Lessons from the U.K.

Professionalism is not created overnight; it is a product of assiduous training. The police force in the United Kingdom is an example worth emulating.

IT was very much in the air for quite some time. London's vulnerability was at the back of the minds of many. But few would admit to it or talk about it. It was an uneasy silence. But when the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens went public in March in the wake of the Madrid explosions to say that London was very much a terrorist target, there were some who were sceptical. A few in government were not actually pleased at the tenor and timing of his warning. Was he unintentionally spreading panic? The subsequent arrest of eight U.K. nationals in and around London and the seizure of huge quantities of ammonium nitrate that could be used for making deadly explosives have proved him right. It confirmed that the Met was not alarmist and that its fears were hardly unfounded.

The police detection of the terrorist ring has been widely acclaimed as a smart piece of work and the culmination of an imaginative and smartly guarded operation. According to first reports - I am filing this column from Bramshill (Hampshire) in the U.K. just two days after the action - all those arrested were unfortunately Muslims. What I am most impressed about is the low-key publicity to this fact by the police lest they should annoy and alienate the two million Muslims in the country. Several meetings have been held with local Islamic religious leaders to explain the arrests and their wholehearted support sought to unravel the conspiracy. The approach to the successful outcome of a sensational operation has been extremely professional. As a former policeman, my firm belief is that such professionalism is not created overnight. There is neither a sleight of hand that can be employed nor a magical formula. Such finesse is invariably the product of several factors, the chief one being the assiduous training of those who come into the police forces from day one. This is because no force that pays just lip-service to training, can ever attain these standards of excellence. It is also an index of the sensitivity of the Home Office that oversees the police in the country. It can take credit for sustained efforts to upgrade police training facilities over nearly three decades.

There were a series of scandals involving the U.K. Police in the late 1980s that diluted public faith in their ability to control crime. This prompted the Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons to institute an inquiry into higher police training and the working of the hallowed Police Staff College in Bramshill. The Committee's report of 1989 pinpointed the ills of the U.K. Police to the absence of central control and co-ordination of training, career development and career management. The following years saw the creation of a National Directorate of Police Training. In 1993 this came to be called the National Police Training (NPT). The Bramshill Staff College, created immediately after the Second World War had all along been assailed for its elitism. It was expected to undergo major changes as a result of the House of Commons inquiry. Fortunately, the latter took a broad view and pleaded for retaining its existing character when it said: "Bramshill House has enormous symbolic value both nationally and internationally. It has an enduring place in police experience and lore."

The Stephen Lawrence incident of April 22, 1993, in which the Met Police were allegedly insensitive to the killing of a black youth in the heart of London by a group of white hoodlums showed the British police in poor light (Frontline, May 23, 2003, and January 31, 2004). The subsequent Macpherson inquiry's indictment ("professional incompetence", "institutional racism" and "failure of leadership") of the police for this unfortunate incident forced the Home Affairs Committee to announce yet another inquiry into police training in August 1998. The report of this committee in 1999 and the publication the same year of a consultation document saw the emergence of a new structure called the Central Police Training and Development Authority (Centrex). Part 4 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 gave Centrex and the allied organisation of police training in the country the needed legislative backing. Bramshill, which has ceased to call itself the Police Staff College, is the foremost of the seven Centrex sites in the country. It is also where the Chief Executive of Centrex for the whole country is based.

While recruit training is conducted at all centres, Bramshill is expected to shed this in course of time so as to concentrate on higher-level courses such as the Strategic Command Course and Chief Officers' Development Programme. One of the most prestigious courses that it runs three times a year is the International Commanders' Programme that has attracted officers from about 80 countries, including India. This is a ten-week full-time residential course that aims at developing operational command skills besides promoting international police networking. A one-week attachment to a U.K. police service is an important feature of this meaningful programme.

Participants develop close ties that come in handy while tackling problems like terrorism, trafficking in human beings and money laundering. The value of such friendship cannot be exaggerated in a shrinking world that has globalised not only positive areas such as science, medicine, technology and trade but the debilitating activity of crime, particularly the organised variety, as well.

