The Chief Constable of Northumbria Police, Sue Sim has said publicly that she was hurt by the jokes made about her appearance, as she led the hunt for Raoul Moat. This was the woman who had a lot to say, often about the fact she was in charge, whilst they couldn't find the man and who was responsible, ultimately for her officers deploying with unlicensed weapons.
But it is her feelings that she is most keen to talk about. In pointing out that the jibes were personal and nothing to do with her professional role she is entirely correct. Some of us are not that attractive. What you do have to be careful of though, is how you 'enhance' your image. Ms Sim seems to fall into the 'MMM' bracket - no Mum, no Mates, no Mirror. These are all sources of good advice.
What I particularly like though (and which points to her character flaws) is the way, having established that the remarks were hurtful, she says they referred to her as looking like Margaret Beckett. Now, that seems to me as though she is saying, 'good Lord that can't be true, Beckett is ugly'. Or the rejoinder that people wouldn't have thought to be nasty about her if she had been a short, fat man. Again, such people she seems to suggest actually would be deserving of the ridicule she received.
This woman is running a police force. A force that couldn't find Moat under their noses and walking the streets. A woman you cannot stop talking when nothing is happening and who suddenly becomes camera shy when the drama comes to a head. Was it her fault, her force's fault Moat shot himself? I doubt it, though there is a suspicion that they, like all other forces seemed rather too keen to force events, rather than sitting it out.
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