The current establishment is 125 (this is an increase of 10 from the previous quarter).
Total hours worked 1st January to 31st March are 7,639. There has been a decrease in hours compared to the last period. This is not unusual as December hours tend to attract a peak whereas this period traditionally sees a reduction.
Overall, the Special Constabulary has contributed a total of 32,634 hours between the 1st April 2014 and 31st of March 2015. This is an increase of 6,625 hours over the previous year.
10 new Special Constables started training on 18th March 2015.
21 candidates are currently going through the recruitment process. The next training intake is scheduled for June 2015. This will be the first course that will run on an increased capacity of 18 candidates.
Chief Inspector Simon Barrasford and Special Superintendent Mark Owen took part in a North Wales Police hosted live web chat on 16th February 2015. The web chat focussed on the benefits and rewards of becoming a Special Constable. The event was well received with 120 members of the public accessing the event and over 20 online questions being asked about how to join the Special Constabulary. The event was replayed a further 281 times by members of the public.
In February 30 Special Constables took part in Operation Crossbow which occurred in Flintshire and saw several of the officers being directly involved in executing warrants and making arrests.
In March Special Chief Inspector Sue Williams, Special Constable Vicky Hill and Special Constable Geraint Roberts were awarded a Community Commendation by the High Sheriff of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Additionally in the same month, Special Chief Inspector Carl Williamson was awarded the Community Award by the High Sheriff of Flintshire.
Following the successful introduction of Special Constable Phil Roberts into the Eastern Rural Crime Team, two further Special Constables have been posted this quarter to the Central and Western Rural Crime Teams.
Crime Services continue to research the option of introducing Special Constables who possess specialist IT skills into the High-Tech Crime Unit. Initial research and best practice from elsewhere indicates that a police volunteer would be better suited for this role. DI Sion Williams, Head of Scientific Support Unit, Crime Services will continue to progress with Chief Inspector Neil Thomas, Strategic lead for Police Volunteers.
Progress planned for next quarter:
A radical overhaul of the application process is currently taking place, led by the Special Constabulary Senior Management Team and supported by HR & Recruitment. It has been identified that there are three main avenues into the Special Constabulary – external, internal and the Foundation Degree in Policing Course currently run at Llandrillo College.
It was agreed at the last Strategic Board that the Force would revert to having an opening and closing recruitment window for Specials, so as not to compete with the PC and PCSO recruitment processes. With this in mind, the current set model of having a permanently open Special Constable recruitment window closed on Monday 13th April. This will enable the team to look at ‘front end’ processes to ensure that they are fit for purpose.
The Strategic Board also agreed that the Special Constabulary Senior Management Team can start to research and develop a more holistic and personal process for Special Constable recruitment given their unique status as volunteers. The application form itself will be simplified and there will also be a section on the internet whereby candidates will be able to identify whether they are eligible or not to apply. There will also be awareness sessions held more frequently providing potential candidates with support and advice.
A full review is planned with regards to the way internal North Wales Police candidates can apply with a view to simplifying what has been identified as a bureaucratic process.
With regard to the Foundation Degree in Policing Course being held at Llandrillo, Special Superintendent Mark Owen has introduced himself to the course directors and is now working closely with the tutor team to ensure North Wales Police provide support and guidance to the students, who as part of their course are encouraged by the college to become Special Constables.
Following the successful introduction of a Special Constable into Western CID, Detective Chief Inspector Alun Oldfield is exploring opportunities to introduce a similar role within Eastern CID.
The Special Constabulary marketing and recruitment strategy will continue this quarter. A detailed plan of targeted events and concepts is scheduled. Highlights planned for this quarter include:
Regular messages encouraging people to consider becoming a Special Constable will continue to be sent via the North Wales Police Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Correspondence has been sent to all Special Constables asking what they do “as a day job” with the concept being to carry out a number of press releases highlighting that Special Constables come from all backgrounds, industries and lifestyles.
Employer Supported Policing (ESP) – Continued promotion of the benefits of ESP, with encouragement for companies to join the scheme, is planned. It is intended to promote the Special Constabulary within the business community by providing employers with a better understanding of how their employee’s skills as a Special Constable can complement their paid roles. This work stream is being progressed by the North Wales Police Corporate Communications Department. A business breakfast is to be held with employers in the region to promote the benefits of this approach. Additionally local companies with large local workforces already signed up to the scheme, such as Asda and M&S, are to be further targeted. This breakfast was due to take place in April but unfortunately had to be postponed and will occur over this quarter.
Newly identified barriers/risks/issues and any mitigating factors:
The turnover of Special Constables joining the regular and PCSO service continues to be a barrier. Both the PC and the PCSO recruitment windows have just closed and it has already been noted that a number of Special Constables have submitted application forms for both roles.
High attrition rate of candidates attempting to join the Special Constabulary, failing in areas of vetting, health, paper sift and interview. It is hoped this will be remedied following the new approach to recruitment which is detailed above.
