Important and influential roles of Chief Inspectors praised

ESSEX Police Federation has highlighted the important and influential roles of Chief Inspectors in the force – as the Met announced its plans to axe the rank.

The London force announced this month that it would phase out the chief inspector role, along with the commander rank, by 2018, in a bid to reduce layers of hierarchy.

But a similar move would not benefit Essex Police, Steve Taylor said.

He said: “A direct comparison between a Met chief inspector and an Essex chief inspector isn’t possible. It is like comparing apples and oranges.

“The workload that our chief inspectors have locally, I believe, is akin to a Superintendent in the Met, such are our numbers locally and such is the method of demand that we deal with.”

“Chief inspectors are one of the untapped resources of the federation family. They’re a small number of officers, right at the top of the rank tree in our organisation, they’re all in positions of influence and they have relationships which they have worked hard to build as their careers have furthered.”

Chief inspectors are largely a quieter voice in the Federation, Steve added, and he said his plan was to work more closely with the rank as he carries out tours of duty with different units around the county.

“We are the organisation to represent the chef inspector. They do have our ear, and where we can advance their case we will do.

“I am against removing the rank of chief inspector and I am all for promoting the role and the work that they do in terms of the federation and looking to improve things for them.”

Andy Fittes, General Secretary for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the Met’s move had left “many questions unanswered”.

He said: “The Metropolitan Police Service decision to remove the Federated rank of Chief Inspector leaves our members in all forces across England and Wales discernibly concerned about what the future holds.

“Removing ranks does not remove workload. Tasks and responsibilities will need to be shared across the other ranks, including inspectors, adding additional work to an often already unmanageable amount.”