146 replies to this topic

[Marty McFly]

Tom Winsor 'Has Applied To Become HMIC Chief'


Sources suggest that former police pay reviewer has thrown his hat into the ring to succeed Sir Denis O'Connor.

Former police pay reviewer Tom Winsor (pictured) has applied to become Her Majesty’s new Chief Inspector of Constabulary, PoliceOracle.com understands.

The lawyer – known for his two reports into remuneration – is believed to be one of more than 10 people who want to take on the role soon to be vacated by Sir Denis O’Connor.

Mr Winsor is eligible to take on the job – which pays as much as £199,995 – as for the first time the Home Office has said it is not a requirement for Sir Denis’s replacement to be either a serving chief constable or HM inspector.

“They have to be able to be objective and stand outside the service and say ‘is this working for the public?”

In 12 months between 2011 and 2012, Mr Winsor published his two-part report on police pay and conditions. The first recommended an overnight “unsocial hours” payment and suspending officer increment payments as well as scrapping Special Priority Payments and abolishing competency related threshold payments.

The second part of his report has proposed in service fitness tests for all cops, direct entry to the service at inspector and superintendent level and the ability for chief constables to effectively make officers redundant. These recommendations are currently being negotiated.

In March, it was announced that Sir Denis will retire on July 31 as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary after more than three years in the role. All applications for his successor are now in.

The post carries an annual salary of between £195,000 and £199,995. It is understood preliminary interviews will take place this week.

A Home Office source said earlier this month that the department hopes to have someone in the role “later this year”.

When the Home Office advertised the position earlier in 2012, it stated it was looking for “an exceptional individual to lead Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary through a period of significant change in policing”.
The department added: “The next HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary will be an inspirational leader with extensive understanding of operational policing.”

PoliceOracle.com understands short-listed candidates will have a meeting with either Home Secretary Theresa May or Police Minister Nick Herbert and then a preferred candidate will be selected.

They would then have to go before the Home Affairs Select Committee – any decision must be ratified by the Queen, as the role is a Royal appointment.
The successful candidate would spend three years in post.

Mr Winsor joined his current law firm White & Case in July 2004 after five years as the UK's Rail Regulator and International Rail Regulator. According to the firm’s website, he has a diploma in Petroleum Law from the University of Dundee in 1983 and A Bachelor of Laws, (Scots Law) from the University of Edinburgh in 1979.

It has been suggested that Sara Thornton, the chief constable of Thames Valley Police, is favourite to become the next HM chief inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales.

Roger Baker, an ex-Essex chief and now an HM Inspector for the north of the country and Zoe Billingham, currently an HM Inspector for the eastern region, are other leading contenders.


Speaking at the Police Federation of England and Wales annual conference, Sir Denis told PoliceOracle.com his successor should “have personal credibility with the people they are trying to help and a bit of credibility with the public”.

Sir Denis said he thought there would be “an advantage” in his successor having been a police officer “if they use the knowledge that they have got”.
But he added: “They have to be able to be objective and stand outside the service and say ‘is this working for the public?’. If you can put the two things together…and use that knowledge but be objective then I think you have got the best of both worlds.”

Sir Denis concluded: “They won’t please any particular side in an argument. They have to be able to find improvement. They have to have a very wide lens so they can look for things that look like they might help this service in succeeding in guarding our people.”

PoliceOracle.com attempted to contact Tom Winsor but has yet to receive a response.

http://www.policeora...’-_48916.html

also in the independent; http://www.independe...ce-7778695.html

[Radman]

April Fools.... Oh wait...

[Lucas North]

[Giraffe]

I hope he doesn't get it.

[Dave SYP]

This is ABSOLUTELY BARMY! How can this man possibly be expected do the job without having the knowledge and experience of commanding a force/police service? I bet most Chief Superintendents would be better qualified for the role. If he gets the job, it will be a very sad day for policing in this country.

[Dizzydee]

It'd be mental to give this wretched man the job!

[Lucas North]

I can feel a Photoshop coming on... I'm getting that tingling sensation again

[159]

It'd be mental to give this wretched man the job!

This is the UK.....which is run by David Cameron and Nick Clegg................................and boris johnson is the mayor of London. Winsor is already planning his personalised stationary.

[Dave SYP]

How to ruin a nation eh? Get all your croanies in at once!

[HazRat]

Good luck to him. He doesn't need to have been a police officer to measure what forces do and how they do it.

The reason I say good luck is, all those Chief Constables who failed to acknowledge the damage that some of the Winsor recommendations will do, can put up with him assessing and measuring their performance. At grass roots levels it maters not one jot who is in charge of the widget counters.

