Commentary
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7104400101 |
| Date | 01 January 1971 |
| Published date | 01 January 1971 |
| Subject Matter | Commentary |
The Size of the Job
Mr. Walter Stansfield, Chief Constable of Derby County and
Borough, and his Police Authority, are to be congratulated on a
valuable public relations measure. They have produced in booklet
form, with stylish illustrations and diagrams, a"quick and com-
pelling guide to the manpower position in the force
and
the over-
whelming volume of work with which we are dealing compared
with the position ageneration ago".
The booklet deals in hard facts
and
inescapable realities. In 1971,
it is pointed out, each officer in the force will be working an annual
total of 206 days, as compared with 222 in 1949. Reductions in the
working week, increased annual leave, training
and
specialist com-
mitments expanding, make the small increase in actual numbers
serving barely equal to the total man-hours being worked 20 years
ago. With the vast increase in police work since then, ground is
slowly being lost.
The force finds recruitment difficult. In 1949 the county and
borough forces recruited 103applicants; in 1969, 112were recruited.
The latter figure must be taken against a deficiency of 24·5
per
cent
on authorised
establishment-and
authorised establishment is some
300 officers short of the number the Chief Constable and Police
Authority consider necessary for the efficient policing of their area.
They
also
observe
that
1949 candidates for appointment were
usually in their middle twenties: nowadays a high proportion are
19-year-old cadets. The Service thus has to cope with a lack
of
experience of life in its new entrants which was not the case 20 years
ago.
Civilian staff, of course, has increased. The 65 civilians of 1949
are 229 today,
but
the civilian establishment is 433, and the point is
well made in the booklet
that
expansion here would make a better
career structure to attract and retain civilian employees as well
increase the support they could give in the administrative, technical
and
mechanical work. More civilians would make it possible to
release more officers to the operational duties
Which
only trained
policemen and policewomen can perform.
The crime position alone should alert the public to the folly of
spending too little on the police. In 1949 the county and borough
January 1971 1
To continue reading
Request your trial