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[Fedster + 1,307]

Response, investigation and neighbourhood roles becoming less distinct as 'underqualified' officers carry out detective work.

Division of duties: The full in tray

Date - 2nd May 2019
By - Nick Hudson - Police Oracle

6 Comments

 

Policing has admitted a new world order for the first time where “underqualified” officers do jobs for which they have not been trained.

Lines of responsibility are becoming “less distinct” as inexperienced response teams are carrying out investigations, often without enough supervision, amid a chronic national shortage of detectives.

Bobbies on the beat are dealing with burglaries, thefts and assaults as a quarter of victims in a sample of cases did not receive the service they should expect, an assessment by the police watchdog inspectors has revealed.

High-volume crimes are being resolved over the phone or allocated to officers without the necessary experience or qualifications, according to the first Peel spotlight report of 2019 from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.

Failings included opportunities to gather evidence not being followed up or potential lines of inquiry being missed.

And redeploying neighbourhood officers, often to response, can damage their crime prevention work, limiting their engagement with communities, the report warns.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said: "It used to be that you would have your CID, your response force, your community policing and they all had very discrete jobs.

"Response officers didn't do investigations. Now they do. They don't have the same accreditation, they don't have the same experience."

HMICFRS said investigations had become more complex because of the growth of online crime, the need to examine data on personal devices and improvements in identifying vulnerable victims.

While high-risk probes were allocated to specialist investigators, frequently committed offences, such as burglary and theft from vehicles, were often resolved over the telephone or assigned to neighbourhood or response officers.

"These officers often don't have enough formal training and qualifications in investigation," the report said.

HMICFRS inspectors reviewed 2,608 randomly selected files from crimes recorded in the first three months of last year.

They found that three quarters of theft offences and common assaults had "effective" investigations.

The report said: "This means a quarter of these complainants aren't getting the service they should expect."

The trend has emerged amid a shortfall in detectives and investigators, which the inspectorate has previously described as a "national crisis".

HMICFRS says there has been some progress, with the deficit falling from 19 per cent to 14 per cent, but warned it would be a "few years" before all vacancies were filled.

Mr Parr said: "There's a shortage of detectives to do the routine detective work, and very often it's being farmed out to people who do their best but are not trained at the same level."

The Peel report A system under pressure – an overview of general findings that emerged in inspections of 14 forces – also found:

• Local policing is being "eroded" as neighbourhood officers are re-deployed, limiting their engagement with communities;
• Pressures of increased demand are stretching forces' ability to root out corruption and having an adverse effect on officer well-being;
• The number of 999 calls increased by five per cent nationally to nearly 10 million in 2017-18; and
• At the same time there was a three per cent fall in calls to the 101 non-emergency number, prompting the inspectorate to suggest the public are "losing confidence" in the service.

The inspectorate concluded that police were delivering a good level of service with "dwindling resources", but warned that "cracks in the system" were widening.

Mr Parr said: "Many of the forces we inspected are in general providing a good service to the public, but all are faced with competing priorities that if not managed correctly could see this service deteriorate."

Police resources have repeatedly come under the spotlight following funding reductions and a fall of 21,000 in the number of officers from 2010 to 2018.

Last year a Commons report warned policing risked becoming "irrelevant" amid vanishing neighbourhood presences and low detection rates.

National Police Chiefs' Council chairman Martin Hewitt said the inspectorate had graded the majority of forces as either good or outstanding.

He added: "Police chiefs, along with many others working in policing, have been very clear that the service is under severe pressure and requires additional long-term funding."

The NPCC said it was working with other policing organisations to address challenges in recruiting and retaining detectives.

A Home Office spokesman said: "We recognise new demands are putting pressure on the police and we are committed to ensuring they have the resource they need.

"This is why we have provided more than a £1 billion increase in police funding compared to last year, including Council Tax and funding to tackle serious violence.

"We are pleased to see detective capacity has increased by 5% this year, but are clear that forces must continue to make progress on reducing the shortfall to improve their investigative capabilities."

• The 14 forces inspected by HMICFRS were: City of London, Cumbria, Durham, Dyfed Powys, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Humberside, Kent, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, West Midlands and Wiltshire.

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[Jimbo26 + 199]

"Response officers didn't do investigations. Now they do. They don't have the same accreditation, they don't have the same experience." 

