Inspectorate Of Constabulary Research Articles

Police relational accountabilities: The paralysis of police accountability?

Abstract This article examines the new relational accountabilities of Chief Constables, Police, and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) in England and Wales. Referring to a number of recent reports and reviews, the discussion initially focuses on the effectiveness of these relationships and, in particular, the inefficiency of PCPs. Using new empirical data obtained through interviews with senior stakeholders in policing at regional and national levels, and relevant persons in Government, this research shows PCPs are impotent and ineffective. This article develops current understanding, showing that PCPs may cause a new unforeseen consequence. Namely, the exercise of accountability and the governance of policing may be unusually reactive to the ‘one-to-one’ accountability relationship between PCCs and Chief Constables. This research is all the more important in light of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services finding in 2022 that there is an ‘atmosphere of mistrust and fear’ between PCCs and Chief Constables and The Police Foundation reporting ‘a crisis of confidence’, recommending ‘root and branch reform’ (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services 2022). Such recommendations are made to strengthen the exercise of accountability and the governance of policing. Specifically, the Home Secretary is encouraged to review the Policing Protocol Order (2011) and issue a Memorandum of Understanding to ensure ‘effective, constructive working relationships’ are not just a quixotic pursuit but a practical reality that safeguards the governance of policing.

VfM audit and the UK public sector: A critical review of the VfM reports

AbstractThe study investigates why the value for money (VfM) audit, in its current form, fails to capture the actual state of affairs in the UK public organizations. To address this, we utilize a VfM assessment matrix and key public sector performance indicators to critically evaluate the VfM reports published by two main public bodies in the United Kingdom, that is, the National Health Services and the police authorities, alongside the reports published by the National Audit Office and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. Our results reveal that the VfM reports do not clearly show how the 3Es (i.e., economy, efficiency, and effectiveness) associated with the VfM assessment are attained. There are also limited suggestions on the public bodies’ service output or social outcomes and how performance targets are fulfilled. We deduce that the VfM audit's failure to capture these elements significantly curtails the benefits of the VfM exercise to public bodies. We argue for complementing the current VfM assessment with a review of the performance of these bodies based on the services they offer as well as their strategic objectives.

Hiding behind the Veil of Action Fraud: The Police Response to Economic Crime in England and Wales and Evaluating the Case for Regionalization or a National Economic Crime Agency

Abstract This article explores the policing structures that emerged in the noughties in England and Wales to tackle economic crime, such as Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. This article reviews some of the growing literature on these structures, in-particular, two reports by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services and a major investigation by the Police Foundation which provides a critical review of the police response to economic crime. This article argues the central problem is the lack of investigative capacity, among others. It also argues Action Fraud, which has become commonly derided, has become a useful veil from which the police to hide their inadequate response. This article argues radical change is required to address the investigative gap through either regionalization or a national solution, through a National Economic Crime Agency. This article considers some of the arguments for against such approaches and calls for a debate to commence on the future structures for policing economic crime.

Police and Crime Commissioners: A Dislocated Expectation?

AbstractThe calls in 2019 and 2020 for a Royal Commission, combined with the launch of The Strategic Review by The Police Foundation and the recommendation by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services for ‘profound and far reaching police reform’, evidence a thirst for refinement, and potentially, significant change to the governance of policing. Using new empirical data obtained through elite research interviews with some of the most senior stakeholders in policing at a regional and national level, this article explores the ability of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to hold Chief Constables to account. Attention is drawn to how the accountability of Chief Constables to PCCs may have significant strengths, such as enhanced visibility, increased frequency, and improved scrutiny. However, the accountability of Chief Constables may also be frustrated and possibly compromised. Indeed, accountability might be exercised inconsistently, susceptible to significant variance and contingent on the calibre and vagaries of PCCs. As such, recommendations are made to strengthen governance arrangements to ensure Chief Constables are robustly held to account. Specifically, the Home Secretary is encouraged to review The Policing Protocol Order and issue an Accountability Code of Practice.

Counting crime: Discounting victims?

