Interviews

Police recruit plans

by Mark Rowe

New proposals to allow people to join the police force without starting at constable rank have been queried by a rank and file police body.

The public could be put at risk if those without policing experience parachuted into the police, the Police Federation fears. Steve White, vice-chair of the Police Federation, said his fear was how someone without policing experience would tackle major incidents.

“You have to look at the risk to the public, at a superintendent level you could be overseeing a public order incident, football match or firearms situation – would you want a manager from a supermarket dealing with that? Until you have turned up to a domestic incident, had to deal with a road traffic accident and spoken to the family of someone who has died or been injured, you don’t know what it takes to be a cop.”

Police recruits could also be fast-tracked into the inspector rank within three years and those under the direct entry scheme entering the superintendent rank would only have to complete 16 months of training. The Federation pointed to a scheme already in place which helps talented candidates to fast-track into senior ranks service, called the High Potential Development Scheme. Mr White criticised the moves also outlined in the Winsor reforms, to reduce a starting constables’ salary by £4,000 to £19,000 as attracting the brightest and best candidates into the service.

The Home Office said that all recruits to the police have to start at the lowest rank and work their way up, meaning new recruits have to serve at least 20 years before becoming a chief constable. Tom Winsor, in his independent review of police pay and conditions, recommended allowing skilled applicants from outside policing to join at inspector, superintendent or chief constable level.

The Home Office accepted his recommendations in principle and launched a consultation to seek views. The consultation considers four main objectives for the future of the police force. It asks contributors to the consultation to consider how the proposals would make policing:

open and connected to the public
representative of the communities it serves
attract the brightest and the best candidates
have the right skills, expertise and professionalism.

Damian Green, pictured, Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice, said: ‘This government wants to attract the very best candidates into policing, people who have the right skills and expertise to forge a force fit for the 21st century. By opening up the police to a wider pool of talent, forces will be able to bring in people with diverse backgrounds and new perspectives.

‘Combined with the strong leaders already working in forces, and the improved nurturing of internal talent through the College of Policing, we will have a police force that is even better at fighting crime.’

The consultation document also asks contributors to consider the potential benefits of allowing direct entry to the police and fast-tracking the best officers to senior management roles. It could:

enhance the police’s ability to attract the brightest and the best individuals as officers in a competitive labour market
widen the talent pool from which leaders can be selected and focus on the need for excellent leadership skills
open up the culture of the organisation
bring particular skills and experiences which those wanting to embark on a second career in the police would bring
The consultation on direct entry to the police force is on the Home Office website until 28 March.

For the Association of Chief Police Officers, ACPO lead on workforce development Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy said: “ACPO welcomes the opportunity to be involved in this consultation. We agree that it is vital that we attract and develop those best able to provide leadership and ensure the protection of the public. Chief officers have argued for radical workforce reform, including changes to the way staff are rewarded and trained and many of those ideas were accepted by the Winsor report but have yet to be implemented.

“All chief constables have served on the beat, experiencing the reality of day to day operational policing with the public. This is the model used by other countries who have followed the British system such as the USA. Bill Bratton, former chief of New York started this way. The direct entry officer class model tends to be followed by para-military police forces such as the French CRS or the Italian Carabinieri.

“ACPO has no problem with bringing in expertise from outside and in many forces up to fifty per cent of staff are non police officers. Every force has senior civilian staff in top leadership positions in such fields as human resources, finance and IT. On the other hand such matters as firearms operations, murder investigations and dealing with public disorder are commanded by those with proven expertise and records of achievement.

“In general police forces are not short of talent. In fact a bigger challenge is dealing with ambitious staff frustrated by the lack of promotion opportunities. Bringing people in from outside to senior leadership positions will obviously make that more difficult. There will be questions about how any direct entry scheme will work in practise, how it can be afforded and whether those already in the Service can apply. Chief officers are not resistant to change but this one scheme will not bring about the degree of reform required.

“Chief officers have delivered the budget reductions asked of them while maintaining the protection of the public, demonstrating techniques of business transformation and change management which show the service is not short of these skills.”

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