DORSET’S new chief constable is set to be officially appointed today at a meeting of the Police and Crime Panel.

The panel will decide whether to approve the appointment of Debbie Simpson as the head of Dorset Police – the top choice of the county’s new Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill.

It will also consider the Commissioner’s draft Police and Crime Plan for Dorset, which sets out his priorities for the next five years, plus his recommendation to increase the police council tax charge by 1.95 per cent in 2013/14.

The 17-strong panel is made up of representatives from the county council and all of Dorset’s borough and district councils along with two independent members.

It was set up to scrutinise the decisions of the Police and Crime Commissioner, and hold him to account. It has the power to overturn his recommendations if members are not happy with them.

The meeting, being held at County Hall in Dorchester, and will be screened live online by Dorset County Council – its first ever live web broadcast.

It can be viewed at www.dorsetforyou
.com/webcast from 10.30am, or follow tweets from our sister paper the Dorset Echo, which is covering the meeting, below.