This paper sets out to critically explore the connections drawn by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services between police adherence to national crime recording standards and the provision of service and support by the police to victims of crime. The goal of the paper is to identify what assumptions are being made by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services concerning how and why ‘accurate’ crime recording impacts upon victims and to test those assumptions against the broader victimological literature. In so doing, the paper will also shed light on the progress made by police services in this regard since significant concerns were raised about the impact of ‘poor’ crime recording on victims of crime by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in its 2014 report Crime-recording: Making the victim count.

Stating the obvious

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the form, content and reporting arrangements of “statements of assurance” required from Fire and Rescue Authorities in England since their introduction in 2012 and identify potential improvements for future implementation.Design/methodology/approachA multi-method approach was adopted which commenced with an analysis of the current official guidance, an exploration of the accessibility and structure of the current statements produced; followed by a review of those statements through a desk based analysis complemented by a series of elite interviews.FindingsThe current guidance was found to be too broad and open to interpretation to be fit for purpose. This has led to some significant variations in reporting, limiting the statements’ usefulness to key users and stakeholders. Most authorities provided some form of report on their website but inconsistencies in respect of length, structure, name and content, limit their value. The research found that 30 per cent of authorities did not have an up to date statement available online. These findings were supported by the series of interviews. The result has led to confusion amongst authorities as to the statement’s role and the risk of it being perceived as a “box ticking” exercise rather than a real contribution to public assurance.Practical implicationsThis paper provides potential lessons which could be adopted to inform future guidance in respect of the preparation and publication of the statement of assurance and its role within the wider public assurance regime for fire and rescue authorities. If adopted, these would improve the accountability, transparency and public assurance of Fire and Rescue Authorities which is a key objective of their governance arrangements.Originality/valueThe statement of assurance has only been a requirement of authorities since the current National Framework for Fire and Rescue was published in July 2012 and has not been subject to independent research since its inception. The government have recently issued a consultation on a new national framework, but this proposes changes to the statements of assurance. The findings will therefore be of value to the government, the fire and rescue sector and the recently appointed regulators for the service Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services.

Variation in detainee risk assessment within police custody across England and Wales

ABSTRACTEvery time a person is booked into police custody in England and Wales, they are assessed for risk of harm to themselves or others. National guidance is provided on what questions should be asked as part of this process; however, each year there are still instances of serious adverse incidents, self-harm and deaths in custody. The purpose of this study is to look at the extent to which the national guidance is being followed and the extent to which the risk assessment process varies between police forces. A Freedom of Information request was sent to all 43 police forces in England and Wales asking for information on their risk assessment process. This data was then analysed alongside findings from police custody inspection visits conducted by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. This study provides evidence that the risk assessment process is not consistent across police forces in England and Wales. Not only does the process vary from the national guidance, the content and delivery differs considerably between police forces. The findings highlight a practical problem for police forces in ensuring that risk assessment processes are conducted to a consistent standard and reflect national guidance. The study is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first time that this data has been collated and compared.

Still plodding along? The police response to the changing profile of crime in England and Wales

This article considers the new demands placed on police forces arising from the dramatic increase in the numbers of cases of fraud and cybercrime. It assesses the ability – or current difficulty – of the police to respond to this development. The article is directed towards a growing requirement for substantial internal police reform that goes well beyond anything contemplated heretofore. The article draws on the recent and important Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) PEEL Review of police efficiency, which for the first time, has raised the question of identifying not just police capacity, but also police force capability. It is evident that although police forces can quickly identify capacity (ranks and police numbers), they experience great difficulty in relation to capability. This relates to the police response to the ‘new’ forms of crime that are now replacing traditional acquisitive crime. Recent cases include the 2016 cyber-attack on Tesco Bank in which £2.5 million was stolen from 9,000 bank accounts, and a major cyber-attack in the same year that disrupted internet services across Europe and the USA. The article seeks to identify current police responses to this development and also highlight the real challenge this problem represents. It recognizes the competing demands made on the police, but suggests that fraud and cybercrime now constitute the greatest threat confronting the police service in England and Wales.

