Nick Adderley

Nick Adderley (born 20 September 1966) is a senior British police officer, who is Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police.

Adderley grew up in New Moston, Manchester.

Adderley joined the Royal Navy in 1984 and left after serving for less than two years.

He joined Cheshire Constabulary in 1992 at the age of 25 as a police constable.

He then took a break from the Police Service but has claimed to have worked in the public sector work in the Home Office for 2 years at the Police Standards Unit on secondment as a Chief Inspector.

According to the response to a Freedom of Information Act request, Adderley worked for the Home Office from February to October 2006.

Adderley was also reported serving as a Chief Inspector within Cheshire in August 2006.

He later transferred to the GMP, where was promoted to Chief Superintendent in August 2011.

In September 2013, he became the territorial commander of the North Manchester Division; keeping the same rank.

In 2015 he was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable at Staffordshire Police after completing his Strategic Command Course.

On 6 August 2018, Adderley became Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police.

He is also the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) national lead for disclosure and safeguarding as well as for motorcycling and criminal use of motorcycles.

In 2019 Adderley was involved in the investigation of the death of Harry Dunn in a motor-cycle crash, where a suspect, the wife of a U.S. intelligence officer, claimed diplomatic immunity and left the United Kingdom.

Adderley was criticised for a tweet he made about Dunn's parents' decision to sue the suspect in the U.S. civil courts.

The parents called for his resignation, and referred Northamptonshire Police to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

The Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold spoke to Adderley about the tweet and said that the force's communications should "remain professional and sensitive".

In April 2020, Adderley was rebuked by Home Secretary Priti Patel after controversial comments regarding his department's response to COVID-19 received wide media attention.

He had stated at a press conference that while his police would not, "at this stage, start to marshal supermarkets and [check] the items in baskets and trolleys to see whether it's a legitimate necessary item", that if people did not heed his warnings, "we will start to do that".

Patel declared that his comments had been "inappropriate".

Adderley subsequently backed away from the threatened policing shift.

In February 2023 Adderley temporarily retired from Northamptonshire Police due to return in April 2023.

This was due to pension arrangements limiting the tenability of continuing in the role without the break.

Adderley was suspended on 16 October 2023 as part of a gross misconduct investigation, overseen by the IOPC.

On 29 September 2023 it was reported in the British media that Adderley had been wearing two campaign medals which he was not entitled to: the South Atlantic Medal for the Falklands War and the General Service Medal with Northern Ireland clasp.

This was despite Adderley himself being only 15 years old at the Falklands War.

A complaint was made to the office of the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, who in turn referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for their attention.

The explanation that Adderley provided was that they had been given to him by his brothers' to wear.

In response to the complaint, he "immediately took advice last week regarding the protocol and have changed the side of [his] chest on which these medals are worn."