Chief Officers

Prior to joining Derbyshire Constabulary Simon spent most of his service with Northamptonshire Police. He worked his way through the ranks, holding several senior command positions including Operations, Community Policing, Crime and Intelligence portfolios.

In 2014, Simon was seconded to the United Nations as their Senior Police Adviser in Iraq. He worked with Iraqi military and police on security for the national elections. Later evacuated to Kurdistan due to the ISIS incursion, he also supported the development of the Kurdistan Police.

He transferred to New York in 2015 where he served as Chief of Mission Management for the UN Police Division, with oversight of the UN Police components in peacekeeping missions worldwide.

A year later, in 2016, he became the UN Police Commissioner in Liberia where he led a multinational team of police officers ensuring peaceful elections, the protection of civilians and helped to shape the Liberian National Police, Immigration Service and Drug Enforcement Agency in readiness for the UN's withdrawal of its peacekeeping assets.

Returning to Northamptonshire Police in 2018, Simon was awarded an OBE for services to international policing.

Promoted to Assistant Chief Constable in 2019, he transferred on promotion to Derbyshire Constabulary Deputy Chief Constable in 2022. 

Simon is an accredited, Gold Public Order and CRBN Commander with extensive operational experience.

On behalf of the National Police Chiefs Council, Simon leads on two key portfolios: surveillance working with the NCA and other security agencies, and motorcycles, which includes oversight of BikeSafe, the casualty reduction scheme.

Michelle’s career at Derbyshire began as a police staff member working in Criminal Justice, she became a Special Constable finally joining the regular force in 1999.

Michelle has a strong operational background in Firearms, CBRN and Public Order along with Multi-Agency Gold Incident Command and is experienced in delivering forcewide change and managing projects, with a passion for seeking improvements in the way the force delivers service. Michelle has been involved in a number of high-profile events and initiatives which have continued to develop experience, such as policing the Olympics, high profile royal visits and the dam breach at Whaley Bridge.

Michelle is the East Midlands Regional Lead for Public Order, CBRN and Citizens In Policing.      

In May 2022 Michelle was successful at the Police National Assessment Centre and also successfully graduated from the Strategic Command Course.

Michelle is married, has a dog called Archie, loves walking and watching any kind of sports or a good film.

Assistant Chief Constable Gemma Booth leads Local Policing for Derbyshire Police, with responsibility for neighbourhood policing, response, public contact, prevention, and partnerships, alongside specialist operational capabilities.

Joining policing in 2007, Gemma is driven by a strong sense of public duty and a desire to protect people and build stronger communities. Her career spans local policing and as a detective, working across local crime, public protection, and major investigations, including within the East Midlands Special Operations Unit. Alongside operational policing, Gemma has held senior corporate leadership roles including Head of Corporate Services and Head of Change, where she led strategic planning and significant organisational change programmes.

As Assistant Chief Constable, Gemma is focused on delivering a policing services that makes a real difference in communities. This includes strengthening response policing and neighbourhood teams so the public receive the support they need when it matters most, while working closely with partners and communities to solve problems early, reduce harm and vulnerability, and address the underlying causes of demand.

As Assistant Chief Constable for Derbyshire Constabulary Diane Coulson is responsible for the Crime and Criminal Justice portfolios. 

Di’s policing journey started with Lincolnshire Police at Grantham in 1996. She split her career between uniformed and detective work, before joining EMSOU’s Major Crime Unit in 2016, leading murder investigations as a senior investigating officer. From 2020, Di was seconded as an Assistant Director at Lincolnshire County Council, where she got a valuable insight into the world of local government, emergency planning and Counter Terrorism prevention, working closely with partners to ensure community safety.

In 2022, Di returned to Lincolnshire Police as Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, before becoming Head of the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) in October 2023.

She joins Derbyshire with a wealth of experience in collaboration, policing disciplines and partnership working.

Di spends her time outside work with her husband, son, and Labrador.

Andrew's career in policing started in 1993 when he joined Derbyshire Constabulary as a trainee fingerprint officer and trained in this role for five years to achieve expert status. In 2012 EMSOU-FS was created and Andrew, through various promotions, achieved the top post of Director of Forensics. During the Philpott trial, he gave crown court evidence. He later acquired the snappy title of Director of Corporate, Forensic and Technical services when he went into EMSOU command.

However, in February 2023, he went back to his roots and got his 'dream job' in his dream force and became the Assistant Chief Officer in Derbyshire. Andrew looks after many things in the force including HR, Information Services, Fleet, Estates, Finance and has recently set up Digital Data and Technology (DDat). He is also the NPCC lead in disabilities in policing and is the voice on command for police staff.

Away from work, Andrew is a huge fan of music and films -  He is also a family man, with three children, a wife and two dogs called Hugo and Cooper. A Derbyshire man, Andrew was born in Clowne and loves Derbyshire with Chesterfield as a firm favourite. He is also a 'mad' football fan, supporting Arsenal and coaches an under 14s football team every week.

Andrew believes that happiness is the most important aspect to life and brings this mantra to work daily.