Director of Finance Stephen Howarth

Stephen studied for a BSc in Economics at the London School of Economics and on graduation joined Worcestershire County Council. He qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in 1978.

Stephen joined the West Mercia in 1985 as Financial Manager and was promoted to the chief officer role of Director of Finance in 1994. He reports directly to the Chief Constable for the finance, property services, information technology, vehicle fleet, procurement and resource management functions, and also acts as the force’s liaison officer with the Police Authority.

In 1989, Stephen became the first police civilian to attend the Senior Command Course and he is a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). He has undertaken a variety of national functions including being the financial advisor to the Automatic Fingerprint Recognition Consortium, a financial consultant to the Indonesian National Police and a financial advisor to the South African Police Service.