Hendon Police College
[2] The first commandant was Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Halland, previously Chief Constable of Lincolnshire, who was given the rank of deputy assistant commissioner.
[5][6] It was intended that the Metropolitan Police Training School for constables at Peel House in Westminster should also move to a site adjacent to the college,[3] but in the end this did not happen until much later.
Other graduates included Deputy Assistant Commissioner John Bliss (1936–1937), first National Co-ordinator of Regional Crime Squads of England and Wales, Michael Macoun (1938–1939), Inspector-General of Police of Uganda and later of British Dependent Territories, and the politician Sir Henry Calley (1938–1939).
Eventually it was decided not to reopen it as an exclusive cadet college, but as the Metropolitan Police Training School for all entrants.
When the Royal Air Force left Hendon in the 1960s, the Metropolitan Police decided to rebuild the 1934-1939 college, which was renamed after Sir Robert Peel.
The Queen returned three times after that: in 1977 to open the new Hendon Gym, on 21 October 2001 she dedicated a memorial to Metropolitan Police officers and staff who lost their lives on duty, and on 3 January 2005 she visited the Casualty Bureau dealing with British nationals missing after the Asian tsunami.
In the summer of 2011, owing to budget restraints, IPLDP was replaced with a new, slimline, entrants course, bringing foundation training at the college in line with the national requirement as set by the Association of Chief of Police Officers, the NPIA and the Home Office.
The Metropolitan Police Book of Remembrance was moved from the old Simpson Hall in 2016 before its demolition and is now displayed at the entrance of the new Peel House.
[19] The memorial garden was also moved to its new home outside the new Peel House, with the original rose bushes and silver beech trees retained and replanted in the new location.
Hendon is one of three regional training centres where new recruits attend to undertake a 13-week course (as paid trainees).
The centre runs courses on many aspects of police work, from forensic and crime scene analysis, to radio operations and driving skills.
