Shropshire Divisional Commander Biography

Chief Superintendent Andy Rowsell

Andy has spent all of his police service with West Mercia Police, joining in 1987 as a probationer at Ludlow and then serving a four year stint as a detective constable at Leominster.

He then returned to Ludlow as a uniformed sergeant for 18 months before moving to Worcester in 1996 where he worked both as a uniformed and detective sergeant and also fulfilled a secondment with the National Criminal Intelligence Service.

In 1999, he was promoted and transferred to Hereford where he worked both as a uniformed and detective inspector. Following promotion to chief inspector in 2002, he moved to Shrewsbury initially in uniform and then as detective chief inspector in charge of Shropshire's CID.

Two years later, he transferred to the Major Crime Investigations Unit as a full time senior investigating officer running many murder and other serious crime inquiries. In 2005, he was promoted to detective superintendent and has remained at force headquarters as a senior investigations officer.

In recent years, his investigative skills have assisted with a number of major overseas crimes in the Middle East, West and South Africa.

Andy was promoted to chief superintendent and in December 2008 was posted to his current position as divisional commander for Shropshire.

Andy, who originally comes from Devon, is a keen sportsman having played rugby and cricket and now coaches a local rugby team. He also lists travelling among his other interests.