11 November, 2008

UK: Top Cop

The closing date for applications for the job of Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, vacated by the dreadful Sir Ian Blair, is 1st December. There are five or six serious contenders, two of whom are women. The job pays abut £250K a year and the successful candidate will take on a budget of £3.5bn and around 50,000 staff.

How to judge between half a dozen no doubt excellent candidates? Easy.

Tell them to list what they think are the main preoccupations of the public with regard to crime, then match the officers' guess with one of the many surveys (Clue: it isn't any kind of discrimination or anything to do with motor cars which heads the list).

Then the successful candidate should report annually to the public on progress with the crimes the public is worried about.

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