CHILTERN Vale's police chief, Supt Rob Beckley, is leaving this month in a move which may lead to a chief constable's uniform.

Supt Beckley, 40, joined the force at 25 and has worked in the High Wycombe area for four years. He has been area commander of Chiltern Vale the best job he has ever had, he says for two.

Now he is soon to start a crucial six-month strategic command course which all aspiring assistant chief constables have to go through, after which he will be able to apply for top jobs.

New area commander will be Supt Charles Nelson, an Oxford graduate who has been on secondment to the police inspectorate. He has been a policeman for 26 years and is married with three children.

Supt Beckley said: "People like to see continuity and to move on after two years as area commander, just as people get to know you and you are making progress I have mixed feelings. I have really got to admire and respect those I work with in Bucks."

He is married to consultant pathologist Dr Sue Slater. They have two sons, aged three and 18 months and live in Beaconsfield.

He doesn't seem your macho type of policeman. He joined the force because he wanted to help people and he thinks that's why most people join.

It can be a difficult life. "The police are dealing with problems all the time and have to guard against cynicism. Police come to think of crime as a norm and forget that most people don't see the side of life that we do."

He sees part of his job as encouraging officers to be optimistic, not cynical.

Mr Beckley started in the Met, working in Earls Court, Brixton and Southall before moving to race relations at Scotland Yard.

This was before the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report and the expression 'institutional racism'.

Mr Beckley is not happy with this description. Officers took the labelling personally, he said, and were damaged by it.

But he agrees the police have to think differently and try to move outside their own culture:

"In Wycombe we have good networks in the white community but if you look at the Asians we haven't got the same network and so don't operate as effectively."

In Chiltern Vale he is pleased with the work that has been done with police, teachers, housing departments and others working together to both cut crime and look for its causes.

"Wycombe used to be quite intimidating, but it's improved beyond measure," he said.