4 Guidance to police officers
37. The Criminal Justice Joint Inspection report
found that "many police officers exhibited patchy knowledge
of the range of disposals, and of the detailed guidance behind
each separate type of disposal".[41]
It indicated that the policies for the various disposals had been
written separately, which worked against achieving a consistent
approach to decision-making, and they argued that this in part
led to the localised trends and preferences for OOCDs we have
examined in Chapter 2. In evidence to the Committee, Chief Constable
Owens acknowledged that patchy knowledge of the range of disposals
had been an issue. She explained that the College of Policing
had been rewriting the guidance on OOCDs, and if the pilots move
forward the College would produce and issue the new guidance to
all police forces.[42]
38. The College of Policing's website contains Authorised
Professional Practice (APP) guidance on "possible justice
outcomes following investigation".[43]
This describes the tools and processes available to the police,
and sets out a range of disposals available to deal with offenders
which are designed to provide an alternative outcome to the formal
justice system. The guidance also provides the following table
which summarises the various OOCDs:
39. The College of Policing is the key police
organisation for producing and disseminating guidance. The work
that the College of Policing has done to provide Authorised Professional
Practice guidance on the six OOCDs should bring more consistency
to the practices of police forces, if it is followed. If the new
OOCD system is fully rolled out, the College must be ready to
provide the authoritative guidance from the outset, so that the
problems of the current system do not reoccur. In addition, it
must be involved in providing officers with training on how to
use these tools appropriately.
41 https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/media/exercising-discretion-the-gateway-to-justice-20110609.pdf Back
42
Qq 61 and 68 Back
43
http://www.app.college.police.uk/app-content/prosecution-and-case-management/justice-outcomes/ Back
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