Written evidence submitted by the
Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales

Summary

Recommendations to inform or shape the future of policing:

• More research and understanding of public safety related demand
• The development of a reserve force
• Fundamental reforms to the complaints system and the IPCC
• A concerted effort to move the service to a learning culture
• More work with the public to help them understand the role of the police and the complexity of demand
• A long-term service-wide strategic vision for the service supported by academia and subject matter experts.
• Greater emphasis on early intervention and improved cross-departmental working
• A cross-sector inspection regime
• A re-defined relationship with the private sector
• Policing to remain a vocation  

1. About the Association

1.1  The Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales (PSAEW) is a staff association. We are the sole representative body for police officers in the ranks of Superintendent and Chief Superintendent.  We have approximately 1,250 members across 46 police forces in England and Wales: the 43 Home Office police forces; British Transport Police; the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man. Our members are the senior operational leaders in policing.  Collectively with Chief Officers, we are the most senior 1% of the service by rank.  We support and represent our members’ welfare and interests, and seek to be an influential voice in policing for the public good.

2. Current landscape

2.1  Policing has undergone significant reform over the last six years. The most obvious of these reforms has been to the governance structure through the introduction of Police and Crime Commissioners.  Austerity measures have brought about a reduction of some 34,000 police officers and staff. The Superintending ranks have experienced the greatest percentage reduction across any rank group, falling by 28% since 2010.

2.2  Reform, innovation and creativity can be challenging in a highly regulated environment such as policing.  The regulated framework in which policing operates is intended to provide national standards and some protection to a group of workers who have no industrial rights. The police service has a long history of embedded cultures and working practices, which are not necessarily negative, but policing has continued to innovate and be open to change. However the service has worked hard to manage the introduction of reforms and to absorb and embrace changes. Research by IPSOS Mori for HMIC in 2015[1] found that:

• 74% of people felt safe in their local area after dark
• 65% of people did not feel levels of service had changed over the past year
• 62% of those who had contact with police were satisfied with the service they received.

These are encouraging findings of which the service can be proud, although it must always strive to improve.

2.3  However, it is clear that further innovation is needed in order to cope with changing demand profiles in a time of financial constraint. There is significant evidence already in the public domain in relation to the rise in demand upon policing services. This is primarily, although not exclusively, as a result of crime enabled by the internet; including fraud, cyber-crime, and crimes against vulnerable people, e.g. child sexual exploitation; modern slavery and female genital mutilation. 

2.4  There is also significant evidence in the public domain about the level of demand resulting from incidents that are non-crime related and the fundamental role that the police play in preserving public safety.  Examples of this public safety role include: dealing with missing persons; the elderly and the vulnerable, and those experiencing mental health episodes.  As a result of budget cuts imposed throughout the public sector, many other public sector agencies have made austerity-driven decisions that have had an impact on the operational delivery of policing.    

2.5  This submission does not rehearse the evidence in support of this view, although the Association strongly recommends that further research is undertaken to understand the scale of this problem as well as identify potential solutions to address it.

2.6  The police service also needs to significantly improve its use of IT and technology. This will not only improve efficiency and service delivery, but it will also enable policing to take advantage of the significant opportunities technology presents to prevent, deter, detect and investigate crime.

2.7  Our view is that policing needs to focus on transformational change that will equip the service with the people, skills, capabilities and technology it needs to deal effectively with current and emerging crime types.  It also needs to place greater focus, in partnership with other agencies and service providers, on developing early intervention, incident prevention and demand reduction strategies.

2.8  This submission concentrates on three specific areas of transformation:

• People, resources and culture
• Expectations
• Reconfiguration

3. People, resources and culture

3.1  The College of Policing has embarked upon a programme of work which will lead to policing being recognised as a profession as well as a vocation.  The underlying assumption, with which we agree, is that the police service of the future may not solely be a linear 30/35/40 year career path, but will make greater use of different entry and exit routes which will create a more flexible workforce overall.  

3.2  The skills and experience gained in the course of a police career must still be recognised and valued, but the service will also need access to skills which are more often found in the private sector.  For example: cyber investigation; financial investigation; technical and linguistic skills.

3.3  Efforts to create a more flexible workforce can go further and could include the wider police family. Whilst we support the principle of volunteering, and the value it brings to the service, in our view there could be the potential for the Special Constabulary to be transformed into an effective reserve force using a similar model to that operated by the military or, alternatively, for a reserve force to be created alongside the Special Constabulary. 

