Auditors

[Fedster + 1,307]

BTP's shift pattern do not match peak demand, HMICFRS found.

British Transport Police has been criticised for having a “limited knowledge” of crimes such as modern slavery and child sexual exploitation in an HMICFRS report.

BTP was slammed for “incomplete” and “weak” understanding of current demand in a report into its efficiency, legitimacy and leadership released on Friday.

“The force’s limited understanding of less obvious demand, including hidden crimes such as child sexual exploitation and human trafficking, also limits its ability to assess the full range of potential future demand,” the report stated.

An estimated £4-5m is spent every year on overtime payments made to meet “predictable demands” and “regular events”, according to the report.

A new deployment programme, introduced to analyse how BTP’s frontline resources are being allocated, discovered frontline uniformed officers and staff weren’t well distributed geographically and did not have the right shift patterns to meet demand.

As a result, the force often cancelled officers’ rest days making “significant” overtime payments.

There is a “small but persistent” backlog of intelligence reports awaiting assessment, the inspectors found, which is hampering BTP’s ability to make accurate decisions about its resources.

Inspectors also found the force “does not actively seek intelligence about potential corruption.”

“In addition, although the problem of abuse of authority for sexual gain is a priority for the force due to the high-profile nature of this kind of corruption, the force’s approach is still in the very early stages of development.”

BTP’s financial and efficiency plans were judged “unsatisfactory” and stated it “does not yet have adequate plans to reduce costs.”

BTP was told to slash its spending by at least eight per cent by 2020, without affecting operational capability in the government’s 2015 spending review.

But inspectors said: "At the time of our inspection, the force’s financial and efficiency plans were unsatisfactory.  

“We found little evidence that the force’s planning had taken account of predicted levels of future demand, workforce capabilities or longer term plans for ICT or estates. This means that the force cannot yet prioritise areas for investment in the future, “ the report said.

“The force has identified that its information technology (IT) needs urgent and significant improvement.

“We agree.

 “A clear, realistic and costed IT plan needs to be put in place quickly to address this,” inspectors added.  

BTP was praised for working hard to make sure it treats the people it serves with “fairness and respect.”

“The force understands the importance of this, and seeks feedback from the communities it serves in a range of ways…the difficulties of doing this should not be underestimated, given the different groups the force serves and the transient nature of the largest of these, the travelling public.”

“It clarifies and reinforces acceptable behaviour, and officers and staff are confident about reporting concerns to their supervisor.

“We found that the force has a clear process for prioritising its activities and setting out its levels of service for the public, which is informed by the expectations of the public and other interested parties. These priorities are very well understood by officers and staff at all levels of the force.”

BTP was also commended for “recognising the important of a diverse workforce.”

“It has developed programmes to encourage people in its leadership team who have a diverse range of protected characteristics (such as age, gender or sexual orientation).”

HMICFRS decided not give headline judgements on BTP’s production as “direct comparisons with Home Office forces…are difficult and liable to be misleading.”

BTP Chief Constable Paul Crowther said he welcomed the report.

He said: “We’re proud to see inspectors praising the way we treat people we come into contact with each day. It’s something we very much pride ourselves upon.

“In the past year alone, we’ve policed football games every weekend, made more than 1,800 life saving interventions to help suicidal people and our officers were at the forefront of the horrific attacks at Manchester and London Bridge. Our search teams also worked under incredible pressure during other incidents like the Croydon tram derailment and at Grenfell Tower, whilst officers across the force rose to the challenge of the country’s threat level being raised to critical twice.

CC Crowther added: “We have nominated people identified [for improvement] in each area highlighted in the report, and plans are already in place to make sure every HMIC recommendation is addressed as soon as possible.

“In particular, we are focussing extensive time and resources into enhancing the way we are able to spot the signs of vulnerability – be that a missing child, a victim of Child Sex Exploitation or a victim of modern slavery.

“Over the last few years, we’ve seen the railway environment changing – passenger numbers have increased significantly, stations are becoming busy entertainment hubs with shops and bars, and our officers are facing more challenges than ever before.

“As the environment changes, we are adapting and changing to match that demand and ensure that BTP is in the best possible position to keep the travelling public, and those who work on the railway, safe.”

View On Police Oracle

[MerseyLLB 8,426]

It wasn't long ago shifts, patrols and demand were studied by a University for BTP and they developed a plan based on that.

