Julie Spence OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, was the Chief Constable

Chief Constable

Chief constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry...

 for Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Cambridgeshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. In addition to the non-metropolitan county, the Police area includes the city of Peterborough, which became a unitary authority area in...

 from 10 December 2005 to 5 September 2010.
Julie Spence made headline news over demanding more officers due to the recent rise in immigration

Immigration

Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...

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Julie Spence is the current president of the British Association for Women in Policing and is the ACPO lead on citizen focus issues. In 2006 she won the Champion Award for her commitment and achievement in her role as a gender champion.

Policing career

In 1978 Spence joined Avon and Somerset Police and was posted to South Bristol. After a period of service, which included postings to CID, community policing, the force communications centre, the Family and Child Protection Unit, the Press Office and uniform patrol, she was seconded to the Association of Chief Police Officers secretariat in London for two years as a Temporary Chief Inspector.

On returning to Avon and Somerset Julie undertook a number of operational roles before being promoted to Superintendent and posted to North Bristol. She is an advocate of life long learning and during her career continued her personal development and consequently undertook part-time and distance learning degree courses in law, police studies and management.
In 1999 she was appointed to Assistant Chief Constable for Thames Valley Police, where she held the Corporate Development portfolio. She took over the Territorial Policing portfolio in January 2003.

She was appointed to Deputy Chief Constable for Cambridgeshire Constabulary in April 2004 and was responsible for Operational Policing for the County.
On 1 June 2005 Julie was appointed Acting Chief Constable and subsequently
appointed to Chief Constable on 10 December 2005. She retired from Cambridgeshire Constabulary on the 5 September 2010.

Awarding of the OBE

In the Queen’s 80th birthday honours list Spence was awarded an OBE for the following reasons:

• Management of complex and contentious organisational issues
• Leadership of Thames Valley’s contribution to the operations to protect Heathrow and the Queen Mother’s funeral
• Work for the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee on Royalty and VIP Protection
• Strong leadership and determination in taking forward the Gender Agenda and the development of the British Association of Women in Policing