The next chief constable of West Midlands Police has been appointed.
Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has confirmed that David Thompson will take over from Chris Sims in January.
The decision follows a selection process which began with members of the public contributing towards the job description and concluded with a two-day assessment.
READ MORE: {}
During the assessment, the successful candidate was questioned by a group of youth commissioners and a panel of members of the public.
Mr Jamieson said: "David Thompson is clearly the best person in the country to do the job. "He has been a truly excellent deputy chief constable and I am sure he will be an excellent chief constable too.
"This is the most important decision that a police and crime commissioner can make and I am very pleased to be appointing such a strong and capable officer to take West Midlands Police forward.
"Chris Sims has been a superb servant to the West Midlands and has made a huge contribution to policing across the country.
I wish him all the best in the next period of his life."
Most Read
Mr Thompson added: "It has been an honour to serve as deputy under chief constable Chris Sims and I am extremely proud of what we, as a force, have achieved during this time.
"With this in mind, I will very much be looking to continue the fantastic work of Mr Sims and will spending the next few months working closely with him to ensure a smooth handover.
"Moving forward, I want to reiterate that the command team and I remain fully committed to the WMP2020 programme and, while there are many challenges that lie ahead, I am confident we are in a fantastic position to face them head on.
"This is a truly outstanding force with some truly outstanding people - and there is nowhere else I would rather be serving the public."