FIFE’S SENIOR police officer hangs up his handcuffs at the weekend after seven years in charge of the region’s constabulary.

Peter Wilson officially retires as chief constable at midnight on Sunday, with his deputy Norma Graham taking over on a temporary basis until the post is filled.

That could be as soon as next Friday, when Fife Council’s appointments panel meets to consider who should fill his post and take charge of the force’s 1083 officers, 543 civilian staff and 135 special constables.

A native of Edinburgh, Mr Wilson (54) joined the city’s police service in 1973 and served throughout the capital and further afield when the enlarged force took on the mantle of Lothians and Borders Police.

He graduated in law at Edinburgh University in 1983 and a large part of his service was spent in the CID, both in operational duties and as head of the fraud squad.

In 1988, Mr Wilson was the officer in charge of the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System incident room at the Lockerbie incident control centre and five years later was seconded to the Inspectorate of Constabulary before returning to Lothians and Borders as detective chief superintendent in 1995.

Mr Wilson completed his diploma in applied criminology at Cambridge University in 1996 and the following year was appointed assistant chief constable of Grampian Police, being promoted to deputy chief constable 18 months later. He was also awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 1999.

He was appointed Fife’s chief constable in April, 2001, and, over the years, has successfully overseen a variety of high-profile and challenging events.

Perhaps his most memorable year was in 2005 when Prince William graduated from St Andrews University, the town hosted the Open Golf Championship and the G8 summit took place at Gleneagles, where he was in charge of 10,000 police officers.

Mr Wilson, who lives in Limekilns with his wife Linda and has a grown-up daughter Fiona and son Euan (soon to be the father of twins) was appointed president of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland in the same year.

Speaking as he prepared to leave office, Mr Wilson recalled some remarkable changes and challenging policing experiences over the course of his career.

“You cannot forget the amazing learning you experienced as a young naive 19-year-old, confronted with the best and worst of human behaviour, yet 35 years on, with a world of policing experience behind you, you look back at the astonishing changes in technology that have taken place, that have radically changed the expectations of, and delivery of, policing.”

“I have met an enormous variety of people during my service and played a small part in some significant events such as the Lockerbie inquiry and G8.

“These will remain wonderful memories which in due course I will take great pride in relating to my grandchildren.”

Mr Wilson added, “I have very much enjoyed my seven years in Fife and in that time there have been lots of exciting things which kept my focus and attention.

“In this job, you never know what is going to happen next. There have been really good things, but also some absolute tragedies.”

He wished all in the force success for the future.