Hendon Police College
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- This article is about the Metropolitan Police Training College in Colindale, North London also known as The Peel Centre. For Peel Centres (Retail Parks) in Northern England, see Peel Holdings.
Hendon Police College, on Aerodrome Road, Colindale, London NW4, is the principal training centre for the Metropolitan Police of London, England.
Today more properly called the Peel Centre, although frequently still referred to by its old name (or just called Hendon within the police), the centre is run by the Director and Co-ordinator of Training for the Metropolitan Police. Between 1,500 and 2,000 police recruits pass through the centre each year to undertake its 17-week residential basic training course. The centre runs courses on many aspects of police work, from forensic and crime scene analysis, to radio operations and driving skills. Police officers can expect to return to the centre at various times during their career. Part of the centre is dedicated to the investigations of serious crimes, including homicide. There are extensive sports facilities.
Included in the centre is a mock court room, road system and a police station, Brixley (formerly Kingsgate) police station, used for training purposes only.
The Metropolitan Police Book of Remembrance is displayed in the entrance of Simpson Hall at the centre, and there is also a memorial garden.
[edit] History
The College was opened on 31 May 1934 by the Prince of Wales, in the erstwhile buildings of Hendon Country Club, Hendon Aerodrome's club house (which had been used briefly as laboratories of the Standard Telephones and Cables company). The school was the brainchild of Lord Trenchard, who was Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis from 1931 to 1935. His experiences as second-in-command of the Royal Flying Corps Central Flying School in 1915 gave him a suitable background for the venture, whilst the location would have been known to him from his time as Chief of the Air Staff (1921–1929).
Trenchard's college was founded upon a modern and scientific approach to training. There were forensic laboratories, detective training facilities, and a police driving school. The college was closed between 1939 and 1949. When the Royal Air Force left Hendon in the 1960s, the Metropolitan Police decided to rebuild the college, and the new Peel Centre, named after Sir Robert Peel, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 31 May 1974, forty years to the day after her uncle opened the original Metropolitan Police College. The Queen has returned twice since then, on the 21 October 2001 when she dedicated the memorial to Metropolitan Police officers and staff who have lost their lives on duty, and on 3 January 2005 when she went to visit the Casualty Bureau dealing with British nationals missing after the Asian Tsunami.
The last course at Hendon on the 17 week course finished on the 6th JULY 2007 with a fly past from India 99 which is one of the Metropolitan Police's helicopters. Recruits will now take part in the IPLDP scheme but there has been many rumours that the 17 week course may return.
[edit] In popular culture
The College is briefly shown and referred to in the police comedy Hot Fuzz. PC Nicholas Angel was a top graduate of the school.
