief Constable of the Grampian police force in Scotland for the past 17 years.
The letter asked Sir Patrick to intervene and overrule a decision by PANI not to keep Dr Oliver's name on the shortlist.
A PANI spokeswoman said the body was not privy to the correspondence between Dr Oliver and Sir Patrick. However she confirmed that the Police' Authority had set out, in the job specification for RUC chief constable, certain essential requirements. These included a requirement that candidates should have completed the Bramshill Senior Command Course.
It is understood Dr Oliver supplied a detailed explanation as to why he did not have this qualification, including the fact that the course had not existed at the time he was first appointed a chief constable.
However, the spokeswoman said the authority's policy co ordinating committee had considered the matter, and had also received professional advice from Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary, and had decided to reject Dr Oliver's argument.
PANI has refused to confirm the names of those officers on the shortlist for the job.