Who will be the new man at the Met?

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,340
1,650
113
The world's oldest police force, the Metropolitan Police of London, is looking for a new boss.

Who will it be?


Who's for the hot seat?

Dec 4th 2008
From The Economist print edition

London’s police force needs a new boss



Illustration by Claudio Munoz



THE Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, as London’s top bobby is grandly known, has a beat that goes beyond the capital. His £3.5 billion ($5.2 billion) budget and 50,000 staff are devoted partly to national matters: mainly countering terrorism, but also specialist jobs such as fighting fraud and protecting VIPs. Four times bigger than the next largest force, the Met matters to everyone.

Following the early exit of Sir Ian Blair, its most recent, embattled occupant, the £253,000-a-year post is now in play. Applications for the job closed at noon on December 1st. The candidates, whose names are secret for now, will be whittled down by a panel chaired by Sir David Normington, the senior civil servant at the Home Office, and then interviewed by members of the Met’s watchdog, the Metropolitan Police Authority, before the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, chooses one. To avoid volcanic rows she must pick someone who meets the approval of Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, who forced the exit of Sir Ian in the first place.

Up to a dozen chequered caps may have been thrown into the ring. Sir Paul Stephenson, a steady hand who is acting head of the Met, became odds-on favourite after winning praise from the mayor’s office. But last week’s rumpus over the heavy-handed arrest of an opposition MP, Damian Green, has changed everything, perhaps scotching Sir Paul’s chances along with those of Bob Quick, the Met officer who directed the controversial operation. Ian Johnston, the head of the British Transport Police, is investigating the incident—and has considered applying for the job too. Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers and another likely candidate, offered conspicuous support for the operation, perhaps unwisely, just as applications were being handed in.

Leading the pack now is Sir Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland’s chief policeman, who holds counter-terrorism experience as his trump card. Keeping the peace in Belfast is good preparation for the delicate diplomacy required to keep Ms Smith, Mr Johnson and the media on side. Sir Hugh also impresses policy-minded folk, musing in May, for example, that the government should consider talking to al-Qaeda as he had done to the IRA. (Having a mind of his own may count against him in the eyes of his political masters, of course.) Bernard Hogan-Howe and Sir Paul Scott-Lee, successful chief constables of Merseyside and the West Midlands respectively, are probably Sir Hugh’s closest rivals.

Any number of wild cards could yet win the game. Ms Smith may decide to break a 179-year chain of white men by picking Julie Spence, Cambridgeshire’s chief constable, Jane Stichbury, an inspector of constabulary, or Mike Fuller, the black chief constable of Kent. Ms Stichbury, especially, is rated highly by colleagues.

Finally, all candidates may be in with a second chance: if Sir Paul misses out on the top job he is likely to quit, leaving the deputy’s post open.

Metropolitan Police Facts

The Metropolitan Police (London's police force) is the world's oldest professional police force, established in 1829 by the Home Secretary Robert Peel.

With 31,000 police officers, it is Britain's largest police force.

For historical reasons, the Met is responsible for the whole of London except the City of London (the Square Mile) which has its own, separate police force.

The "Met" is descended from the Bow Street Runners - a group of watchmen and volunteer constables set up by Henry Fielding in 1748. They were the world's first detective force.

The Bow Street Runners were, in turn, descended from "Thief Takers" - men who made their living by catching criminals and earning the reward money.

In Britain (and America) the police are often called "cops". This is short for "coppers" and derives from the copper band each Metropolitan Police office had around their truncheon. Other British nicknames for the police are "Bobbies" (in reference to Sir Robert Peel) and "the Old Bill" (in reference to the fact that the Met was established during the reign of King William IV.

The British are notoriously suspicious about armies on our streets, so the new Metropolitan Police Force in 1829 was civilian rather than Paramilitary. To further enforce this, the uniform was carefully modelled. To appear neutral, it was deliberately manufactured in blue, rather than red which was then a military colour, along with the officers being unarmed apart from a Truncheon, and a rattle to call for assistance. Military ranks were not used, with the exception of Sergeant. That's why, to this day, most British police do not carry guns.


economist.com