Port of Tilbury-Police Constable

[Fedster + 1,307]

Guidelines for obtaining more accurate witness statements have been issued by the College of Policing.

 

Date - 29th November 2019
By - Chris Smith

 

The College of Policing has issued new guidance for taking initial victims' and witness accounts of incidents following concerns about their accuracy. 

The college has issued new advice following criticism in PEEL inspections that frontline officers were being tasked with carrying out investigations without the right levels of training.

Concerns raised by inspections were backed up in a consultation with the National Investigative Interviewing Strategic Steering Group (NIISSG) which is part of the CoP.

The guidance also includes how to factor in the influence of social media on witnesses.

It says that misinformation about an event can be absorbed by victims and witnesses prior to, or while giving an account. Sources of misinformation can include misleading questions, exposure to co-witnesses or written text such as media reports or social media.

The guidance says: “There is limited evidence to suggest that co-witness discussion can lead to a fuller and more accurate account of events.”

The guidance sets out 10 steps to carry out successful initial accounts including how to best build a rapport, witness separation, clarifying sources of information as well as how to take a statement from someone who is intoxicated.

The guidelines have been developed using the expertise and knowledge of frontline police officers, existing guidance on achieving best evidence and relevant information from the research evidence.

The 10 headline points in the advice are:

• Rapport building
• Witness separation
• Clarifying sources of information
• Alcohol intoxication
• Non-leading approach to questioning
• Allowing uncertainty
• Suggesting eye closure
• Advice on information exposure
• Identify and record vulnerability and needs

The work is part of a drive to improve the investigation of volume and priority crime. Better initial statements should improve the speed and quality of the investigation that follows as well as withstand scrutiny during the court process because the witnesses are more credible, the College says. 

A spokesman added: “The officers and staff who first respond to an incident play a vital role, not just in keeping people safe but also gathering information from victims and witnesses about the incident.

“The information they collect at the early stages of an investigation often proves vital in bringing offenders to justice.

“We have worked closely with those on the frontline to develop these updated guidelines, which have been designed to help officers and staff get accurate and detailed information from victims and witnesses in a supportive and sensitive manner.”

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[Zulu 22 + 4,571]

That is a condemnation of present day officers, and the system, after the closing of the District Training Centre's.

[Reasonable Man + 1,231]

I don’t believe the problem lies with where the initial training was delivered, after all a police trainer can teach a student how to take a statement just the same in Force as in a District Training Centre. The problem comes after initial training where officers quickly become silo’d and de-skilled, or in some cases don’t even become skilled in certain aspects of policing. 

[Zulu 22 + 4,571]

10 hours ago, Reasonable Man said:

I don’t believe the problem lies with where the initial training was delivered, after all a police trainer can teach a student how to take a statement just the same in Force as in a District Training Centre. The problem comes after initial training where officers quickly become silo’d and de-skilled, or in some cases don’t even become skilled in certain aspects of policing. 

The problem is that rarely take any statements now as there are officers cossetted away in squads to do that. The present day officer is under pressure but in many case bereft of the basic skills, which is disappointing.

[Sierra Lima + 117]

 I don't find the present day officers worse than it was 14 years ago. I see very poor statements from exoerienced officers, I even listen to rubbish PACE interviews from experienced custody investigation officers. The problem is:

- no ongoing (relevant) training

- no QA / feedback from sergeants, possibly because they don't have time, possibly because they sometimes supervise 15 officers at any time. 

[SimonT + 1,185]

The only time I get to review officers statements is basically when making disposal decisions and its hard to ballance the statement quality with the witness quality. I give feedback where possible, but it's rarely well received. . But if I were to review every officer statement I would never do anything. 

We now have to review all the case files built, despite not having had any training for years. I don't know how I'm supposed to be a gatekeeper, when I never build files, only review them. But that's police training. 

[IrateShrike + 1,847]

I've seen a definite reduction in quality of statements from officers during their first year or so on duties after coming through initial training.

It's definitely skill fade.  Basic training is still geared around the core role of a police officer, but as soon as they get on the streets they just get continually deployed to a relentless stream of mental health and social care jobs whilst taking actual crime reports and basic investigation falls right down the list of priorities.

[Reasonable Man + 1,231]

8 hours ago, Sierra Lima said:

 I don't find the present day officers worse than it was 14 years ago. I see very poor statements from exoerienced officers, I even listen to rubbish PACE interviews from experienced custody investigation officers. The problem is:

- no ongoing (relevant) training

- no QA / feedback from sergeants, possibly because they don't have time, possibly because they sometimes supervise 15 officers at any time. 

And because some of them never learned to do it properly either. I remember 15 years ago as a DS making a friendly approach to a response Sgt because the quality of a handover file. I thought no one had checked it but he looked at me bemused as he could see nothing wrong with it. 

[Zulu 22 + 4,571]

2 hours ago, Reasonable Man said:

And because some of them never learned to do it properly either. I remember 15 years ago as a DS making a friendly approach to a response Sgt because the quality of a handover file. I thought no one had checked it but he looked at me bemused as he could see nothing wrong with it. 

How on earth did he make Sergeant?