Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and ...

Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and Conditions – Final Report
3.0.2 This Chapter first discusses the current recruitment standards for constables in terms of
competencies, academic qualifications, age and physical attributes, and sets them in the
context of police recruitment processes of the past. The Chapter’s second section considers the
recruitment and development of future leaders of the police, with an examination of current
approaches to leadership development in the police and other organisations. It then considers
and makes recommendations in relation to direct entry at higher ranks.
3.1 Entry Standards
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Background
History
3.1.1 In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, there was considerable public hostility to and anxiety
about the establishment of a police force at all. Public debate concentrated on the dangers
which would be realised if a police force of the kind so brutally used as an instrument of state
oppression of the citizenry and terror in the French Revolution were established in England.
There were loudly expressed concerns that the police would be indistinguishable from a standing
army and ‘a dangerous innovation and an encroachment on the rights and security of the people’ 1 .
3.1.2 Although by 1829 much of the opposition had calmed, when the Metropolitan Police was
established by the Metropolitan Police Act 1829, the decision was taken to minimise the
parallels that could be drawn between the police and the army. The new police force had to
demonstrate that it was not a standing army, and its founders aimed to create “a homogeneous
and democratic body, in tune with the people, understanding the people, belonging to the
people and drawing its strength from the people” 2 . One of the ways in which this was achieved
was through a policy decision to avoid the two-tier system of recruitment which existed in
the army, with a clear divide between officers and the men in the ranks 3 . Instead, it recruited
men who were literate but “who had not the rank, habits or station of gentlemen” 4 . The first
regulations required recruits to be under 35 years of age, to be of good physique, at least five
feet seven inches tall and of good character 5 . The turnover of officers was initially extremely
high, largely because of insobriety 6 . The desired calibre of recruits was reflected in the levels
of pay offered. The wages of a constable were set to deter former army officers, but to attract
former warrant officers and non-commissioned officers 7 . Applications from former officers in
the armed forces and those with influence with the government were generally refused.
3.1.3 During the 1830s, police forces began to be established outside London, with police forces
in the towns being created under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 and the County Police
Act 1839 establishing police forces in rural areas. Using the powers in the County Police Act
1839, a uniform system of regulations for county forces was drawn up by the Home Secretary,
Lord Normanby. These regulations set out the minimum national recruitment standards for a
constable, which were similar to those already used by the Metropolitan Police. Police officers
had to be under 40 years of age, at least five feet seven inches tall, able to read, write and
keep accounts, and be in good health 8 . The average age of police officers at recruitment was
26 in the middle decades of the 19 th century 9 and, as in London, most officers came from the
‘labouring classes’ 10 .
1 English Local Government, Sidney & Beatrice Webb, Vol 1 (1906), page 576; The English Police: A Political and Social
History, C. Emsley, Harlow, 1991, page 26
2 Critchley, page 52
3 ibid. page 52
4 Mr Secretary Peel, N. Gash, London, 1961, page 492, cited in Critchley, page 52
5 Critchley, page 52
6 ibid. page 54
7 ibid. page 52
8 Rules made by the Marquess of Normanby for establishing an uniform system for the government, pay, clothing,
accoutrements and necessaries for constables, 7 December 1839, Whitehall, Form A
9 Select Committee on Police Superannuation Funds, P.P., Volume XV, Session 1877. Evidence of Mr W. Farr, cited in
Critchley, page 145
10 ibid. page 145