Class issues raised by police reforms

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/mar/19/class-issues-police-reforms

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In response to Alan Travis's thought-provoking piece on the Winsor reforms to policing (Oxford graduates on the beat?, 16 March), I am a serving officer in a large, metropolitan police service in the UK and an Oxford graduate. As a first-class student from Oxford, albeit not in jurisprudence like Mr Travis's hypothetical, my intellectual background is one of the less obviously "useful" things about me at entry level; indeed I found the training process almost as demanding in terms of concentrated effort and varied challenges as a three-year degree.

While attracting people with proven intellectual ability (insofar as any degree proves this) might lead to smarter people moving up the chain (all of whom still need a grounding in the day-to-day reality of the job, and thus must spend some time "pounding the beat"), real policing is less about brains than a desire to serve, a fierce pride in doing so, and the emotional intelligence to communicate with and comprehend the diverse community for whom we work, which no amount of academic training can foster.

I would also argue that it is for precisely this reason that many highly qualified academics are not suitable for a job in the police, and I would certainly be able to count on one hand former Oxford colleagues who I would want to serve alongside now. The idea that policing should be tiered so that so-called clever officers can be rapidly elevated from the day-to-day "grind" of on-the-beat policing shows how entrenched and misguided the pejorative view of such core work is. But perhaps a few more first-class media studies students in our ranks would be able to communicate that better?Name and address supplied

• You report that Tom Winsor "acknowledges that the roots of policing in Britain lie in a working-class culture, but complains that too many officers retain that mindset at a time when the modern challenges and tasks of crime-fighting require a professional response from people of the highest calibre, integrity and judgment". Just replace "working class" with "British" or "Jewish" or any other any group to see how insulting this is to the majority of people in this country. It shows the contempt that our spiteful, selfish elite have for most of their fellow citizens.John WilsonLittle Paxton, Cambridgeshire

• I can see why our Eton schoolboy leaders wish to change the police culture. In the army the predominantly upper-class officer class is trained separately from the ordinary troops, and officers are inserted directly into positions of leadership. The working-class recruits form the other ranks. This does not happen in the police; no public schoolboy or -girl would be content to start work on a constable's salary, with the prospect of only working up slowly through the ranks. Nor would they be willing to demean themselves to carry out the difficult and often unrewarding work of the beat bobby. So now this is to be solved by direct entry for recruits at inspector rank, superintendent rank and above. I think it is important that the culture of the police remains grounded in the experiences of the majority of our citizens, and they are not led by people whose life experiences give them little empathy with ordinary people. Philip ErringtonStaincross, South Yorkshire

• Not only does the "fat old policeman" need to slim (Get fit or face a pay cut: review's warning to obese PCs, 16 March) but he needs to resist the temptation to accept the "half-crown". I am sure the public in general would welcome reforms in police culture to ensure not only that bobbies on the beat are physically fit, but also that their superiors are morally fit, ie not on the take. Julian HeddyLondon

• Overweight police officers are nothing new. When I started working in parliament 20 years ago, the cafeteria off Westminster Hall was dubbed Fat Cops after its clientele.Paul RichardsEastbourne

• What are the chances of any contracts to undertake fitness testing of the boys in blue being awarded to Atos? James O'ShaughnessyWorlaby, North Lincolnshire