Assistant Chief Constable Joanna Maal

Joanna joined South Wales Police in 1995 and spent the first 14 years of her service gaining vital operational experience in uniform, as well as detective roles in the Criminal Investigation Department, the National Crime Squad, and the Counter Terrorism Unit.

In the following years Joanna gained promotion in a variety of operational roles and in 2016 was promoted to Superintendent in the Justice Services department. She was subsequently appointed as Superintendent of operations in Cardiff, holding responsibility for all aspects of operational policing in the Welsh capital, and lead for the organisational response to tackling knife crime.

Joanna was promoted to Chief Superintendent in 2019 and posted to Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot as the local policing Commander. 

Joanna is currently an accredited Strategic / Gold commander in firearms, CBRNE (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Explosive) and multi-agency incident command disciplines, and holds a Master’s degree in Police Leadership and Management from Warwick University.

In her role as Head of Corporate Services, Joanna has led and managed organisational change, and also had responsibility and leadership of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion function for the organisation.

Having worked as a chief officer in a temporary capacity in recent years, Joanna was successful in attendance and completion of the Strategic Command Course in 2022 and was substantively promoted to Assistant Chief Constable with responsibility for local policing in January 2023.

Joanna is married, and, having represented Wales in athletics in her youth, she continues to have a keen interest in keeping fit, running, playing hockey and skiing.