37. Second supplementary memorandum
submitted by the Police Superintendents' Association of England
and Wales
INTRODUCTION
Please find below comments from the Police Superintendents'
Association of England and Wales. These should be read in conjunction
with other papers submitted to the Home Affairs Select Committee
during their investigations into police reform.
"Building Communities, Beating Crime"
is an extensive and complex document and these comments represent
a first pass by the Association at the various proposals contained
therein.
The Association has no issue with many of the
proposals and we welcome the overall thrust of the white paper
in placing communities at the heart of the crime and disorder
agenda. Their empowerment and the emphasis on the delivery of
citizen focussed policing is a philosophy this Association has
supported and promoted for many years.
However, issues not addressed in the white paper,
most notably the structure of the service in England & Wales,
are a disappointment to the Association. We feel that the Government
has missed an opportunity to radically reform the police preferring
to "tinker around the edges" rather than fulfil its
promise to fundamentally alter public service.
An opportunity has been lost to create a meaningful
mechanism to involve local communities and place that on a statutory
footing. An infusion of democratic representation at the Crime
and Reduction Partnership level would, in our opinion, lead to
greater involvement by local communities in the way they are policed.
SELECTED PROPOSALS
This paper will concentrate of a number of proposals
in the white paper, where the Association and its membership have
already made comment.
Police Community Support Officers
PCSO's have become a useful additional resource
for police commanders to deploy. They are working effectively
in teams with others from the extended police family in many locations
across England & Wales.
Even though the evaluation is not complete early
signs are that they are well received by communities, who value
having a recognisable uniform presence in their midst.
We understand Government's desire to achieve
consistency in equipment, training and powers for PCSO's and wholeheartedly
support the proposal, however we caution against any further extension
of PCSO powers.
This so-called phenomenon of "powers creep"
will make PCSO's "too useful" and police commanders
will be sorely tempted to use them in roles which take them away
from the communities they serve, thereby defeating the whole objective
of having them in the first place. If they disappear from the
streets the public will feel cheated.
Single non-emergency number
We supported this concept when it was put forward
in 2001. We are disappointed at the seeming lack of progress and
would urge the Committee to use its influence to increase the
momentum towards its introduction.
The inexorable growth in telephony traffic being
experienced by every police force and the lack of capacity to
deal with such high volumes of calls is creating a situation where
the public are becoming increasing critical of the inability of
the police to answer their telephone queries quickly and efficiently.
We see the single non-emergency number as a
vital way in dealing with this demand and allowing more urgent,
police related calls being dealt with as a priority.
Specialist qualification for BCU Commanders
We welcome this proposal and look forward to
working with Government to bring it in. We see this as an indication
that Government want to treat policing as a profession. There
are other measures contained in the white paper such as career
pathways and proposals to establish accreditation for vital roles,
such as Senior Investigating Officer, which this Association has
long supported.
We also welcome the proposal to establish a
policing qualification, and would like to see this open to all
staff.
Multiple points of entry
The Association supports this proposal provided
applicants joining the service at any point demonstrate the skills
and competences applicable to that rank and/or role.
We feel this is an opportunity for the Service
to plug gaps in skills make-up, particularly in technical and
managerial posts. However, we are also confident that the Service
can and does produce people of exceptionally high quality that
applicants from outside the Service will have to be of very high
calibre to be successful.
We feel that to attract outside candidates,
particularly for senior management positions (superintendent and
chief superintendent posts), there will need to be a re-examination
of the current remuneration and rewards packages.
Work-based assessment as alternative to OSPRE
We feel that the Government may have jumped
the gun here. The announcement in the white paper seems to have
anticipated the outcome of the recently commenced trial.
Performance Development Reviews
PDR's should be at the heart of developing all
staff in the Service. There introduction has been at best patchy
and there is a great need for national monitoring and standards.
There is no consistency in the way PDR's are used across England
& Wales.
Our initial findings from our membership in
respect of PDR's and personal work-related objectives are that
some ACPO line managers are finding the task difficult which in
turn leads us to feel there may be a training need.
National Standards
Whilst we applaud the Government's move towards
instituting national standards and informing citizens what they
can expect from their police service, we wonder seriously how
this can be achieved with the current structure of policing in
England & Wales.
Consistency in many issues between the 43 police
forces has not been evident up to present; therefore we have little
confidence that consistent national standards will be achieved.
Empowering BCU Commanders
The Association has long championed this issue
as a vital measure to make delivery effective at the local level.
However we are disappointed that the Government are announcing
more work in this area when there have already been major pieces
of research carried out by the Police Standards Unit and ourselves.
We feel this is procrastination.
Police Improvement Agency
We are still unclear where this new body will
sit in the policing landscape. Whereas we understand and applaud
the philosophy behind the concept, we would welcome more detail
as what the PIA will do, where it will sit, and who will staff
it.
CONCLUSION
Many proposals in the white paper are sensible
and overdue. They will undoubtedly create many working parties
and absorb energy. It is a shame that that energy will not be
utilised in something more radical and fitting for the 21st century.
26 November 2004
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