WHAT is most striking about the organisation of police training in the U.K. is the emphasis on upgrading the quality of programmes directed at recruits. (Unlike in India, every policeman in the U.K. starts as a constable and then works his way up the ladder. There are some exceptional recruits such as my friend Peter Neyroud heading the Thames Valley Police who got into a fast track of promotions by passing successive examinations and doing extraordinarily well at the Strategic Command Course in Bramshill.) Recruits go through six stages of training that begins with a fortnight of familiarisation at their own force. Thereafter, they spend 15 weeks at Centrex where they are put through a gruelling regimen of focussed lectures on a variety of subjects, including crime, traffic, human rights and police computers. Legal issues relating to each of these aspects of police work also receive substantial attention. A ten-week attachment with a Tutor Constable on patrol and a two-week review of additional needs follow during the two-year long probation. While physical training is an important component of the programme for recruits, it does not receive excessive attention, as is the case in India. There is an eternal and unresolved debate as to what is the ideal mix between classroom instruction and outdoor exercises that seek to heighten a recruit's physical toughness and endurance.

During each visit to the U.K., I gain more and more a feeling that police leadership here is becoming increasingly sensitive to the racist charge that is often so effortlessly levelled against their forces. Not only are allegations promptly looked into, but there is also an equal anxiety to push up the minority community component in the forces. This is particularly seen in the Met Police. I remember a year ago a special Met team visited Delhi and Punjab on a recruitment drive. This is in recognition of the huge Sikh population in and around London. I do not know how productive this mission was. But I am aware that Met has not been content with this. It has gone beyond this to adapt training procedures to meet the requirement of inculcating among its men and women correct attitudes towards the minorities, especially Asians.

HOW is the U.K. experience relevant to us? The National Police Academy (NPA) in Hyderabad is the pride of the Indian police. It has benefited from good leadership provided by some brilliant and dedicated officers. The Ministry of Home Affairs has been bountiful in providing the funds needed for its continual expansion. I would strongly commend to readers that when they are in Hyderabad next they should drop in at the NPA to see for themselves how well this great institution has shaped itself as a centre of excellence. The Academy has offered reasonable help to the State forces in training trainers. It can excel further. In order to attain Bramshill's eminence in the world of police professionals the NPA should expand its existing international exchange programmes to match those offered by the former. The value of such interaction with forces all over the world can hardly be exaggerated. I have no doubt in my mind that the MHA will be more than forthcoming in this endeavour.

I would also like to see a certain standardisation of training that is administered to police constables in different parts of the country. States are now willing to be guided more and more by Central law enforcement agencies in the quest for professional sharpness. This refreshing openness to ideas needs to be exploited. The NPA's efforts in this direction will be most welcome by a few States, which do not have top class training bodies or trainers. If the NPA does not seize the initiative, the present imbalance in the standards of training and performance of the constabulary between States will accentuate itself. This is not good for the image of the police as a whole in the country at a time when pressures on forces are mounting.

I CANNOT sign off without dwelling on the charm of Bramshill. Situated in the picturesque northeastern region of Hampshire, it is less than an hour's journey from London's famous Waterloo Station. Getting off at Winchfield, the college can be reached in about 10 minutes by taxi. As you drive in, you are bowled over by the literally breathtaking charm of the landscape that surrounds an impressive facade of the main building called the Mansion that accommodates the college library. The original Manor House built as a hollow square around a courtyard existed before 1600. Extending to about 2,500 acres, the estate had even accommodated a deer park!

In 1605, Edward Zouche, the 11th Baron Zouche of Harringworth, bought the property from Sir Stephen Thornhurst of Agnes Court, Kent, and effected several modifications. It changed many hands before the Home Office acquired it in 1953 from Lord Brocket to house the National Police College. Since then Bramshill has acquired the reputation of an international centre of excellence. The library has a collection of 65,000 books and can rightly be regarded as the largest police library in the world. There is provision for scholars to come and work on the premises on payment of a nominal daily fee. The knowledgeable library staff is ever ready to help make visitors feel welcome. The whole ambience is something that has to be savoured rather than described in mere words.

Finally, there is something in the Mansion for those who are fascinated by ghosts. Chris Khawaja, the Liaison Officer for International Programmes who drew up my schedule here so enthusiastically, warned me that if I worked late at the library I could have a memorable encounter with ghosts! When I probed further, the dynamic Assistant Librarian Paul Levay produced a list 12 ghosts that have been identified till now. Some of them go by appellations such as, The White Lady, Tennis Player, Little Boy in the Terrace and the Husband of the Grey Lady. Unfortunately I was not privileged to run into any of them! Can any other place offer such infinite variety? Naturally, I am already looking forward to my next visit. Who knows, by then, there may be a few additions to Paul's list.