Policing at the Top : The Roles, Values and Attitudes of Chief Police Officers

Chief police officers are often shadowy enigmas, even to members of their own forces, yet they make far-reaching strategic command decisions about policing, armed responses, operations against criminals and allocation of resources. What is their background? Where do they come from? How are chief officers selected? What do they think of those who hold them to account? Where do they stand on direct entry at different levels and what do they think of a National Police Force? Bryn Caless has had privileged access to this occupational elite and presents their frank and sometimes controversial views in this ground-breaking social study, which will fascinate serving officers, students of the police, academic commentators, journalists and social scientists, as well as concerned citizens who want to understand those who command our police forces. The world of the chief police officer is not clearly understood, even by those within policing, or by those who have formal and political oversight of police command. The police themselves argue that the only way to understand strategic command in the police is to do it, but that cannot be sustained as an argument for ignorance. The author of this book, with a background in governance and policing, had privileged access to this shadowy elite, and on the basis of confidential one-to-one interviews, obtained the frank and sometimes controversial, invariably robust views of serving chief police officers. The book, often using the chief officers' own words but also providing critical analysis of a high order, examines how chief police officers are selected, groomed, assessed and appointed. The book explores their views on those who hold them to account, what they think of the challenges of ‘post-modern’ policing, of each other and of the system they command. It takes them into uncomfortable areas such as work-life balance and whether they are privately uneasy about what they do, what they want policing to be and how future generations will be policed Chief Police Officers Make Far-reaching Strategic Command Decisions About Policing, Armed Responses, Operations Against Criminals And Allocation Of Resources Yet They Are Often Unknown Even To Their Forces. In This Social Study, Bryn Caless Presents Their Frank And Sometimes Controversial Views--publisher's Description. 1 Cloning Or Culture? The Selection And Appointment Of Chief Officers 11 -- 2 'the Golden Finger': Getting And Keeping The Top Jobs 43 -- 3 The Challenge Of Leadership In The Police 81 -- 4 Oversight And Chief Officers' Relationships With Police Authorities, Directly Elected Police Crime Commissioners, Hmic And The Home Office 119 -- 5 On The Nature Of Experience And Exclusivity: The Police 'closed Shop' 177 -- 6 The Future Of Policing 207. Bryn Caless. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Chief police officers make far-reaching strategic command decisions about policing, armed responses, operations against criminals and allocation of resources yet they are often unknown even to their forces. In this ground-breaking social study, Bryn Caless presents their frank and sometimes controversial views.