Initial Police Training in England and Wales, 1945 – 2009

Initial Police Training in England and Wales, 1945 – 2009 Shauna Mary Peacock Doctorate in Education University of East Anglia School of Education 31st May 2010 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with the author and that no quotation from the thesis, nor any information derived therefrom, may be published without the author’s prior, written consent.” © Abstract A thematic inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in 2002 concluded that dramatic changes needed to be made to the training of police recruits to reflect the policing needs of the twenty-first century. The training, it reported, had not changed since the end of the Second World War. This thesis charts the developments of Initial Police Training from 1945 until 2009. Each chapter represents a decade of continuity and change in the training programme. Whilst there is much emphasis on the programme of the time there is reference to the social and political issues impacting on the development of police training. Policing cannot be conducted without the support of the community and the links between the service and the public they serve are evident throughout the research. Initial police training has not been a major field of academic endeavour and the little that has been written is often focussed on the significant change to probationer training made in the 1980’s as a result of work conducted by the University of East Anglia. This thesis presents the continuity and change in the training since the Second World War to the present day. It concludes with a summary of the issues still facing those with responsibility for the development and management of training for future police officers. The research was conducted predominantly with the use of documentary evidence from a range of sources from the report of the committee tasked with reconstructing the police service following the Second World War through to newsletters from the latest training modernisation group. The documentary research is supplemented by interviews with key players in the most recent developments in initial police training. 2 Contents Page Numbers Acknowledgements 6 Chapter One Introduction to Initial Police Training 7 Terminology 7 Why is the history of police training important? 9 Research Methods 13 Is this just about training? 18 The journey 20 Chapter Two The 1940’s – The Birth of Initial Police Training 22 The reconstitution of police forces 22 Staffing during the war 24 Recruitment 27 District Police Training Centres 30 Instructors 33 Summary 34 Chapter Three The 1950’s – The First Major Review of Post War Probationer Training 35 Review of Probationer Training 1954 35 The Nature of the Review 36 The Programme 38 Intakes 41 Standards and Teaching Styles 42 Instructors 46 Tutor Constables 47 Why Review Probationer Training Now? 49 Central Committee on Common Police Services 50 The Development of the Police Service in the 1950’s 52 Chapter Four ‘The Swinging Sixties’ 55 3 Police Recruit Training 55 The Programme in the 1960’s 61 Study Methods 63 Instructors 66 Chapter Five Initial Police Training in the 1970’s 68 The Introduction of Change 68 Systems Approach to Training 70 The Working Party on Police Probationer Training 74 The Pilot Courses – Trialling the Change 76 Initial Course 76 Managing Change 80 The Induction Course 83 Local Procedures Courses 84 Race Relations Training 85 Home Defence and Major Emergencies 85 General Probationer Training In Forces 85 Continuation Course 86 Context of Policing at the Time 86 Chapter Six The 1980’s View of Initial Police Training 89 Why Change? 89 The Scarman Report 92 Outcomes of Scarman Report in Relation to Police Training 95 Stage II Review – 1984 – 1986 98 The New Programme 105 The Organisational View of the Programme and Style of Training 106 Chapter Seven The 1990’s, Throwing the Baby Out 110 Pressures on Training Staff 110 The Creation of National Police Training 113 Probationer Training Review 1994 – 1996 113 4 The Findings of the Review 115 Conclusion of the Review 120 Proposals for the Future 121 The New Programme 124 The Outline of the Programme 126 Developments in Finance and Management of Training 127 Managing Learning 128 Chapter Eight The New Millennium 133 Change of Controlling Body 133 Training Matters 136 Impact of Policing Plan and Training Matters On Initial Police Training 138 Developing the New Programme of Probationer Training 139 Crisis at Centrex 142 The Roll Out of the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme 144 What Does the Future Hold? 147 Chapter Nine In Conclusion 149 The Culture Trap 149 Is Training the Engine or the Guard Van? 152 Why Keep Making Changes? 156 All Change 160 Continuity and Change 162 A New Door Opens as One Closes 166 Where Do We Go Now? 168 Appendix A Communication between Birmingham and Norfolk 1930 concerning training agreements 172 Appendix B District Training Centres 174 Bibliography 179 5 Acknowledgements My thanks go to those who gave their time for interview, Mr Robin Field-Smith, Mr Martin Richards, Professor John Elliott and Mr Terry George. Their enthusiasm for the training of new police officers provided me with inspiration at times when I was flagging. Professor Nigel Norris my supervisor also gave time for interview but more importantly provided encouragement and support through some very difficult times during my research, particularly when I suffered ill health. For this I am most grateful. Most importantly I could not have completed this research without the patience and love of my husband Tim. He has endured much discussion about the history of police training, proof read hundreds of pages, dealt with all my technological problems and cooked many sustaining meals. I cannot thank him enough for putting up with my studies for five out of the six years of our marriage. The memory of my late father, a police officer, has also kept me going through this study as I learnt so much about his career by researching the history of the training he completed and how policing changed through his service 1954 – 1979. 6 Chapter One – Introduction to Initial Police Training The publication of ‘Training Matters’, the report of a thematic inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in 2002, stated that police probationer training had not changed significantly since the Second World War and was not fit for twenty-first century policing. As a consequence of that report the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) was created for new police officers to complete. This was launched throughout England and Wales1 in 2006. As a police officer working as a training manager I was tasked with implementing IPLDP for Norfolk Constabulary. I had experienced earlier training programmes as a recruit, a trainer and a training supervisor. Although an ‘insider’ I was not fully aware of why changes to the programme had been made over the decades and the observation by HMIC led me to explore why, despite there being several changes made to probationer training, it was still considered that the product was not fit for contemporary policing. Terminology As an insider I have already started to use terms that are perhaps not familiar to the ‘outsider’. When someone first becomes a police officer they complete what is known as the probationary period and the officer is known as a probationer. Probation is defined in the dictionary as ‘a trial period in which a person’s fitness for membership in a working or social group is tested.’ This is exactly what happens for two years for a police officer. Since the Second World War the tests have changed, both legislatively and procedurally in terms of operational policing. The means for testing that ‘fitness’ has also changed during that time. After an initial period of training in the 1940’s officers were partnered with more experienced officers who would show the new recruit the ‘ropes’. As time progressed, these experienced officers started to receive training in how to best impart their knowledge and tutor the new recruit in the operational skills of the role. In more recent times, the methods of assessment of the new officers skills have developed along with the means of recording those assessments. 1 Although the Metropolitan Police Service adopted IPLDP, it had conducted its own training programme prior to that, so reference to England and Wales for purposes of this research excludes the Metropolitan Police Service. 7 The phrase ‘initial training’ covers the whole of the probationary period in the context of this thesis, however some references to initial training in official reports means purely the first course within those two years. Over the decades the number of courses a probationer attends on joining the police service has altered both in terms of time periods and at varying time slots within the probation. The reasons for those changes and the impact it had on the development of the police officers and the police service as a whole are documented over the following chapters. The starting point for this research was 1945; the thematic report establishing that the training had not changed significantly since the Second World War led me to explore what training was like at that time. Prior to the War the training of new police officers was a haphazard affair, with only some of the forces having their own training centre. Those without facilities called on other forces to train their officers. Appendix A contains written communication between Norfolk Police Authority and the City of Birmingham in negotiating the training of the Norfolk police officers. The document gives little detail in terms of the training the officers would undergo.

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