§ 113. Mr. Price-Whiteasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the recent appointment as Chief Constable for Flintshire of an officer whose whole service has been in the Flintshire Constabulary, indicates the suspension or variation of the Home Office policy in regard to appointments of chief constables, that no officer of a county force should be eligible for appointment as chief constable if he had not spent part of his service with police forces other than that of the county; and whether police officers of county or county borough forces are no longer debarred from application for 184W appointments as chief constable by reason of the fact that they have only served as police officers in the forces in which they seek appointment as chief constable.
§ Mr. EdeRecommendations made to me by police authorities for approval of the persons selected by them for appointment as Chief Constables are considered on their individual merits, and while it is generally desirable that the officer appointed should have wider experience than can be obtained in one force, there is no rigid rule to this effect. The appointment to which the hon. Member refers did not, therefore, involve any new departure of policy or practice.