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Police entrance tests "well below GCSE" - report
Enlarge imageBy Matthew Jones
LONDON (Reuters) - Entrance tests for the police force are so easy that many officers struggle with tasks like competently giving evidence in court or marshalling facts, a think-tank said on Tuesday.
"I was quite shocked looking at the entrance tests that police constables have to do -- they are well below GCSE and you know GCSE is not exactly a mind-stretching examination these days," said Chris Woodhead, a former chief inspector of schools and one of the authors of the Politeia report.
"There are also issues about how we identify and train the top police officers of the future," he told BBC radio.
"They have got to stand up in court and they have got to have the intelligent nous to be able to deal with complex facts."
The report said higher recruitment standards should be introduced, bureaucracy should be cut and the quality of leadership improved.
Woodhead said strong candidates were put off joining the police by "top-down bureaucracy".
The report, whose co-writers include Anthony Burden, a former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), David Ramsbottom, a former prisons inspector and Anthony Howlett Bolton, a former deputy chief constable in Bedfordshire said fundamental changes are needed.
"The police suffer, like other public services, .....continued below
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from the triple scourge of an inflated bureaucracy, rigid targets, and initiatives designed to serve the purposes of their political masters," the report said.More graduates needed to be attracted and bright recruits retained.
However, ACPO dismissed the report saying it was "behind the times."
"ACPO has identified that the employment structure needs significant reform and has proposed a blueprint to the government which includes introducing fast-tracking of the most capable recruits," said Bob Quick, Chief Constable of Surrey.
In London, the Metropolitan Police Service has already introduced a joint mentoring scheme that matches senior business and police leaders.
Leadership Exchange London was set up in 2001 and brings together senior business and police leaders to exchange expertise on management issues.
By Matthew Jones
LONDON (Reuters) - Entrance tests for the police force are so easy that many officers struggle with tasks like competently giving evidence in court or marshalling facts, a think-tank said on Tuesday.
"I was quite shocked looking at the entrance tests that police constables have to do -- they are well below GCSE and you know GCSE is not exactly a mind-stretching examination these days," said Chris Woodhead, a former chief inspector of schools and one of the authors of the Politeia report.
"There are also issues about how we identify and train the top police officers of the future," he told BBC radio.
"They have got to stand up in court and they have got to have the intelligent nous to be able to deal with complex facts."
The report said higher recruitment standards should be introduced, bureaucracy should be cut and the quality of leadership improved.
Woodhead said strong candidates were put off joining the police by "top-down bureaucracy".
The report, whose co-writers include Anthony Burden, a former president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), David Ramsbottom, a former prisons inspector and Anthony Howlett Bolton, a former deputy chief constable in Bedfordshire said fundamental changes are needed.
"The police suffer, like other public services, from the triple scourge of an inflated bureaucracy, rigid targets, and initiatives designed to serve the purposes of their political masters," the report said.
More graduates needed to be attracted and bright recruits retained.
However, ACPO dismissed the report saying it was "behind the times."
"ACPO has identified that the employment structure needs significant reform and has proposed a blueprint to the government which includes introducing fast-tracking of the most capable recruits," said Bob Quick, Chief Constable of Surrey.
In London, the Metropolitan Police Service has already introduced a joint mentoring scheme that matches senior business and police leaders.
Leadership Exchange London was set up in 2001 and brings together senior business and police leaders to exchange expertise on management issues.
© 2008 Reuters Click for restrictions
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