Chief Constable Sir Percy Sillitoe

Tue, Sep 26th 2017 at 5:45 pm - 7:45 pm

Club members were informed that a donation had been sent on behalf of the Club to ShelterBox to help alleviate the suffering and hardship following the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean.

Rotarian John Ewan gave Club members an insight into the life and times of Percy Sillitoe, chief constable of the City of Glasgow police force from 1931 to 1943.

During that time he transformed policing in the city and broke the power of the notorious razor gangs.

Sillitoe was an innovator and moderniser. His most visible introduction was the checkered cap bands to distinguish police officers from other uniformed cap wearers. Popularly known as the Sillitoe Tartan, these black and white chequered cap bands were based on those of the military Glengarry and are now used by almost every police force in the United Kingdom, and a number of other police forces around the world.

Sir Percy was Director General of MI5 from 1946 to 1953.

John's talk provoked a lively round of questions, many of which were concerned with the recent changes to policing in Scotland.