Teaching the best and brightest to be leaders
NEIL BASU has taken the rest of the year off from his normal job while he is on secondment to lead the “Strategic Command Course” at the College of Policing, an institution which prepares the brightest and the most talented officers for the most senior ranks in the service.
Basu, who took over his new teaching responsibilities on July 5, expects to be away from Scotland Yard until January or February next year.
When his appointment was announced earlier this year, Bernie O’Reilly, interim College of Policing CEO, said: “His extensive operational experience across a range of areas of policing, and his varied career over four decades in the service, means that he has all the qualities and skills needed to lead the course.”
Basu recalled at the time: “I passed the course in 2012 and I know that it has shaped my approach to senior police leadership ever since. I hope to be able to play my part in inspiring the next cohort of senior police leaders as they approach this major new stage in their careers.”
He told Eastern Eye: “It’s the number one police leadership course in the country. If you want to be a chief officer, an assistant chief constable or commander or above, you have to pass this course. You have to go on twoday incredibly tough selection events to even be considered for the course.”
The aim, he said, “is to take talented senior leaders who have been brilliant operationally, who are bright and have the intellectual horsepower to do the job, and refine them into a finished article”.
It teaches leaders to be more “reflective” and learn from mistakes.
Basu said, “Counter-terrorism policing is the greatest example of that. We have had 12 terrorist attacks (in recent years) and 500 recommendations.”
The continuing attempts to achieve diversity in the police force also feature “massively” on the course.
He said: “I’ve got a speech that I’ve given to hundreds of organisations, called Me, race and policing, which is about my journey as a mixed-race man through policing.”