Direct Entry

Last updated on July 23rd, 2023 at 12:38 pm

Some of you may recall that I recently had a small swipe at the College of Policing over their lack of transparency re Direct Entry. After my slightly bigger swipe at Police Now I thought it might be amusing to have a similar look at the Direct Entry scheme, for Inspectors and Superintendents rather than Police Wow’s Detective programme.

A quick reminder of the questions I asked;

1. Nationally, how many Direct Entry Inspectors have been recruited

Answer:- 54 (since the programme started in 2016)

2. How many of these have subsequently resigned or been dismissed?

Answer:- Information is held but is considered to be exempt from disclosure by virtue of the exemption provided under section 40(2) of the FoIA. The figures recorded are low and disclosure combined with information available in the public domain, creates a risk of an individual being identified. For further information about the College’s application of section 40(2) please refer to Appendix A.

3. Nationally, how many Direct Entry Superintendents have been recruited?

Answer:- 32 (since the programme started in 2014

4. How many of these have subsequently resigned or been dismissed?

Answer:- Information is held but is considered to be exempt from disclosure by virtue of the exemption provided under section 40(2) of the FoIA for the reasons given above.

However,

A) Up to 18.5% of Direct Entry Inspectors have fallen by the wayside one way or another since 2016.

B) Up to 31% of Direct Entry Superintendents have quit or been let go since 2014

Not exactly the stunning success that the College would have us believe it is, and it is impossible to give an exact attrition rate because that is the best the College will give me.

DIVERSITY

In October2015 Theresa May famously said the proportion of black and Asian officers was “simply not good enough”.

In 2016 Alex Marshall, from the College, stated that he was pleased with the early results from the direct entry scheme, which had included three people of a BME background out of the 14 participants.

All this lit another spark under my mischievous side and provoked another request to the College;

For the 54 Inspectors and the 32 Superintendents referred to in your response, could you please supply me with a breakdown by ethnicity of the recruits?

They not only answered within the time limits but they both Refused and almost Answered my request;

I write in response to your Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA) request dated 2/3/2019. You have requested a breakdown by ethnicity of the 54 people enrolled on the Direct Entry Inspectors programme and of the 32 people enrolled on the Direct Entry Superintendents programme, since these programmes started (further to FOIA_2019_011).

As per section 1(1) of the FoIA, I can confirm that the College does hold information within the scope of your request. However, we believe that the exemption provided under section 40(2) of the FoIA (personal information) applies to your request. The Act prevents us from disclosing information which constitutes as personal data. For further information about our application of this exemption, please refer to Appendix A.

To assist you in your enquiries and in the spirit of the FoIA, we are able to release the following figures to you. We have determined that there is no risk of an individual being identified from the disclosure of the following information:

Direct Entry Inspectors

The number of people who identified their race/ethnicity to be a race/ethnicity which can be categorised under the broader heading of ‘White’

51

The number of people who identified their race/ethnicity to be a race/ethnicity which can be categorised under the broader heading of ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’

3 or less

The number of people who chose the ‘prefer not to say’ option

3 or less

Simple arithmetic leads me to deduce that a total of 3 out of 54 Inspectors were either non-white or chose not to say. Overwhelmingly White then.

Direct Entry Superintendents

The number of people who identified their race/ethnicity to be a race/ethnicity which can be categorised under the broader heading of ‘White’

28

The number of people who identified their race/ethnicity to be a race/ethnicity which can be categorised under the broader heading of ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’

4 or less

The number of people who chose the ‘prefer not to say’ option

4 or less

Once again, simple arithmetic tells me that a total of 4 out of 32 were either non-white or chose not to day. Again, overwhelmingly white.

This Direct Entry process is doing NOTHING to improve the BAME balance of the Police Service.

A maximum of 3 DE Inspectors and 4 DE Superintendents, spread out across England and Wales were Black or Ethnic Minority.

The College’s own conclusion begins:-

Conclusion

The figures held for the number of Direct Entry inspectors and superintendents whose race/ethnicity can be categorised under the broader heading of ‘Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic’ are low.

By their own admission their scheme isn’t doing much to enrich diversity.

Superintendents

The Direct Entry Scheme commenced in 2014 unless I am mistaken. In March 2014 Police Superintendents were 16.6% Females, in March 2018 that figure had risen to 26.4% In March 2014 there were 30 BAME Superintendents out of a total of 763 . Just 4%. In March 2018 there were a total of 37 BAME Superintendents out of 893. Just 4%.

Conclusion

A combination of Traditional Promotion and Direct Entry has increased representation of Females at Superintendent rank by approx 10%, but has done NOTHING to increase the proportion of BAME Superintendents, so in that area, at least, it has failed.

Inspectors

Direct Entry for Inspectors started in September 2016. In March 2016 21% of Inspectors were Female. In March 2018 that figure had risen to 23% Nowhere near as spectacular an increase as for Superintendents, but an increase nevertheless. In March 2016 there were 221 BAME Inspectors out of a total of 5,692 or 4%. In March 2018 this figure had risen to 249 out of 5,599 or 4.5%.

Conclusion

A combination of traditional Promotion and Direct Entry has increased representation of Females at Inspector Rank by just 2%. It has made almost no difference at all to the proportion of BAME officers at Inspector Rank. In this area, at least, it must surely be deemed to have failed.

I cannot comment on the quality of Direct Entry Inspectors/Superintendents except to confirm my belief that they should be time-served officers with relevant operational experience. The Home Office, College of Policing and NPCC all disagree with me on this, but I remain resolute, it is simply wrong in my opinion. I am happy for serving officers to be the final arbiter on whether DE Officers are up to the task.

However, my final thought on the topic, if the Home Office or College genuinely think that there is a place in redefining the Police Service for Bank Managers, Supermarket Managers etc etc, they could always create a civilian post for them in Police Staff to work alongside warranted officers, not ‘lead’ them.