HMIC – The Appointment Brief

Last updated on March 14th, 2019 at 02:26 pm

I must really stop banging on about Tom Winsor and his recent appointment to the post of Chief Inspector HMIC, only I can’t because it still won’t reconcile itself within my head.

If you’ve learnt anything about me in the last week or so from reading these blogs it should have been that I believe in ‘Fairness’ and ‘Transparency’ in the workplace.  I understand all about Secret and Confidential, and all that but the appointment of Chief Inspector HMIC shouldn’t attract those labels.

I am grateful to @FlysCarpet for putting the idea into my head, so I went hunting for the Job Description and Person Spec for the said post.  I found the following lengthy document on the Parliament Website

Home Affairs Committee – Third Report
Appointment of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary

It can be found here

Contained within it I found all sorts of information, but for the purposes of this blog I shall restrict myself to information about the selection of the successful candidate.

“The next HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary will be an inspirational leader with extensive understanding of operational policing. They will direct transformational change in HMIC to refocus its core purpose on supporting effective crime—fighting and stronger accountability to the public for chief constables and their forces.”

“The challenge for the new Chief Inspector is to take forward a powerful and professional programme of work that supports the reforms that are changing the policing landscape.”

“Applications will be considered from candidates with a policing background (serving UK chief constables or HM Inspectors) as well as from other professional backgrounds where candidates can demonstrate strong understanding of operational policing.”

“Person specification

Applications will be considered from candidates with a policing background (serving UK Chief Constables or HM Inspectors) and from other professional backgrounds where candidates can demonstrate understanding of operational policing and how they might apply that to HMIC’s strategy and programme of work.

Owing to the sensitivity of some of the material that the HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary needs access to, this appointment is open only to UK nationals.

To help you to decide whether you are the right person for this role, we have listed below the criteria that will be applied when assessing candidates. To be considered, you must be able to demonstrate that you have the qualities, skills and experience to meet these.

• Resilient and inspiring leader who has strong experience of leading organisations through major transformational change.
• Strong understanding of policing and the broad reforms to the policing landscape and accountability framework, including relationships between forces, police and crime commissioners, police and crime panels, and the public, as well as how you might apply that to a broad strategic vision for the Inspectorate that is both forward thinking and outward facing.
• Excellent customer engagement, demonstrating evidence of building and maintaining successful relationships and partnerships with policing and the wider public, private and third sector communities.
• Positive evidence of challenging service delivery to drive continuous improvement.
• First class communicator, capable and confident in influencing a wide variety of audiences on different and complex issues. Decisive but also open and collaborative in considering different views and opinions.
• Strong planning and organisational skills to ensure that competing priorities are balanced and key commitments are met.”

The Job Advert can be found here

Does any of this sound familiar?  Does any of this convince you that Mr Winsor was the right man for the job after all?

Having read the above post maybe those of you who haven’t yet taken the polls re Mr Winsor’s appointment could find the time to take them now.  They are completely anonymous, even I don’t know who’s voted never mind what they voted for.

[polldaddy poll=6421168]

[polldaddy poll=6418004]