St Johnston
Douglas Osmond joined the Metropolitan Police in 1935 where he rose to Inspector before joining the Royal Navy during the Second 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. At 32 he was one of the youngest to have achieved this position in the United Kingdom (The youngest was Sir Eric St Johnston who, in 1940 at the age of 29, was appointed chief constable of Oxfordshire Constabulary). Equally remarkable was his rise through the ranks at a time when most chief constables were externally appointed.