The Place of Ambition in the Police
| Published date | 01 October 1989 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8906200407 |
| Author | F. J. Wilkinson |
| Date | 01 October 1989 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Ch. Supt. F. J. Wilkinson
West Midlands Police
The Place of Ambition in the
Police
Abrief history of the problem of getting talent
at
the top
From the earliest days of the police, it has been a job with low status.
Dickenshasone of his nastier characterssay:"Canyousee the man of your
family who has more talent in his little finger than all the rest in their united
brains,dressedas a police officer without being ashamed? I took up with
this trade on purpose to shame you.
"1
The job of policing is to deal with
the most violent and dishonestmembers of society, and the nature of such
a
job
is in contradiction to the elements of social status.
As society has continued to become more complex, and as crime has
bccomeanincreasingly importantproblem,thequality of police leadership
has becomearecurrent concern. UntiltheTrenchardScheme in the 1930s,
the problem of whether there was enough talent within the police to
provide its leaders did not arise, as chief constables and commissioners
were appointed from outside, usually from the military. It is perhaps
paradoxical nowadays to regard Lord Trenchard as on the side
of
the
constable, but it was his scheme which led to the first chiefofficers who
'rose from the ranks' .
The, perhapsratherhalf-hearted,successorsto the TrenchardScheme
are the Special Course and the Graduate Entry Scheme, both founded in
the 1960s, when it was felt that the police were not getting their fair share
of able recruits, particularly graduates. In the 1970s, although crime
continued to rise, the concern about the standards of police leadership fell
more into the background, helped by the successful public image
of
Sir
Robert Mark. The concern about police corruption waned as effective
steps were taken against it, and the terrorist dramas were effectively dealt
with.In the 1980s demands on police management and leadership (a
distinction between these is made below) have been more fundamentally
difficult. More noticeably, perhaps, the accelerating pace
of
change has
reduced the service'sstability. The traumas
of
inner-city riots from 1981
onwards, the political opposition and the drive for greater accountability,
the apparently irresistible upward surge
of
crime, and the government
demands for economy, combine to presentachallenge perhaps as great as
any the service has previously faced.
It
was natural in this situation that renewed attention should be paid
to the standard
of
police leadership, and the need to recruit and develop
officers with the qualities needed for that leadership. In 1984 a seminar
at the Police StaffCollege on Police Extended Interviews was attended by
Home Office officials headed by Douglas Hurd (then Minister
of
State),
October 1989 303
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