Police have two new assistant chief constables

Jeremy Paine (50), who has been acting ACC in Sussex since July 2006, joined the Force in 1979 as a PC in Bexhill.

His rise through the ranks has taken in Hastings, Brighton, Hove and Crawley and included service with CID, personnel and operations.

As the detective chief superintendent head of HQ CID, he became familiar to millions of viewers as a police presenter on BBC TV's long-running Crimewatch programme.

Most recently, he has been Head of Operations, where he was planning co-ordinator for Op Otter, the policing of the Labour Party conference in Brighton, and Commander of Brighton and Hove Division.

Ch Supt Robin Merrett (46) joins Sussex from the Metropolitan Police where for the past few months he has been Head of Modernising Operations, leading force-wide projects involving patrol, response and the operational change programme for the new communications strategy, C3i.

He has specialist sex offender and drugs crime experience and also took a role in the development of a number of key personnel policies and reports.

He joined the Met in 1983 and has served at stations across the capital, most recently as the Borough Commander at Bexley with responsibility for over 600 personnel.

The two officers fill the vacancies created by the retirements of ACCs Tony Toynton and Nigel Yeo last year and complete the senior officer team of Chief Constable Joe Edwards, Deputy Chief Constable Geoff Williams and Director of Resources, David Horne.