NORTH Yorkshire Police have a new Deputy Chief Constable.

Adam Briggs, who is currently an Assistant Chief Constable with Cleveland Police, will join the force on June 4.

He succeeds Ian McPherson, who left last year to become Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary.

Mr Briggs, 45, is married with four children and lives near Ripon.

Educated at Ilkley Grammar School, he has a degree in Organisational Studies from Bradford University and a Diploma in Applied Criminology and Police Management from Cambridge University.

He worked as a detective constable and detective sergeant in West Yorkshire for more than a decade before becoming Assistant Chief Constable at Cleveland Police, in 2004.

He established the highly successful Operation Sabre - a series of ongoing raids targeting those responsible for drugs, volume crime and anti-social behaviour.

He is also the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on European Road Policing.

Mr Briggs has a passion for rugby union and after 30 years as a prop forward, he now coaches young players.

He is also a trustee of the Safe Anchor Trust, a charity that runs a number of narrow and trip boats for disadvantaged groups on the waterways of West Yorkshire.

He said: "I live in North Yorkshire and it's a great honour to be appointed to this position.

"My aim is to help make North Yorkshire Police become the best force in England and Wales.

"I want the county of North Yorkshire and the City of York to be the safest place in the country for people to live, work, learn and visit."

The appointment of Mr Briggs comes less than two weeks after Grahame Maxwell was named as the new chief constable.

Mr Maxwell said: "Our priorities will include embedding neighbourhood policing and being a national lead in this area as well as bringing in a performance regime to make sure that North Yorkshire Police delivers what it says it will and in the way it promises to do that - I will be looking at Adam Briggs to push forward that agenda on behalf of the residents of this area."

Chairman of North Yorkshire Police Authority Jane Kenyon said: "He has a passion for policing and during his tenure with Cleveland police has made great strides in combating drug crime, volume crime and anti-social behaviour through his work on Operation Sabre, for example.

"He brings a strong policing pedigree, a focus on performance as well as a clear vision for embedding neighbourhood policing throughout our communities."