Really, maybe in large Metropolitan areas but they certainly do, and have done in the majority of the country,

[Zulu 22 + 4,630]

Strange that when I was a Proby you investigated the crime that you were sent to. Serious crimes were allocated to CID but the majority were left to you to investigate. That is where you made a name for yourself, a reputation. But at that time you had extra manpower. You did not have neighbourhood Policing, you were the neighbourhood Policing. You even dealt with motorists who believed that they could park wherever and when ever they liked. Over the years they have formed more and more specialist squads whereby the Policing skills have been eroded from the Uniformed officer. In the County Forces and the County area's of  larger urban area forces Uniform Officers have undertaken many investigations. It seems that if you are in the Met then you hand as much over to others, Pick Pocket squads, Shoplifting squads, a squad for everything. 

The cause and the remedy all can be resolved with returning Police Budgets to a realistic target. By that I do not mean for expenditure on expensive cars for Senior Management, and new executive Office furniture and other perks for the Ivory towers inhabitants.

Increase the finance but, spend it wisely, and that means on the beat officers, they are the intelligence gatherers and the neighbourhood officers. 

[Sierra Lima + 117]

As a response officer I don't mind investigating my own jobs If I'm given the time to do so. I don't want to do my files on my days off like some of my colleagues do. 

I also know my limits and expect CID to take the serious and complex ones but nothing is serious or complex enough for them.

The result is late, rushed and botched investigations for jobs which deserved more attention. 

[Hyphen + 693]

It’s alright, police reform is working, crime is down and there have never been more front line police officers. Under this government spending has gone up 2000% and everything is great... all said by whichever MP is rolled out with their fingers in their ears.

In seriousness though like with every aspect of policing now everything is in collapse and everything is ineffective.

We still carry volume crimes on response, and even some which are a little more serious (high value arson, S20 assaults, PWITS, other violent incidents, sexual offences and other protracted investigations such as frauds and high value thefts etc). These are always then pushed down the list due to DV crimes, these take priority and many involve quite time consuming enquires especially harassment and stalking allegations.

We are all stretched, CID are at capacity and there are no other squads. In theory we should pitch in and do what we can HOWEVER, most shifts we can’t even get to the jobs coming in, they stack up every day, this is now more commonly happening with Grade 1 incidents. 

So, how on earth can we carry out an effective investigation? How can we review all of the material for disclosure, how do we effectively deal with all of the third party material for disclosure, all of the CPS requests? I’m genuinely asking as no one seems to be able to do it without working extra hours or coming in on days off.

 Most of my crime reports have the same copy and paste updates on every set or two of shifts, usually along the lines of ‘unable to progress’. More and more crimes then pile on top until we can hopefully get rid of some of them somehow. 

Its no surprise that forces are now going more down the route of a call centre transaction approach and closing things straight off.

Victims wait for months and months, I’ve no doubt that they are losing confidence.

I just hope that people deep down know that cops want to do better, we want to get people locked up and to account for what they’ve done, we just can’t do it. 

Forces themselves and ultimately government are the ones who need to be held to account. 

 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Hyphen

[Mac7 808]

I listened to a phone interview with Matt Parr this morning who in one breath said there is a chronic shortage of detectives and in the next said it’s not about resources. Which is it then Mr Parr?

 

I’ve banged on enough on this forum about how the police is at breaking point. We all know the cause and we all know the solution.

 

What would be nice to see is if the HMICFRS actually lobbied the government and made it very clear that although we are keeping the wheel on, the majority of the bolts are missing.

 

I do think there is a need for specialist “squads.” Maybe not on the scale of the met but many forces outside the met have long disbanded their drugs squads. That was pre cuts and due to other political pressures but maybe if they were still in existence we would not have the county lines problem we have today.

 

The biggest issue is the decimation of neighbourhood policing to the point where, let’s be honest, there isn’t any. This needs reversing and we need investment. Policing also needs dragging into the digital age before technology overtakes us (if it already hasn’t).

 

 

[Radman + 2,165]

In the US a detective position is seen as something of a promotion from uniform. 

In the UK its seen as a sideways step into a specialisation and I think here lies the issue, very little if any recognition for specialised officers in the UK. 

[Mac7 808]

In the US a detective position is seen as something of a promotion from uniform. 

I’ll never forget being asked if I’d been promoted to detective yet by a non police friend not long after I’d joined.