1.5
Policing Objective: Prevent Crime
Work Stream: To develop a model to identify and respond to people or families who have a disproportionate impact on public services and pursue implementation with partners
Chief Officer Lead:ACC Richard Debicki
SMT Lead: Ch/Supt. Jeremy Vaughan
Current status: The Early Action Group meets on a quarterly basis and is chaired by Superintendent Community Safety and is attended by senior police managers across Local Policing Services and Crime Services. The Early Action Group feeds into the North Wales Family Support Group attended by a wide range of partner agencies.
North Wales Police has agreed a definition for Early Action:
“Multi-agency intervention at the earliest opportunity, delivering sustained solutions to individual and family problems which will ultimately build social resilience and create thriving communities. Early action applies to both children and adults and aims to reduce vulnerability, improve health and well-being, prevent crime and reduce demand across all public services, preventing problems rather than responding to them”.
The Group aims to:
identify and share best practice
promote consistency of approach and shared understanding while allowing for local variations
identify links and ensure clear communication channels with other related areas of work to avoid duplication
develop and review measures.
All areas, with relevant partners, are now focussing on those individuals and families which are causing the most demand for public services.
Western have developed an Early Action Team consisting of a sergeant and three constables led by an Inspector. They have engaged with partners across Gwynedd and Ynys Mon who collocate at police premises in Caernarfon twice a week to consider their cohort and develop initiatives to reduce the risks and demands created by the vulnerable people.
Central area has nominated CI Neil Thomas as being the partnership lead for Denbighshire and Conwy.
The Denbighshire Top 20 is a project developed by partners focussing on high demand vulnerable people and families. Partners meet monthly to identify their cohorts and develop initiatives. Neil is now rolling out a similar project within Conwy. Neil has engaged with the local authority Team Around the Family to ensure good local links are developed and maintained between TAF and neighbourhood policing officers.
Eastern are identifying their cohorts of people and families through their local tasking processes which then allocate owners who engage with partners to jointly problem solve. Inspector Dave Jolly is dedicated to the role and is engaging with partners to develop a model.
The implementation of Early Action is being considered in conjunction with the review of Neighbourhood Policing in North Wales which features in the current Police and Crime Plan.
Superintendent Sian Beck has presented to the Directors of Children and Adult Services.
Progress planned for next quarter:
To present the definition of Early Action and the Terms of Reference for the Early Action Group to the North Wales Family Support Group.
The continued development of partnership initiatives to support Early Action work, for example the implementation of the Conwy Top 20.
To develop consistent measures to ensure that interventions are producing positive outcomes.
A workshop is being held in May to review and develop the Neighbourhood Policing function in North Wales.
2. Deliver an Appropriate Response
2.1
Policing Objective: Deliver an Appropriate Response
Work Stream: To implement the new Victims Code of Practice (VCoP)
Chief Officer Lead: ACC Richard Debicki
SMT Lead: Ch/Supt. Jeremy Vaughan
Current Status: The NCALT VCoP package is in the process of being completed by all operational staff, this is reviewed on a regular basis. Completion from across the Force currently stands at 73%. The training package provides a detailed overview of what services police officers are required to provide to victims of crime.
A bespoke training package has been developed for all officers. The training encompasses best practice from other police forces and existing customer service training provided to new recruits. The training will help improve the way in which officers deal with victims of crime. The initial training package has been piloted and has since been redesigned. It will commence Summer 2015, this training will be directed at all Sergeants and Inspectors within the Force and Police Staff equivalent. A separate training package has also been designed for all Police Constables and PCSOs, this will commence following the completion of the supervisory training.
An internal communications strategy under the “It Matters” campaign is still ongoing. Posters that have previously been used are refreshed on a quarterly basis, with new ideas and themes. Internal communications from NPCC and Senior Management Teams are communicated, endorsed and displayed on a regular basis.
The Victim Contact Agreement (VCA) have been in use since 20th January 2015. The vast majority of the feedback has been positive from both the victims of crime and officers. Both have stated that this makes interaction between the victim and officer more meaningful and provides the victim with all the necessary information they require. 30% of VCAs have been agreed to provide the victim with an update every 10 days.
The Quality Assurance Teams (QAT), were introduced to drive up VCoP compliance and improve the quality of updates provided to victims of crime, by carrying out call backs to victims of crime after 72hrs and a 30 day period. These call backs are designed to provide meaningful management data, enable service recovery, provide additional support / information to the victim and to ensure officers are complying with the VCoP obligations. The QATs were introduced on 20th January 2015, a
two month review was carried out in March 2015, this review found to date 997 successful calls have been made to victims of crime. Feedback provided externally indicated some positive issues with very few problems raised by victims of crime, good examples of service recovery and enhancements show the quality of the service already provided. Internally, we have reviewed the way the QATs work to respond to feedback that they were asking for unnecessary updates from officers.
