Reforming the Police The White Paper indicating the action the
Government intends to take regarding Lord Trenchard's proposals for the reform of the Metropolitan Police Force has not appeared as we go to press. But it would appear that the rumours of the creation of a new "officer class" in the force have no foundation. As was pointed out in The Spectator last week, if a new type of recruit coming mainly from the secondary. schools is to be secured, there will obviously be material in the force itself to staff the higher ranges effectively by promotion from within. The official plan apparently is to institute a police training college, providing courses to be taken by constables selected as suitable for higher work. If in addition a limited number of outsiders is brought into the college that may well add to the general efficiency of the force, which after all is the supreme object to be attained. But a great deal depends on whether the introductions from outside are to be the rule or the exception. Pretty clearly they should be the latter, or at any rate be kept in a very definite minority, if the right spirit is to be maintained within the force.
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