PUBLIC SECTOR: Surrey Police looks outside for PR head

Surrey Police corporate development director Jane Harwood is looking outside the force for the first time to recruit a communications and marketing head. The move comes with the planned departure of the current media head, chief inspector Peter Durston, and an expansion in the geographical area covered by the force. Harwood wants to draft in a PR professional with strategic skills to raise the profile of the force in the local and national press as well as to advise senior managers on effective media relations and crisis management. The position oversees an immediate team of six, including an internal communications manager, who in turn has professional responsibility for six internal communication officers around the county.