Her appointment made history when she became a Durham cop first female chief constable.
But for a second time for her three-year tenure, Joe Farrell found herself in the center of a national row over police investigation that could have consequences for British political landscape.
Durham Police on On Friday, they said they would investigate allegations that Sir Keir Starmer had violated quarantine. rules after a few days of pressure from Conservative MPs and some new revelations of right-wing newspapers. Labor said they would cooperate with request.
In May 2020 Farrell, 53, faced similar demands to question Dominic Cummings after a Guardian and Mirror investigation found that then-Boris Johnson key the adviser broke the lock rules inside her forceboundary.
She did not allow her officers to interrogate Cummings. over his 260 mile trip to Durham from London or the next day out to Barnard Castle to “test his sight.”
Among the growing row over Cummings and the police response, the reports claimed that the subject was Farrell. of official complaints from public angry at the force response to the accusations.
At that time, the Durham police put out statement about her force did not take action on blocking violations. “Durham Police took no retroactive action. against any other person, ”the message says.
In an interview with Daily Mirror last month, Farrell acknowledged the enormous pressure on her during the Cummings furor, and said decision not questioning Cummings during the three-day investigation was made in line with her force goal remain neutral.
“We are apolitical, so my job was to sure so that there is a proportional line. If we had stopped him on his way to Barnard Castle, we would have told him to turn around and leave. back.
“Thousands of people lost their lives in pandemic, so yes, we never took Any of it’s light. But we could not be influenced by the huge political attitude towards him as a person and his role inside government,” she said.
She told the Mirror that force reviewed Cummings’ televised press conference in Rosary in Downing Street as evidence of his behavior instead. In May 2021, Cummings admitted to MPs that he had not told everything truth in rose garden.
Now Farrell can expect to be asked to explain if she really force caved in in to political pressure over in decision open an investigation into Beergate’s claims against Starmer.
And once again her force each move during the investigation will carefully examine policies and media.
Born in Wirral, Farrell and her family moved to Cambridgeshire when she was 15 years old. After receiving a degree in business at Sheffield Polytechnic Institute joined police as a constable in Cambridge in 1991 to moving to the Northumbria Police.
Sign up on First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7:00 am Moscow time.
There she was in charge of firearms on the night when the biggest hunt in recent criminal history ended with in death of killer Raul Moat, who shot himself when police cornered him.
She is joined Durham Police in November 2016 and was appointed Chief Constable. in June 2019, becoming first woman to hold post in in force180-year history.
On the national level, it works on on behalf of of National Council of Police Chiefs in areas of information management and criminal justice file quality and supports the Crimestoppers charity.
She is married to a retired police officer, has two stepsons and daughter. Far from workFarrell says she likes family life, cooking and keeping fit.