3.4  This would, in our view, be about creating additionality, rather than replacing regular officers.  It would also create the opportunity to prevent valuable skills and experience from being lost to the service.  We would suggest that a reserve force be structured to mirror the regular service, and that the qualifications, experience and expertise of officers would be maintained through continuous professional development. Police reservists could be drawn direct from the general public, or from regular officers who leave the service via flexible exit opportunities.  This would enable those officers who leave the service voluntarily, either temporarily or permanently, to maintain their skills and levels of competence and provide them with an opportunity to continue to support the service.

3.5  Last year we surveyed our members who head public protection units.  This is an area of policing that carries huge levels of risk. Some of the findings were alarming[2]:

• 48% of respondents stated they had no previous experience of public protection
• 82% of respondents stated they received no training or development for the role

There is a significant vulnerability in deploying police officers into such difficult, complex, demanding, stressful and, on occasions, distressing work without appropriate training. This is particularly relevant given the culture of blame that pervades within policing; something that is to the detriment of the service, officers and the public.

3.6  The current complaints and misconduct systems and processes involve an ever-increasing number of lengthy and costly investigations, which are often entirely disproportionate to the original issues or behavior complained of; with far too much emphasis on seeking to apportion blame rather than encourage learning.  It does not promote a climate where mistakes can be admitted, learnt from and improvements made. For example, of the 38 misconduct investigations against our members in 2015, no further action was taken in more than 70% of those cases finalised so far. Only one case led to a dismissal. Sixteen cases are still ongoing, more than a year after being instigated. Table 1 illustrates:

Table 1: PSAEW – Analysis of misconduct cases opened in 2015

Protracted investigations do not serve either the police or the public well, and can be wasteful of public funds – particularly where officers are either suspended or placed on restricted duties. We believe further reform of the IPCC and the complaints system is necessary before the service loses all confidence in them both. Some reform measures are already in the process of being introduced by government; however, we believe there is both scope and a pressing need to go much further towards promoting an open learning culture that addresses poor performance and mistakes as personal or organisational performance matters, rather than acts of misconduct. The principles of the Taylor Review have yet to be taken on by the service.  This is a missed opportunity.

3.7  We support a system of oversight and accountability that is both effective and transparent, and in which members of the public, police officers and staff have trust and confidence.  We are a long way short of achieving this ideal.  Wrongdoing and corruption must never be tolerated.  Such cases must be identified and dealt with robustly and swiftly. However, there is a marked difference between acts of deliberate wrongdoing or corruption and genuine mistakes which are made in good faith, often by people who are extremely busy and who are operating in a complex and highly pressured environment.

3.8  Our Association will always champion a police service that strives to constantly improve the service it delivers to the public. We suggest an important step in achieving this would be to encourage the development within policing of a culture that learns from mistakes, both at an individual and an organisational level. The current system is a significant impediment to achieving this ambition. 

4. Expectations

4.1  According to IPSOS Mori polling, policing has dropped from third to eleventh position in the list of public priorities[3]. This may be taken as an indicator that police are doing a good job and that people feel safer.

4.2  However this has not translated into a change in public, media, or political expectations of the service. For example, visible policing is still expected and considered as an indicator of a good service but, as fraud and computer misuse now account for at least half of all crime[4] (with significant under-reporting), there is a strong argument that policing’s presence needs to be more online – where it would not necessarily be ‘visible’.  Should this be at the expense of the visible reassurance provided by patrolling police officers and police community support officers?

4.3  Technology or cyber-enabled crimes and crimes linked to vulnerability are increasing - even once the effect of improved recording is taken into account. In terms of vulnerability, there is no common definition shared across the public services as to what this actually means.  A snapshot of the extent of potential vulnerability was provided by the ONS in 2016[5] when interviewing people aged 16 to 59 years of age:

• 9% had experienced psychological abuse
• 7% had been victims of physical abuse
• 7% had been victims of sexual assault
• 8% had witnessed domestic violence in the home.

This equates to an estimated 567,000 adult women and 102,000 adult men aged 16 to 59 having experienced this type of abuse during childhood.

4.4  These crimes are not just a problem for policing.  This is a societal problem that requires a joined-up cross-government response encompassing all relevant public services.  We advocate a ‘one public service’ approach to address this issue.

4.5  As mentioned previously, police officer and police staff numbers have reduced by 34,000 since 2010. Typically, 80% of police budgets are spent on salary costs[6].  Policing is a people-intensive operation and our people are our biggest asset. It can therefore be argued that, with fewer people, policing has become increasingly stretched as it endeavours to meet increasing demands with a significantly reduced workforce, albeit the service is working hard to identify efficiencies and new ways of smarter working. 

