John Vine to carry on in top immigration policing role

A former Tayside Police chief constable has accepted an offer from the home secretary to extend his tenure in a top immigration role.

Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Vine was initially appointed to his post in 2008 and tasked with setting up an inspectorate to look at the UK’s borders and immigration functions.

In the five years since, he has led the development of the ICIBI into a fully functional and effective inspectorate.

He recently ruffled feathers when he discovered an “unacceptable” backlog of more than 16,000 cases and urged the agency to deal with them swiftly.

Mr Vine was previously chief constable of Tayside Police from 2000 to 2008.

He said: “I am pleased that I will be continuing as Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration until July 2015.”

Mr Vine led the policing operation for the G8 World Leaders’ Summit at Gleneagles in 2005.

He was president of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland in 2003-2004 and awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for distinguished service and a CBE in 2007.