Police Officers’ Promotion Prospects and Intention to Leave the Police

Police officers’ future promotion prospects in a climate of ongoing austerity measures have been described as ‘extremely limited’ (Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. (2014). Policing in Austerity: Meeting the Challenges [online], p. 35). The purpose of this paper was to investigate the relationship between officers’ perceived promotion prospects and intention to leave. Using a sample of 18,680 police officers in England and Wales, two mediating mechanisms between promotion and intention to leave were tested; these mechanisms were informed by social exchange (i.e. perceived organizational support (POS)) and affective psychological well-being at work (i.e. personal morale) perspectives. Findings indicated that officers who experienced limited promotion prospects were more likely to intend to leave the police service. POS and personal morale partially mediated this relationship, with morale found to be a stronger mediator of the relationship than POS. This research sheds further light on the consequences that limited promotion prospects may have for officers and the police service as a whole.

Satisfaction with the HET: Relatives' Views

In its critical report on the Historical Enquiries Team (HET), Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) still noted ‘high levels of satisfaction with the performance of the HET team’ based on a number of previous surveys. It also concluded on the basis of its own research that ‘some families were extremely satisfied with their engagement with the HET process and others less so’.This research reports on interviews with 82 people who had engaged with the HET. It found that: 12% of those interviewed were unequivocally glad that they had engaged with the HET and 41% said they were definitely not glad that they had done so. In contrast to HMIC’s conclusion that there was ‘an almost universal desire for it [HET] to be retained so long as improvements were made to the way it works’ this research found that an overwhelming number - 74% - of interviewees were of the view that HET should be disbanded.

Policy Watch – the rights of those with mental health problems in acute care

Purpose – The Policy Watch series reflects on recent forthcoming developments in mental health policy across the UK. The purpose of this paper is to consider the use of the Mental Health Act to detain people in police custody and the use of physical restraint, and in particular face down restraint, in mental health settings in England. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews findings of recent reports into policing and mental health and a Mind report on the use of restraint in mental health settings. Findings – The paper suggests that people with mental health problems are being held in police custody more often than they should be, and that this is partly due to the unavailability of good care at an earlier stage for people approaching crisis. It also suggests that people are being physically restrained in inpatient settings too often in some areas although face down restraint has been phased out altogether elsewhere. These practices threaten human rights. Originality/value – The paper discusses recent evidence from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and others, the Indepedent Commission on Mental Health and Policing and from Mind.

Four days in August: the UK riots

In August 2011, England experienced widespread public disorders in sixty-six locations following a protest at the shooting dead of a black man in north London by the police. The author examines, inter alia, reports from the Metropolitan Police Service, academics Steve Reicher and Cliff Stott, Tottenham MP David Lammy, the Guardian/London School of Economics, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Ministry of Justice to analyse the riots in London and other cities. He looks at the shooting of Mark Duggan, the immediate trigger, the riots’ deeper causes and the arrests that followed. Instead of a formal inquiry, the government set up the Riots Communities and Victims Panel, which has now reported, blaming the breakdown of families and lack of character in the young, rather than structural issues. While it asks for the community to work out, with the police, ways to reduce the impact of stop and search, the Metropolitan Police Service asks that stops be linked to its intelligence gathering; a sure way, argues the author, not to deal with the alienation of the young.

Public order policing in South Yorkshire, 1984–2011: the case for a permissive approach to crowd control

The Metropolitan Police Service's handling of the anti-G20 demonstration on 1 April 2009 attracted widespread public criticism and indignation. Mass media coverage of the event emphasised how police officers had reacted to protesters in a sometimes violent and allegedly indiscriminate manner, and had resorted to the now familiar and controversial tactic of ‘kettling’ demonstrators into a confined space before detaining them for several hours. Media reports initially echoed police briefings in disclosing that the death of a male passer-by, unintentionally caught up in the event, was due to natural causes. Video footage of the incident subsequently contradicted this account, suggesting that the fatality resulted from an unprovoked attack by a police officer. Reports prepared by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary have since called on the police to adopt a more permissive approach to managing political protest, predicated on a commitment to facilitating the right to protest. This paper lends weight to arguments in favour of such an approach by highlighting the experience during the last 28 years of South Yorkshire Police, a force which has not only revised its practical and philosophical approach to handling public dissent, but also developed a more open attitude in its dealings with the media in a bid to restore public confidence and staff morale, following nationwide controversy around the Orgreave mass picket of 1984 and the Hillsborough stadium tragedy of 1989.

