ACC Mark Callaghan

Mark Callaghan is the Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for Local Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice, Vulnerability and Strategic Partnerships.

He began his policing career with Greater Manchester Police, working in patrol, proactive drugs units, and covert operations. He developed experience tackling prolific offenders before qualifying as a Detective, investigating serious and complex crime within CID.

Following promotion, Mark returned to uniform policing, leading busy frontline teams, before moving back into specialist roles as a Detective Sergeant in covert policing and later leading an intelligence-led neighbourhood tasking unit.

Mark transferred to Dorset Police in 2006 as a Sergeant, working across patrol and investigations. He has since held a wide range of leadership roles, including positions within the Chief Officer Team, Force Command Centre, Intelligence Directorate, Serious and Complex Investigations, Proactive Policing, and Serious and Organised Crime.

As Detective Chief Superintendent and Commander for Crime and Criminal Justice, he led functions spanning major crime, public protection, cybercrime, intelligence, custody, and criminal justice. He later served as Territorial Policing Commander, overseeing patrol, neighbourhood policing, prevention, and incident resolution.

Temporarily Promoted to Assistant Chief Constable in 2019, Mark held force-wide responsibility for Territorial Policing, Operational Support, Prevention, and Crime & Criminal Justice. He also completed a national secondment as Deputy Programme Director for the Transforming Forensics Programme and took on additional in Force responsibilities for People, Partnerships, and Transformation. He was appointed to his current role as a Substantive ACC in 2023.

Mark is a Strategic Firearms Commander, Multi-Agency Gold Commander, and Public Order Gold Commander. He holds a Master’s degree (MSt) in Police Leadership and Management.

Regionally, he leads on Children and Young People and Facial Recognition. Nationally, he chairs the Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigators group and co-chairs the Professionalising Investigation Programme (PIP) Board with the College of Policing.