Poor education 'makes police look incompetent' Mark Oliver and agencies
Tuesday November 1, 2005
Poor standards of education among police recruits may create the impression that officers are incompetent or "little better" academically than criminals, a new study says.
The former inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, who is one of the authors of the study, said today that he was shocked that police entrance exams were "way below" the standards of GCSEs.
The 150-page study, published tomorrow by the right-leaning thinktank Politeia, is highly critical of police recruitment and training.
It says low standards of education among officers may make routine tasks, such as writing reports, or rudimentary numeracy, more taxing than they would be for an "abler person".
Mr Woodhead, the former prisons inspector David Ramsbotham and the former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) Sir Anthony Burden, contributed to the study.
The low entrance requirements needed to join the police left officers ill-equipped to combat crime, Mr Woodhead said.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I was quite shocked at the entrance tests that police constables have to do. I mean, they are way below GCSEs, and we know that GCSE is not exactly a mind-stretching examination these days."
However, Mr Woodhead said police training should not necessarily become more academic.
"What we should be looking for, obviously enough, is young men and women with courage, integrity, common sense, the ability to seize the initiative in a threatening situation," he said.
"But nevertheless they have got to stand up in court and they have got to have the intelligence to be able to deal with a complex of facts."
He said that leadership needed to be improved throughout the police and that better recruitment could help solve this problem.
The Politeia report states that bright officers move on to careers elsewhere and that there is no separate scheme to "attract the high fliers".
The report, which comes at a time when the government is launching a series of police reforms, recommends the fast-tracking of university graduates.
The study of the 43 police forces in England and Wales also suggests that senior officers should be prepared to stand aside so the service can attract individuals from other professions.
Politeia's director, Sheila Lawlor, said: "The lessons from this study are grim."
But Surrey police's chief constable, Bob Quick, a spokesman for Acpo, dismissed the report as "behind the times".
He said: "Acpo rejects the sweeping criticism of police recruits, which will be offensive to many dedicated, hard-working and professional police officers.
"The overall standard has increased and the proportion of graduates entering the service is at 25%."
Mr Quick said that Acpo had already identified areas for significant reform in the employment structure of the police.
"Acpo has proposed a blueprint to the government," he said. "This includes introducing the fast-tracking of the most capable recruits through the service to key service delivery roles and to senior positions."
One of Acpo's proposals is for a new, advanced constable grade to "reflect the more technically demanding role of the frontline police constable", Mr Quick said.
"The proposals would do away with the progression based on time served, and introduce rewards based on qualifications and achievements."
Mr Quick said Acpo had also proposed the recruitment of pre-qualified professionals "with key skills that the police service needs, and overall the service will decrease its reliance on young, untried and untested recruits".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1606128,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704
