22nd January 2023
I am not an expert on operational practices within the Police Service.
I have never worked within the Police Service.
But I am a taxpayer and want the Police Service to work, to meet its targets, to live its principles, and to have the confidence and respect of the people of the UK.
I have huge respect for the Police Service, I just want it to be better, and I believe it can be.
I think a huge amount of reform is required, and the rest of this blog contains a few discussion points for the journey, from the eyes of an ‘Ordinary Joe’.
Peel’s Policing Principles
Sir Robert Peel became the Home Secretary in 1822.
In 1829 Peel set up what is considered the first Police Force in England and Wales, covering the London area initially.
Peel is recognised as establishing the 9 Key Principles of Policing, which are still valid and relevant today.
As time has gone on, and we have asked the Police Service to do more diverse activities, perhaps we have lost sight of these principles a bit.
I suggest that the Police Service as a whole, and individual regional services revisit these principles and agree what these principles mean today, and how they should be embedded in operational practice.
What we want the Police to do
Ultimately Policing must be about maintaining law & order. We can ask and expect the Police Service to do more, to do other thing, but these other things must not be at the expense of the basics.
What are the basics ?
I suggest …
- to act as a deterrent to stop or restrict crime and criminal activity, and to maintain law and order
- to attend ALL reported crimes
- to investigate ALL crimes, gathering evidence as required
- to catch and arrest criminals and pass them into the criminal justice system
- to make the community and its people safe
- to ALWAYS act without fear or favour
- to ALWAYS act in the best interest of the public and never act for political purposes
- to ALWAYS have the support and respect of the public
Recruitment
The Government must develop and publish rolling workforce plans covering 5 year, 10 year and 20 year periods. These should cover the skills required (based on what we want the Police Service to do now and in the future), demographics, soft and hard skills, qualifications etc.
There should NOT be any requirement for qualification to degree level to join the Police Service.
Physical fitness is very important both at the time of recruitment and maintaining this throughout a career in the Police Service by regular assessment.
Regular Psychological, Physical, Criminal & Security Re-Assessment
Recruitment of staff into the Police Service needs to be made in consultation with rigorous entry criteria.
Amongst this entry criteria, Psychological profiling must be of the highest regard, along with the obvious checks on previous criminality and any security risks.
Policing is becoming ever more physical and therefore Physical fitness must remain important and perhaps even be further strengthened.
Once employed, I believe that Police Officers should undertake regular and on-going re-assessment using the same or enhanced criteria. People’s situation change and the Police Service need to understand these changes and take any required corrective action. I suggest that this regular re-assessment should take place every 3 years, although I know there will be some that will suggested a shorter frequency, and others that would suggest a longer frequency.
On-Going Training & Development
As with ANY organisation, on-going training & development is extremely important.
A full review of this provision within the Police Service should be undertaken considering Its aims and objectives, delivery and effectiveness.
And full consideration is needed for hard and technical skills and equally soft skills.
Pretty standard stuff.
Internal Associations
The Police Service should consider the removal of internal associations within it.
By this I don’t mean groups of friends that get together to talk, to play sport, to go for a drink or meal etc. I mean the removal of formal associations that now seem quite prevalent within the Police Service.
Quotas
Recruitment and employment quotas are, in my opinion, a race to the bottom, and a form of discrimination in itself.
For recruitment purposes, organisations should employ the best people for the jobs available, not recruit based on ticking boxes to meet some demographic or political policy or whim.
Police Numbers
Deterring crime is a vital part of policing. A key element of this remains strong and highly visible policing in the community.
Quite simply, Police Numbers are TOO LOW.
We must urgently increase Police Numbers (and this is already happening) and get ‘Bobbies back on the Beat’. I literally CANNOT REMEMBER the last time I saw a Police Officer patrolling on foot, or bike in the local area. To be clear, it’s been years.
Another urgent action for consideration should also be the re-establishment or re-opening of local Police Stations that have closed in recent years, and also the re-establishment or re-opening of Police Houses in local communities.
These actions will help deter crime, but will also build community respect and confidence, truly mutually beneficial.
Attend & Investigate EVERY Crime
This is a simple Policy, that should be implemented immediately across the UK
EVERY crime must be attended by Police Officers
EVERY crime must be investigated by the Police Service
It’s time to tip the balance back to the Police Service and the law abiding people of the UK.
Focus on ‘Specific Crimes’
This blog has been very generic when talking about crimes, however I believe there a some areas where additional and sustained effort is required.
