... while police on £10m of training ‘discover colour of their personality’

BRITAIN’S largest police force has been accused of wasting money on a £ 10million leadership course designed to ‘empower’ officers.

More than 10,000 police and civilian staff are attending courses to help them ‘communicate and engage’.

Participants from the Metropolitan Police also take tests to determine the ‘colour’ of their personality during five days of workshops and coaching.

However, at a recent two-day course, employees questioned whether the money could be better spent on vehicles, equipment or operation training.

‘Everyone was angry as they felt it was a waste of money and it took us out of borough for two days at a time when we have so much work to do,’ one told The Sunday Telegraph

‘At the end people were asking things like, “Why can’t this money be spent on cars?”. We were told it wasn’t out of the operational budget – but what difference does it make?

‘Why couldn’t they put it into the operational budget?’ The training comes despite soaring crime levels in London, with murder squad detectives launching their 70th inquiry of the year last week.

It will be undertaken by every officer of the rank of sergeant and above, who must come up with personal ‘ pledges’ to improve their working life.

The Met said the training was ‘a lever to drive positive behavsaid iours and to empower our staff to communicate and engage more effectively’.

It includes 50,000 hours of one-to- one coaching and two so-called ‘360-degree’ feedback sessions. Participants also receive a ‘clarity 4D personality profile’ that attributes a colour to them from a choice of blue, red, green or yellow, according to the results of a character test. Yellows, for example, are to be ‘talkative, expressive, light-hearted, sociable, flamboyant and enthusiastic’.

The days are run by Lane4, a management consultancy set up by Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer Adrian Moorhouse. It claimed the course ‘ created meaning through shared identity’.

But Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers just wanted to get on with their jobs, adding: ‘We are on our knees. Crime is going up the public are concerned and we haven’t got the resources that we need.’

Scotland Yard said the training was ‘worthwhile’ and it had received positive feedback from many attendees.

A spokesman added: ‘ We absolutely must support our leaders by giving them the skills they need to do their jobs.

‘Well-led and well-trained people deliver better, and that means Londoners get a great service. We do not expect everyone to enjoy it, but I have spoken to many leaders who have told me what fantastic skills they have learnt.’

‘Everyone was angry’