Douglas Osmond was born in Bournemouth, the son of a schoolteacher mother and a father who was killed in action during the First World War.
After the war he returned to the police and was appointed as the Chief Constable of Shropshire, (now part of West Mercia Constabulary), in 1946.
(The youngest was Sir Eric St Johnston who, in 1940 at the age of 29, was appointed chief constable of Oxfordshire Constabulary).
In 1962, Osmond left to become the chief constable of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, and in 1967 he presided over its amalgamation with the Portsmouth and Southampton city forces.
At this point the force was renamed Hampshire Constabulary and Osmond remained chief constable until his retirement from the post in 1977.