DRUGS
It’s clear that a lot of crime is committed by serial offenders (re-offenders), and that much crime is drug related. I believe that the Police should have a zero tolerance for drug related crime, and that the judicial system further down the road should be the same.
Cutting re-offending must be a focus.
RAPE
We are just not doing enough to deter & prevent, investigate, arrest, and convict Rapists. WE MUST DO MUCH MORE.
But we must also address
- the culture that makes rapists think that it’s ok to commit these heinous crimes, and that they will probably get away with it anyway, even if they are convicted
- the culture that makes victims of rape think there in no point in reporting the crime, or are terrified about how the crime and they will be treated.
Other areas where additional and sustained focus is required are SEXUAL ABUSE, PEOPLE TRAFFICKING and DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
These may be subject to future blogs and so additional information will not be considered in this blog.
Performance Data
The Police Service must re-confirm the Key Performance Indicators it should use to understand the effectiveness and efficiency of the Service, measure at least on a monthly basis, publish this performance to the public at least on a monthly basis, and then assess performance and identify any operational changes needed to reach target performance (where performance is below target) or to achieve performance improvement over and above target levels (leading to eventual higher targets being identified).
I am sure some of this is already being done, Let’s now make it more visible and make performance improvement part of the culture.
Regaining Public Confidence
Policing must be by consent, but it doesn’t always feel that this is the case at the moment.
The Police Service must endeavour to be firm but fair in all that it does.
General public support, respect & confidence will return when all party’s understand and agree the purpose of the Police Service, understand its principles and performance targets and can determine the effectiveness of the service.
It will return when the public feel safer, both themselves physically and their property.
Supporting Activities
There are other things outside the scope of the Police Service, but have a clear effect on the Performance of the Police Services.
For convenience, I have identified a few below, there are others, and these may be part of a future blog.
Sentencing Policies
A full and detailed review of appropriate sentences for law-breaking and crimes should be undertaken.
Conviction and a prison or other sentence must be seen as one of the two main deterrents, the other being the possibility of meeting Police Officers going about their business.
Unfortunately, I believe many criminals now treat prison sentences (when they are actually sent to prison) as an acceptable risk, often because sentences are seen as too soft. This becomes evident with the amount of re-offending that is seen.
Review of sentencing, and yes, that means more custodial sentences and longer custodial sentences, would act as further deterrent. Surely a good thing.
Parole
Parole, I suppose, has been about giving convicted criminals some hope of early release from prison sentences for ‘good behaviour’.
Now I normally support rewarding good behaviour.
But in the case of those in prison I suggest that the principle should be reversed and that Good Behaviour should be the expected default, which leads to prisoners released at the end of their sentence (no parole) and that Bad Behaviour should result in additional time been added to prison sentences.
If this idea was considered and implemented, the principle of parole could be removed from the Judicial System very quickly.
It’s time to change the culture.
Prisons
It’s clear that the prison estate requires modernisation, both in terms of buildings but also operating practices. This needs to be done as a matter of urgency.
A guiding principle must be that if prisons are full or nearing capacity then we should always look to build more prisons rather than send fewer people to prison or release prisoners early due to capacity problems.
Judges / Magistrates
Unfortunately the general public, us ‘Ordinary Joe’s’ , have a pretty poor level of confidence in judges and the decisions they make. Although publicity will always tend to focus on controversial or unusual rulings, its seems clear to this ‘Ordinary Joe’ that often Judges seem to provide overly lenient sentences, for many reason.
Far better guidance is required for sentencing, together with regular and on-going training and competence assessment.
One More Thing
In reforming the Police Service we mustn’t return to the mistakes of the past but we can and should learn from the successes of the past.
From interactions with experienced police officers in real life and on social media it is clear to me that we must engage with these experience officers and use them, learn from them, put them to work as advisors and if willing into more participatory roles again. They can see the problems and they know how to solve them.
My belief is, they would support this initiative, because they want to improve the Police Service also.
Conclusion
If after reading this blog you believe that I have been too critical, then I will honestly say that is not the intention. What I have tried to do is discuss some of the issues as I see them and propose some ways forward.
I hope I am not so silly to believe that I have identified all the problems, I know there are many more, and I certainly haven’t identified all the solutions. That, absolutely, was not the point of the blog.
The point was to start a discussion, because …
I believe in the Police Service.
I believe in the Judicial Service.
I believe in Law & Order.
I want things to be better.
I believe they can be.
But we must start to talk about the problems, solve them and make it happen.
Start that discussion with your local Police Service and local politicians NOW!
Thanks for reading.
Graham
Twitter : @apple_shwn
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