The Met scraps written exam for CID

Up to 200 policemen turned down for promotion after failing a written exam are now being admitted to CID after Scotland Yard changed its rules.

The Yard has scrapped the written exam on its detective entry course. Senior officers say they want potential detectives to be judged on how they perform in the job rather than how they do in written exams.

The decision has been made retrospectively and means the 200 officers who failed the written test last year are now eligible to become detectives.

One senior officer said: "This is a very convenient time for them to be changing the entry exam. The reason you have an exam is to filter out some of the people who may not be fully up to speed.

"The suspicion remains they are doing this because of the crisis in the number of detective constables."

The written test included questions on knowledge of criminal law. It was recommended by the National Police Training body.

The decision to scrap it has emerged days after a top officer criticised the present system. Sir David Phillips, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers and Chief Constable of Kent, said detectives were failing to get convictions because they were not good enough.

The Yard needs hundreds of extra detectives to meet the demands created by the new fight against terrorism as well as to end shortages in murder squads, notably those dealing with armed, black gangsters.

It has to transfer about 700 officers - including 300 detectives - from frontline duties in the boroughs to specialist squads.

Senior officers who are in the forefront of the fight against street crime in London's boroughs are concerned that the transfer will leave CIDs short of experienced detectives.

The detectives who failed last year's course are expected to be sent to "back fill" the spaces in the boroughs left by experienced officers being transferred.

To help alleviate the manpower crisis the force is also to bring about 200 former detectives out of retirement on short-term contracts to help staff murder squads.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said that, in future, detectives would be selected on the basis of their performance in their jobs and on the recommendation of their managers.

She added: "We are reviewing all our procedures for promotion and selection.

"People will get judged on their operational abilities. Some people are good at exams and others are good police officers but less likely to pass written exams."