Policing has been under a sustained period of change for the last four years, and one of the most contentious elements of this has begun to be implemented in the form of a policy known as direct entry. The change is an attempt to address the culture of Policing, something that many within and outside have acknowledged is needed. The Government promised to address this and in October 2010 Theresa May appointed Tom Winsor to review the pay and conditions of Police Officers. Mr Winsor is a lawyer by profession had been the rail regulator previously. The first Winsor report was published in March 2011, relating primarily to pay. This led to long debates by the various representative groups from within Policing and the Government. It took until the end of January 2012 before Theresa May announced that she would implement most of the changes in Winsor I. Whilst these discussions were taking place, Tom Winsor had been hard at work on his second report which focused on the working practices within Policing. He points out in his second report that the level of engagement with serving Police Officers throughout the review had been much less than he had wished for. The reason for this primarily is that the representative bodies he wished to meet with were engaged in discussions with the Home Secretary over their pay. Cynics would say that this approach was intentional, others that attempting to publish two significant reports in an 18 month period was too much too quickly. However the second report which was published in March 2012 has been accepted more or less in its entirety, like the first. It included the policy of direct entry at senior levels by people with no previous experience of Policing.

The need for cultural change within policing is accepted by many people, Policing has historically had high retention rates for serving officers, in part due to the nature of the pension scheme. It is a context in which the actions of one person can change the outcome for their colleagues in ways that are not experienced in many other professions. The uniform creates a sense of mutual identification that again is less evident in many other careers. There is a long list of reasons for the strong internal culture within policing which like most cultural dynamics is resistant to change. The logic of direct entry is that incoming senior officers will bring with them external influences and thinking and change will be introduced as a result. However it is deeply unpopular for at least two reasons:

1. Offering high rank posts to people from outside the Police Force is bound to limit the career opportunities for officers at lower ranks, who have ambitions of their own.
2. Policing is currently operated on a basis that enables an officer who today may be in charge of recruitment, personnel or procurement to be put in charge of a team of officers policing a riot, neighbourhood policing or road traffic tomorrow. Managing purchasing, human resources or recruitment in the Police is largely the same as carrying out those functions in other organisations, once the demands and culture is understood. However policing a riot, or breaking the news that a driver has been killed to their spouse or children is something few of us will ever experience. Even the understanding of how communities respond to the sight of uniform (despite calls for bobbies on the beat!) are steps that relatively junior officers will have learnt as they progress from Constable to Sergeant and beyond. They cannot be taught in fast track scenarios without actually being experienced first hand over a sustained period.

There are other ways of introducing cultural change at a senior level within policing, that need not put at risk the operational effectiveness of Policing, or frustrate the careers of high quality officers. Some of this will demand more flexibility within the service, as well as creating a much stronger link between the existing Police Staff and Warranted Officers. Inherent within the staff side of Policing is the opportunity for new ways of working and new ideas to be learnt. However until the two tier culture is more effectively dismantled, much of the wisdom already within the forces will remain untapped. It is assumed by Winsor that there is wisdom and ideas currently outside policing which can only come in via direct entry. Alternatives include better justifying the need for new entrants to work their ways through from Constable, and ensuring that the internal progression is as easy and fast as possible. Recruitment processes currently take several years to run their course in some police forces, and that is just to arrive at the door of a Police Station wearing a Constables Uniform. Direct entry will not deal with this sort of problem, and it may exasperate it. Finally a great deal more could be done at all levels of Policing to give Officers extended opportunity for secondment to other organisations in the Voluntary, Statutory and even the Private Sector, to learn how others do things. In some forces this already happens as part of the training process, but it is then left behind. If at each stage of career progression an Officer was expected to spend weeks, not days in a context outside of Policing where they could see for themselves how others operate, and how others see the Police, they could then approach their interviews and exams with very different perspectives. Of course, like Tom Winsor I have developed my idea in isolation from those likely to be affected. Perhaps that is where both of these ideas need to be more effectively discussed by those expected to implement them.