If he gets the job and has to think about why forces are not performing he might want to review his previous workmanship within the police service.

Just a thought. Flame away.

[Burnie]

This is the UK.....which is run by David Cameron and Nick Clegg................................and boris johnson is the mayor of London. Winsor is already planning his personalised stationary.

Planning? The way this government has handled the [sarcasm]completely impartial[/sarcasm] Winsor review he's probably already got his stationary and office door name plaque...

[Dave SYP]

This pompous, arrogant and destructive individual will never fill the shoes worn by the previous meritorious post holders in this office! He should get a job with HMRC looking at tax evasion, he might just scrape by there.

[Sam Vimes]

He won't have applied for this without already having been given the nod from the PM/Home Sec... which I would guess mean theyve already decided who will get it.

[bensonby]

He's got a bit of cheek hasn't he?

[Jeebs]

Foxtrot Oscar back into your little hole Tom.

[David]

Have you seen what it pays? £195,000 and £199,995, look.

I wonder if that's after the 20% cut or before?

[Rocket]

He'll do for the police what Dr Beeching did for the railways.

Oh, hang on - did Winsor have something to do with the railways too?

[diskworld3]

No kind of motive being the "completely impartial" review then... Absolutely disgusting.

[SC Meerkat]

I'm sure he knows the law of England and Wales well, what with his degree in Scots Law and diploma in Petroleum law......

[Sam Vimes]

I'm sure he knows the law of England and Wales well, what with his degree in Scots Law and diploma in Petroleum law......

He knows F.A about Policing in E&W too but that hasn't stopped him writing a report with enough pages to account for half a rainforest and which will mean thousands of families across the country being worse off!

Mind you, we have a PM, a Home Secretary, a Chancellor, and goodness knows what else in positions they don't seem to have a clue about.... so whats one more.

(By the way, does anyone else think that EVERY photo of Mr Winsor is crying out to be photoshopped..?)

[DGP]

Perhaps part of the problem of the police service is that it cannot respond to modern challenges because the type of individuals involved are so 'samey'.

Perhaps having more outsiders taking on roles might shake things up a bit?

[Lucas North]

I've heard of a "military coup" but is there such a thing as a "police coup?"

[CmdKeen]

I don't think it should be Winsor, he's riled too many rank and file officers and shouldn't be in the situation of adjudicating whether his proposed reforms are working.

But at the same time I fail to see why it requires a cop to do. Indeed I'd say it would be better not to be. Operational policing reasons should be explainable when an Inspector asks "why are you doing it that way?". They should be able to see how different forces do things and compare and contrast. HMIC inspections come across already as far too box ticky, although the same is said of inspections across the public sector from OFSTED to the NHS.

Inspectors who allegedly know the field end up not asking why something is the case and instead just write a report saying it is wrong. Which is when you get the bizarre cases of OFSTED reports criticising a PE lesson for having pupils not be very involved - and it turning out it was a cricket match. Or the NHS inspections where they look at waiting times rather than noticing all the people lined up on beds outside A&E so they don't count as "waiting in A&E". Or the glorious world of "sanctioned detections" that arise when the only thing that matters is a detection rate - not asking why it is high or low.

[Chewie]

He won't have applied for this without already having been given the nod from the PM/Home Sec... which I would guess mean theyve already decided who will get it.

Funny you should say that...


Tom Winsor picked as preferred candidate for police job


Tom Winsor is the home secretary's preferred candidate to become the Chief Inspector of Constabulary for England and Wales, it has emerged.

Mr Winsor is a former rail regulator and last year was the author of a review into police pay and conditions.

He will appear before the Home Affairs Select Committee next week, before approval from the PM and the Queen.

If successful, he would be the first person appointed to the post having not served as a police officer.Police criticism

A Home Office spokesman said: "Tom Winsor has been named as the preferred candidate for the role of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

"He will appear before the [select committee] before the appointment goes to the prime minister and the Queen for approval."

Last year Mr Winsor was the author of a report into police pay and conditions in England and Wales which called for the abolition of a series of allowances and special payments.

His recommendations led to changes estimated to save £150m a year.

The news of the home secretary's support drew criticism from one police organisation.

Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, said: "The role of HMIC is one of the most important in policing. The HMIC provides advice on policing matters to the home secretary and if ever their was a need for sagacious advice from someone with a profound understanding of policing it is now.

"We look forward to hearing from the home secretary how the appointment of Tom Winsor provides the profound understanding of policing that is so important for public safety."

Source: BBC News

[fruitandveg]

*sniff sniff*...Can you smell that? Smells like...