Governance of the Service Excellence Programme has previously been managed through the Confidence and Service Excellence Group chaired by the ACC. This board will now amalgamate with the Ethics, Leadership and Cultural Committee, under the new name of the Confidence and Ethical Standards Committee. The new committee will be chaired by the Chief Constable, with the ACC as the vice chair. There will be external non-executive members sitting on it; they will provide scrutiny of the committee, its workings and the way that the force conducts itself under this committee. These members, who are members of the Independent Advisory Group, (IAG) and local university, will also act as critical friends to the Force.
The Quality of Service - Victim Satisfaction Board chaired by Chief Superintendent Jeremy Vaughan actively monitors the work carried out within LPS and reviews how improvements can be made whilst seeking best practice across the Force. During this meeting specific attention is paid to feedback from victims of crime through scrutiny of verbatim comments obtained on behalf of the Force by Swift Research.
Best practice from proportionate investigations managed by the Investigation Support Team, (IST), has been reviewed, organisational learning has been identified and both will be cascaded to all operational staff.
All guidance documentation relating to VCoP, and the new victim satisfaction process, has been collated on the North Wales Police intranet to ensure all members of staff have access.
Progress Planned for Next Quarter:
Evaluation of the Quality of Service Teams.
Evaluation of the confidence and satisfaction process.
Review of Victim Contract Agreements.
The above evaluations and review will take place to ascertain if they have assisted with the implementation of VCoP. Any best practice identified will be cascaded to all staff and any areas for development will be considered.
After three failed attempts to contact victims of crime, the current process ends and no further attempts are made, Eastern QAT Sergeant is reviewing further e-mail / SMS contact. This will only commence once the three failed telephone calls have been attempted.
The introduction of volunteers is to be considered to assist the QATs to bolster numbers and provide support within the teams, especially during the evenings and weekends.
2.2
Policing Objective: Deliver an Appropriate Response
Work Stream: To extend the learning from our “systems thinking” work underway in the Flintshire area.
The implementation of the “pod” structure in the Force Control Centre was implemented in January 2015 which seeks to establish localism within a centralised control room.
Senior Management Teams consisting of Superintendents and Chief Inspectors have developed their own set of Leadership Principles.
A study took place in Rhyl between Thursday 26 February to Sunday 1 March where police staff observed the work of patrol officers to better understand the demands placed on them and sources of inefficiencies. Analysis has been conducted after the study which has led to the identification of sources of inefficiency.
The approach that North Wales Police adopt to report low level road traffic collisions has been redesigned and was piloted in the county of Flintshire. The new process has reduced waste and improved efficiency. It is now being rolled out across the Force. It is anticipated that this work will be complete by June 2015.
All detectives are now submitting prosecution files directly to the Crown Prosecution Service to eliminate the requirement for evidence assessors to check them.
Progress planned for next quarter:
Plans are to be constructed in response to the analysis of the Rhyl demand study.
The Public Protection Unit are commencing a systems thinking review of the vulnerable person referral process, led by DCI Andy Williams.
Senior managers will receive refresher training in managing transformational change using the systems thinking methodology.
2.3
Policing Objective: Deliver an Appropriate Response
Work Stream: To implement the new Police Service Code of Ethics
Chief Officer Lead: CC Mark Polin
SMT Lead: Supt. Gareth Evans
Current status: Governance of the Code of Ethics Programme has previously been managed through the Ethics, Leadership and Culture Committee chaired by the Chief Constable. This Committee will now amalgamate with the Confidence and Service Excellence Group which was chaired by the ACC, under the new name of Confidence and Ethical Standards Committee. The new committee will be chaired by the Chief Constable, with the ACC as the vice chair.
Learning and development has been high on the agenda to ensure that the Code of Ethics has been embedded into NWP. A training package for all supervisors has been produced and implemented, it is due to be rolled out across the Force in the imminent future. Part of the training is Hydra based training. This is a Core Leadership training package designed to assist supervisors with ethical dilemmas they may experience. Hydra was selected as it provided a better learning platform. A two day pilot ran recently which provided attendees with a number of workplace scenarios and required them to make a variety of ethical decisions. This was well received by those attending.
An NWP ethical health document has been agreed and adopted. This will be by the committee with highlight reports requested from each business area.
An action plan for implementation of the Code of Ethics has been produced under the nationally agreed template using the College/Transparency International Business Cycle (Commit – Assess – Plan – Act – Monitor – Report), and is also governed through the Committee.
An internal communications strategy is still ongoing, posters that have previously been used are refreshed.
Progress planned for next quarter:
Review of the Hydra training package following the pilot
Review of the NWP ethical health document and program
Review of the internal communications
The above reviews will take place to ascertain if they have assisted with the implementation of the CoE. Any best practice identified will be cascaded to all staff and any areas for development will either be replaced or removed.