As for OT budget...5m is small change bearing in mind the demand over the past couple of years with terrorism, disorder, events etc

[Zulu 22 + 4,630]

There are certain crimes, offences that the BTP would not need an in depth knowledge of, just the same as other Forces would not need an in depth knowledge of BTP problems. We don't have much call for offences of trespass on railway property and many other Railway unique offences.

[Hyphen + 693]

To be honest I’m amazed that they are saying the OT was only 5m. When I was with BTP it was non stop overtime, paid rest day working for no reason and this was across the force. There was a culture of forced overtime. No one could ever explain or justify why there was a need for the extra hours or cancelled days off, just because.

On the flip side the change in rosters after the demand review were a mess in most places and have lead to officers routinely working 12 hour shifts.

There was a study done and BTP tried to adopt a directed patrol plan which was a complete disaster. They had officers standing in a spot, walking 10 paces and standing in another spot for 15 minute intervals. The data that was used to make up these plans was sometimes 5 years old and officers weren’t allowed to use their knowledge or experience to seek out problem areas or deal with people.

Efficiency is a non existent term. Imagine preparing an MG5 and 6 and uploading numerous documents individually to a system even though the person is eligible for a D and D ticket, insisting on a file being completed for cautions and NFA’s and having to phone for advice for any charging/disposal decision. It could take 3/4 of a shift to record, prepare a file, wait for advice and then issue a ticket for a d and d.

The issue with BTP is it is very poorly managed and many of the senior managers seem very naive at times.

I think that there could be a lot of improvements.

Unfortunately this is why myself and many others had to leave the organisation.

BTP was a great force when I first started with them, emphasis on solving problems, fairly efficient when dealing with things, freedom to deal with people and a nice culture. It all went a bit sour when Mr Crowther took over the top job. 

Of course people will most likely disagree but it is just my opinion, it isn’t intended to be a BTP bashing, far from it. It could be a very good force with a change of leadership.

[Toms + 191]

3 hours ago, Hyphen said:

To be honest I’m amazed that they are saying the OT was only 5m. When I was with BTP it was non stop overtime, paid rest day working for no reason and this was across the force. There was a culture of forced overtime. No one could ever explain or justify why there was a need for the extra hours or cancelled days off, just because.

On the flip side the change in rosters after the demand review were a mess in most places and have lead to officers routinely working 12 hour shifts.

There was a study done and BTP tried to adopt a directed patrol plan which was a complete disaster. They had officers standing in a spot, walking 10 paces and standing in another spot for 15 minute intervals. The data that was used to make up these plans was sometimes 5 years old and officers weren’t allowed to use their knowledge or experience to seek out problem areas or deal with people.

Efficiency is a non existent term. Imagine preparing an MG5 and 6 and uploading numerous documents individually to a system even though the person is eligible for a D and D ticket, insisting on a file being completed for cautions and NFA’s and having to phone for advice for any charging/disposal decision. It could take 3/4 of a shift to record, prepare a file, wait for advice and then issue a ticket for a d and d.

The issue with BTP is it is very poorly managed and many of the senior managers seem very naive at times.

I think that there could be a lot of improvements.

Unfortunately this is why myself and many others had to leave the organisation.

BTP was a great force when I first started with them, emphasis on solving problems, fairly efficient when dealing with things, freedom to deal with people and a nice culture. It all went a bit sour when Mr Crowther took over the top job. 

Of course people will most likely disagree but it is just my opinion, it isn’t intended to be a BTP bashing, far from it. It could be a very good force with a change of leadership.

This I totally agree with. Luckily I was at force rather than in a division when Mr Crowther took over but from friends and colleagues it was a mess. When I worked Response I had very few rest days cancelled, was able to effectively patrol and although I carried minor stuff most of it was handed over to a team better placed to investigate. The teams across all nicks in London worked together as a team and the culture (outside a couple of specific Insp) was friendly camaraderie (and Work was great fun) Since then I’m  really glad I jumped ship as all I hear from ex colleagues is how stretched they are now and how much they hate Work. 

BTP needs a massive shake up (it doesn’t help that Crowther has a reputation amongst the troops that doesn’t inspire confidence) and some new blood. I was hoping that this infrastructure police might do that but that all seems to have gone by the wayside