A LAUNCESTON woman has been appointed as the new Commander in Cornwall.

Chief Superintendent Elaine Marshall, youngest daughter of Mrs Cynthia West and the late Mr Tom West of Broad Park, Launceston, commenced her new role on December 20.

Since joining Devon and Cornwall Constabulary in October 1980 Elaine, a former pupil of Launceston College, has worked in North Devon, Plymouth and Penzance where she has had responsibility for a number of key projects including leading on the 1996 Nicola Parsons murder investigation in Plymouth for which Andrew McKinley is now serving life imprisonment.

Ch Supt Marshall graduated from Exeter University with a Masters Degree and completed the Wolfson Programme at Cambridge University.

Ch Supt Marshall has pledged to put neighbourhood policing at the heart of her priorities and has vowed to tackle "unnecessary" paperwork and bureaucracy to enable her officers to spend more time on the frontline, patrolling their communities.

Fifty five extra police officers will be stationed in all parts of the county under an initiative to free up some 200 "non-frontline" posts and put more officers on Cornwall's streets.

Chief Superintendent Elaine Marshall said: "I am incredibly pleased and honoured to be taking on this role. I am looking forward to developing the good work that has been undertaken over the past few years."