[Cathedral Bobby + 1,174]

I think, and always have, thought that response is the hardest job in the job and as resources have been cut more and more, investigation of crimes has fallen to those initially allocated to respond. We have always, no matter your uniformed role, investigated burglary, assaults and some fairly serious stuff. But normally it was based on what CID had on and sometimes what you could negotiate, doing something for a particular interest or experience. Now though colleagues I speak to who work response all carry significant crime caseloads, often significantly backlogged, and some serious crimes. Must be honest I don't think I know anyone anymore who works neighbourhood. Haven't seen a bobby on the beat where I live in over five years, no that might be seven as I think I made a similar statement on this site a couple of years ago. In fact I see PCSOs driving doing enquiries more than I see walking the town centre. Let's be honest the police service is broken.😢

Edited May 3, 2019 by Cathedral Bobby

[Radman + 2,165]

45 minutes ago, Mac7 said:

 

I’ll never forget being asked if I’d been promoted to detective yet by a non police friend not long after I’d joined.

 

You get it everywhere, I do think CID should be financially recognised far more than it is even if its just an "extra" grade along with other specialisations that can be recognised. 

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing a return of the "Senior Constable" rank that used to exist and still does across the commonwealth that could be awarded to specialist, long serving officers who are good cops who don't necessarily wish to progress up the rank structure. 

Experienced PCs are held to far higher account come disciplinary hearings and PSD investigations than younger in service cops, there should be some recognition for long term service and specialisation. 

[Cathedral Bobby + 1,174]

Just now, Radman said:

You get it everywhere, I do think CID should be financially recognised far more than it is even if its just an "extra" grade along with other specialisations that can be recognised. 

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing a return of the "Senior Constable" rank that used to exist and still does across the commonwealth that could be awarded to specialist, long serving officers who are good cops who don't necessarily wish to progress up the rank structure. 

Experienced PCs are held to far higher account come disciplinary hearings and PSD investigations than younger in service cops, there should be some recognition for long term service and specialisation. 

I think the idea of inverted chevrons as in the military or senior constables as in much of the Commonwealth wearing two chevrons is a good idea. But tutoring is a specialism of sorts. Perhaps a system that doesn't necessarily mean seniority as in rank, but seniority in terms of certain roles.

[Radman + 2,165]

9 minutes ago, Cathedral Bobby said:

I think the idea of inverted chevrons as in the military or senior constables as in much of the Commonwealth wearing two chevrons is a good idea. But tutoring is a specialism of sorts. Perhaps a system that doesn't necessarily mean seniority as in rank, but seniority in terms of certain roles.

That's what I mean. 

At the moment there is no real difference with a cop who has 3 years service to someone who has 15 years or more. 

You'll often hear people say "They're the same rank" but experience, knowledge, training etc will be immensely different. 

I do think there needs to be some form of formal recognition, importantly however I don't think it should just be given on "time served" it should be position that recognises time served, specialisation, training etc. 

No real power or influence, just recognition as to an officers service and training. 

Edited May 2, 2019 by Radman

[David + 4,981]

Don't forget though that there are pay bands within any one payscale - a long-serving PC will be paid a higher rate than a probationer. A PC at the top of the PC payscale isn't far off (even if not equal to) a newly qualified sergeant, likewise a long-serving sergeant and newly qualified Inspector will have a similar differential.

[Beaker 817]

2 hours ago, Radman said:

Personally I wouldn't mind seeing a return of the "Senior Constable" rank that used to exist and still does across the commonwealth that could be awarded to specialist, long serving officers who are good cops who don't necessarily wish to progress up the rank structure.  

Experienced PCs are held to far higher account come disciplinary hearings and PSD investigations than younger in service cops, there should be some recognition for long term service and specialisation. 

 

I'd see that as a good thing, though I think the police should also work on some form of "Trade Pay" like the army used to have (Possibly still do?).  If you're willing to take on extra responsibility it should come with an extra allowance that recognises the fact you're qualified, more experience, and more useful. 

[Radman + 2,165]

23 minutes ago, Beaker said:

 

I'd see that as a good thing, though I think the police should also work on some form of "Trade Pay" like the army used to have (Possibly still do?).  If you're willing to take on extra responsibility it should come with an extra allowance that recognises the fact you're qualified, more experience, and more useful. 

I'd be up for that. 

In BTP Taser cops in London were paid a bounty for undertaking the training and passing (I don't know if they still are) but everywhere else you weren't given the same bonus. 

Tutors aswell were paid once upon a time... 

I'd be due some serious extra coin if they brought it in. 😂😂

I'll take my single chevron slider aswell!