Forum Topic

Ealing Police Boss to Move On

Press reports suggest that Ealing's Police boss Sultan Taylor is moving on after just two years in the job. I seem to rememeber that his predecessor Collette Paul only stayed in the post for a couple of years also.Do we think this is healthy having Police bosses running our town for just a couple of years? Also why do they stay in the job for such a short time? Finally, to whom is Ealing's Police boss accountable to?

Eric Alan Leach ● 6104d9 Comments

Having such a senior police officer moving on so soon after taking up the post is bad for Ealing. Short term means that continuity of any future crime fighting plans are lost. The greatest criteria for the new post must be the length of time they plan on staying in the post.

Dennis Bailey ● 6104d

As I understand it from the stats on the internet, Ealing is not doing brilliantly in reducing crime. Would Sultan have stayed if a Labour politician had promised/provided more police on the streets?A big GLA Tory failure.

George Knox ● 6103d

"Would Sultan have stayed if a Labour politician had promised/provided more police on the streets?"They don't need more police. They need to stop wasting time on pointless form filling and venture outside of the stations more often. So sayeth... Jack Straw:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6916946/Police-officers-prefer-warmth-of-police-station-to-catching-criminals.html

Ed Yelland ● 6103d

It can't be good for the overall effectiveness of local policing to have the commander constantly changing. I appreciate and support the idea that ethnic minority and female support officers should be fast-tracked and need to serve their time at Borough Commander level but it would be nice to see the next commander stay in charge for at least 5 years.

Andy Jones ● 6103d

The issue of Borough Commanders moving on too quickly is not a new one, the last three have only served two years.As Chairman of the Ealing Community & Police Consultative Group I had raised the issue with the Commissioner on several occassions. Matters came to a head before Christmas when the Chairs Group of all the London Boroughs found that no less than thirteen Borough Commanders had changed in 2009. Sultan's departure will make it fourteen within the financial year.So we made our representations again and now have a commitment that any new commander will serve a minimum of three years. Not great but an improvement.We have also complained that other senior officers are moved on too frequently.We don't want to stop officers progressing in their careers, but there has to be a balance.I should add that serving in Ealing also has status as it is seen as one of the top boroughs and our officers become highly sought after, both within and outside the Met.

Charles Gallichan ● 6095d

As a matter of interest have the last three commanders achieved any improvement in Ealing`s understrength quota of police officers, relative to the London average?

Robert Darke ● 6081d

"I should add that serving in Ealing also has status as it is seen as one of the top boroughs and our officers become highly sought after, both within and outside the Met."from CG.Wouldn't this indicate that our local police, who probably don't change as often as every 2 years are doing a very good job regardless of their leadership?

Alan Brainsby ● 6081d

To answer the last two postings.Ealing has long 'suffered' from the historial RAF Formula that is used as a basis for determining how many officers each Borough is allocated. All recent commanders have made their case for an increase and the Council's leader recently went to the Mayor about this as well. As far as I am aware our 'short-fall' has not been rectified. Although we do have more PCs and PCSOs as a result of the Safer Neighbourhood Teams.As for the police doing a good job, despite change of commander. Well I have seen a continuous improvement over the years that I have been involved in monitoring police performance, but this is in spite of an on-going churn of senior officers.Not due to continuity. Head of Ops for example seems to change at least every three years.

Charles Gallichan ● 6080d

Morale and stability of the service could be an issue. Another thought is that our Borough would be well placed to resist any contraction!

Robert Darke ● 6080d