British Home Office Unveils College of Policing

Earlier this month, the Home Office in the UK announced the creation of a new body that would aim to advance professionalism among the forty-three police services in that country:

College of Policing

The College of Policing was created to provide some concentrated response to the clear need for significant change within policing at the national level. It will include representation from the police service, the Association of Chief Police Officers, and the Superintendents' Association. The College will operate independent from government and legislation is expected to be in place by December 2012.

While not a "rebranding" of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), the newly created College will certainly inherit some of the key functions performed by the NPIA designed to maintain and sustain a broad range of policing skills. It may be hoped that the College will continue to publish the monthly Digest which is an excellent source of research awareness that serves the international policing community.

Among the formal purposes anticipated for the College are the following:

• protecting the public interest;
• setting and enhancing first-class national standards of professionalism to ensure excellence in operational policing;
• identifying evidence of what works in policing and share best [sic] practice;
• supporting the education and professional development of police officers and staff; and
• enabling and motivating staff and partners to work together to achieve a shared purpose.

Canadian police executives and their political counterparts should be keeping a very close eye on this new development in Great Britain as we evolve toward constructing our own approaches to a "new professionalism" in policing.