young wanted to head his own force and tried to become chief constable of the isle of wight constabulary, before he became acting chief constable of leamington spa borough police in september 1938, aged 31, at a salary of £500 per annum. one year later, he was appointed to the permanent post of chief constable. he was one of the youngest men ever to become a chief constable. in his first nine months in leamington he persuaded the council to hire an extra twelve officers, the first increase since 1915. this meant he had 57 police officers to cover all of leamington spa.