Sir Arthur Young | |
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![]() Sir Arthur Young, 1966 photograph | |
Born | Arthur Edwin Young 1907 Eastleigh, Hampshire, England |
Died | 1979 St Thomas' Hospital, London, England |
Occupation | police officer |
Colonel Sir Arthur Edwin Young KBE CMG CVO OStJ KPM (15 February 1907 – 20 January 1979) was a British police officer.[1] He was Commissioner of Police of the City of London from 1950 to 1971 and was also the first head of the Royal Ulster Constabulary to be styled Chief Constable. Young was instrumental in the creation of the post of Chief Inspector of Constabulary.[2]
In the early 1950s, Young played a key role in the decolonisation of policing in the British Empire. His exit from Kenya at the end of 1954 became a political scandal and cause célèbre. During the 1960s, he led the way in modernising British police recruitment and in improving the training of senior officers.
Clive Emsley commented:
Young shared the heroic vision of the British Bobby and was always focussed on the idea that police officers should enjoy good, even friendly relations with the people that they served.[3]
Young gained a reputation as the "policeman's policeman", associated with his concerns for the conditions of work of serving police officers. He liked to use it of himself.[4][5]