Policing public protests and corporate social responsibility

This paper examines the application of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the police service in England and Wales in the light of the recent global demonstrations witnessed through events such as the G20 protests. Following a recent published report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in England and Wales, the police need to remain innovative in their approach to dealing with such public protests. This paper discusses the issues surrounding legitimacy of police and public protests whilst also considering the possible advantages of utilising CSR. It argues that utilising the CSR approach will lead to an increase in public confidence and provide greater resonance in attempts by the police to engage with their communities. The historical context and traditional responses from the police to protests are evaluated and the paper concludes with the premise that whilst not being a panacea for resolving each of the difficulties in providing a specialist police service, CSR offers a real and robust option that needs to be carefully considered.

Europe's New Security Dilemma

After the September 11, 2001, attacks, governments throughout the world rushed to improve their counterterrorism policies. Several countries tightened legislation, increased resources available to ...

Ethnic Minorities and the Challenge of Police Recruitment

This article considers some of the barriers to ethnic minority recruitment into the police, as well as those factors that would encourage interest in a police officer career. In addition to reviewing recent policy, the article incorporates results from research conducted on behalf of one UK police force. The research revealed a considerable degree of hostility towards the police among some ethnic minority respondents, many of whom would never consider pursuing a police officer career. The importance of securing a fully representative police service has been emphasised by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, and the Macpherson Inquiry (1999) added urgency to this aim. To encourage police recruitment, it is concluded that the quality of service to local ethnic minority communities is probably as important as any special police recruitment campaign.

Closing the (Protective Services) Gap: Why Size Does Matter When Determining Optimal Level 2 Service Delivery

The September 2005 review of policing structure in England and Wales by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) is considered in terms of its impact on forces' ability to detect volume crime (crime types that occur in relatively large numbers). We demonstrate that there is no relationship between force size and detection rates, however there is a difference with respect to the means of detecting volume crime. Smaller forces tend to record a greater proportion of their volume crime detections through forensic means. We explore one possibility of this observation — greater forensic deployment due to lower demand or better management — and find some evidence to support better management of forensic resources in smaller forces.

Improving police probationer training through a democratic research process

Following a damning report on the state of police probationer training in England and Wales by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, entitled Training Matters (2002), the Home Office (2003), as part of its modernisation programme for the police service, decided that what police officers were required to know and learn to execute their statutory duties had to be examined and reported on. The learning requirements of police officers were to be thoroughly dissected and proposals made to update their knowledge, understanding and skills to effectively police in the 21st century. The article aims, not to report on the findings themselves, but to detail the innovative and democratic approach adopted by the research team to examine and propose changes to the learning requirements of police probationers. The research team adopted a democratic evaluation approach to this project, believing that such an approach not only ensures that the highest ethical principles are observed, but also democratises the research process from the participants' perspective and allows researchers to gather a rich set of data that is less coloured by their own judgements and values.

Uniform styles II: Police families and policing styles

In recent years, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has supported government efforts to develop a “performance culture” within the service. To this end, “families of forces” have been proposed, with the intention that forces’ performance may be compared with others that operate in similar environments. There have been simultaneous developments in the adoption by forces of defined “policing styles”, some of which have received statutory backing in a bid to reduce crime rates. This article argues that if forces adopt particular policing styles in objective response to their environments, there should be consistency of policing styles within each family of forces. In fact, no link between families of forces and policing styles is apparent. Furthermore, it is suggested that particular policing styles may be suited to tackling different aspects of criminality, that their integration will present structural and resources problems, and that the potential for policing to reduce crime levels remains limited.

Uniform styles? Aspects of police centralization in England and Wales

Since the early 1990s, central monitoring of police performance in England and Wales has grown markedly, in particular through national performance indicators introduced by the Police and Magistrates Courts Act 1994. The process has been accompanied by increased level of intervention by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Audit Commission. This article uses published Inspectorate reports to assess the extent to which police forces now use common policing styles, and traces in more detail the influences leading to the adoption (or otherwise) of "intelligence-led" policing in selected forces. It is argued that in order to reduce recorded crime rates, the police are increasingly using structures and methods that are "approved" by Government and its agencies, but in a marked absence of information as to their probable effectiveness and efficiency in achieving the desired results. Furthermore, it is suggested that recent political developments have added decisive weight to the centralization process. Some forces are now attempting to combine "approved" policing styles into an integrated model, though it is unclear whether this can be achieved in practice without losing the perceived advantages of each style.