'I could be successful commissioner'

“FromMendip.

Former military men did head City forces - it was not restricted to the County. Norman Frost was such a man, Chief Constable of Bristol in the 50's. And a good 'un.”

“The role of Police and Crime Commissioner will be one more step in the Police becoming political tools if candidates are put forward from the main stream parties.

British Police have always prided themselves on being apolitical although Margaret Thatcher started the rot when she used the Police to break the miners strike. Any political appointee will further narrow the divide between Police and state.”

“Solomon,

You are confusing the commissioner's role with that of a chief constable.

I accept that the name is confusing for a start because the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police is a police officer and its operational head, whereas the new police and crime commissioners are one-person replacements for police authorities who currently decide who is to be their chief constable and provide an overview of a force on behalf of the public.

Police and crime commissioners, like the current police authorities, have no operational role.

Most chief constables, like most policemen, did have some sort of military experience in the distant past, mainly through wartime service or national service.

There was certainly a time when many county police forces had retired senior military officers (usually with no previous police experience) as their chief constable, but this rarely if ever applied to city or borough police forces whose chief constables were invariably career police officers who had risen through the ranks.

An exception was the Metropolitan Police whose commissioners had been lawyers, senior civil servants or retired senior military officers until 1958 when Sir Joseph Simpson became the first man to have risen from the ranks in the UK police service to become Met Commissioner. Since then all commissioners have been career policemen, and in the next few years we are likely to see the first career policewomen as Met Commissioner.

Military experience isn't a prerequisite to be a successful chief constable. Until twenty years or so ago there were many independently-minded chief constables who had risen through the police system who ran their forces very well and accepted little political interference.

Nowadays, most chief constables are little more than senior civil servants who kow-tow to governmental political dictat in a way that would have been anathema to their predecessors.
Sadly, the same applies to senior military officers.”

“Hopefully one of the applicants will have a military background - essential in this role in my opinion.
Chief Constables used to have military experience but no longer - and universities are NOT good experience of life. The results are apparent.”