4.6  We consider there should be a drive to assist public understanding of the demands placed upon policing and what can be realistically delivered to keep people safe and to protect communities. We are of the view that it would be helpful to the public to understand the demands placed on policing as a result of other public sector organisations not effectively discharging their own responsibilities, e.g. social welfare. This needs to go beyond the setting of local priorities by Police and Crime Commissioners and the associated accountability mechanisms, as so much of the demand upon policing extends beyond force boundaries.

5. Reconfiguration

5.1  We support localism as being the bedrock of policing, with our members as identifiable local police commanders, known by and accountable to their communities for the delivery of local policing services. However, like others in the service, our view is that there is a need for a complete review of the structure of policing and that the 43 force model is neither the most effective nor the most appropriate model for policing 21st century challenges[7].

5.2  Whilst we accept that there is currently no political appetite to embark upon a programme of structural change, it would be inappropriate not to identify current force structures as being a major obstacle to the achievement of reform and greater efficiencies and effectiveness, particularly in terms of achieving a national approach to dealing with those ever increasing crime types that are not constrained by geography, e.g. cyber crime.

5.3  We do accept there will be variations in the delivery of local services, to reflect the priorities and needs of communities and areas. However, we suggest that the service, and those with oversight of policing, need to have a good understanding of demand - particularly in respect of the new crime types referred to in the previous paragraph.  We believe there needs to be national co-ordination and oversight as to how the service as a whole responds to meet these emerging challenges. 

5.4  It is essential that policing adapts and changes to meet the new demand.  Some of the areas which we believe it is critical for the service to focus upon and improve are its digital capability; its ability to deal with online fraud (now the largest volume crime type) and the way that it develops and manages intelligence. 

5.5  We recognise that reforms are being progressed through the Police Reform Transformation Board (PRTB). However, we also believe there is a need for thinking that goes well beyond 2025, which is where the service has its attention focused currently.  We advocate the need for a service-wide strategic vision, which is reviewed and refreshed regularly, that seeks to identify the risks, opportunities, and threats for policing up to 2040[8]. Whilst ambitious, this would provide a much-needed long-term strategic context for both policy makers and the service’s leadership to prepare to seize opportunities and respond to, or better still, avert future threats and risks.

5.6  We also recommend there should be a greater emphasis on early intervention. An enabler for this would be greater cross-departmental co-operation and cross-sector partnerships to address both societal change and the impact of technological development. For example, we believe there is much more scope – and a significant need – for more joined up working and the effective sharing of data, information and resources.  In our survey of Heads of Public Protection (referred to previously), 81% of respondents, who often themselves oversee Multi-Agency Safety Hubs (MASH), stated that data sharing with MASH partners could be better.

5.7  In order to be truly effective in this very important area, we would encourage the development of an inspection regime that operates across partnerships working in this sector to examine the whole issue of vulnerability, rather than for this to be undertaken by way of a silo approach where each agency, e.g. health, social care, policing and education, is inspected separately.

5.8  Our assessment of the current technological landscape is that no one organisation, operating in either the public or the private sector, possesses all of the answers. However, in order to encourage innovation and future solutions, we believe there is a need to redefine policing’s relationship with the private sector, so that it becomes one that is agile and flexible, enabling the sharing of skills, knowledge and technology. Neither sector has a monopoly on these assets and we believe that responding to 21st Century challenges warrants this different approach.

6. Conclusion

6.1  Our Association supports further innovation and believes that continuous improvement is necessary for any high-performing organisation to ensure it is both effective and delivering the very best service possible.

6.2  The police service must challenge itself to improve. It needs to understand the challenges and opportunities facing it and move to confront and embrace these. This is essential for its continued legitimacy and if it is to move away from a short-term cycle of reactive reform.  The service also has a history of reacting those events and developments in society which were foreseeable.  It needs to look to the future; identify potential trends, threats and risks; and take pre-emptive action to deal with them before they are fully formed and at their most pernicious. 

6.3  However, it must be remembered that policing is still a vocation and must remain so.  It is vitally important that the service continues to attract people who are driven by a desire to serve and protect their fellow citizens and who will display personal courage and integrity – in the full knowledge that they may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice in the course of their duty.

6.4  As senior operational leaders in policing, we are tremendously proud of this service and the people who serve as part of it.  Our core values of honesty, integrity, courage, common sense and the ability to remain calm under pressure are at the very heart of what we are as police officers and what it is that we do.  These values have always been an integral part of British policing and must remain so.  

6.5  The British policing model is the envy of the world: long may this remain the case.

6.6  We look forward to assisting the Home Affairs Committee further in progressing this important inquiry.

Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales