NORTHERN CONSTABULARY: Review Inspection 1998

Executive Summary

1. A Review inspection of Northern Constabulary took place in October 1998. The principle aim of the inspection was to establish the force's response to the recommendations in the report on the Primary inspection, which had been conducted 17 months previously. The Review inspection was not therefore, a comprehensive look at all the force's activities, but an assessment of the progress made by Northern Constabulary in relation to the issues raised during the previous Primary inspection together with an examination of any significant issues which had arisen more recently.

2. The force has been organised into 15 Service Units comprising eight Area Commands and six Headquarters' based Support Functions. Three of the Command Areas have the same boundaries as the three Island Local Authorities, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles, with the remaining five, falling within the Highland Council area. Some small adjustments to the boundaries of the mainland Command Areas had taken place and a review of service provision had led to the closure of four rural stations, although all this had been done following good community consultation. The 15 Service Unit managers are directly accountable to the Force Executive but enjoy a considerable amount of devolved autonomy in relation to their day to day work. One consequence of this has been to remove the direct line of accountability from the Area Commands to Headquarters' CID. In six of the eight Area Commands, the highest ranking CID officer is a detective sergeant and this has left some CID officers and Area Commanders concerned about the loss of central oversight and lack of formal access to Headquarters' crime support. HMIC feels that the force needs to address these concerns and look at a way of providing a clearer consultative role for senior detectives based at Headquarters.

3. The Primary inspection report recommended that the role of the three Chief Superintendent Advisers to the Chief Constable needed to be formally laid down and required monitoring and informed evaluation, as it appeared that they held no substantial command or decision taking responsibility. The number of Advisers has now been reduced to two, one a chief superintendent and the other a superintendent, and HMIC acknowledges the initiative the force has shown in the reduction of management costs. A role description has been produced, but HMIC does not consider that it accurately reflects the duties performed by the Advisers. HMIC is still not convinced that the current role of the Advisers constitutes the best use of the experience of senior police officers and considers that this issue needs to be revisited by the force with a view to making better use of these posts.

4. A programme of cascaded Team Briefings starting from the Chief Constable, and made up of both corporate and local issues, has been well received by all the staff who now feel more in touch with what is happening within the wider force. The Chief Constable has been keen to develop a more open and participative management style and has introduced topic based Practitioner Groups which underpin much of the policy making process. There are seven such groups within the force and each is made up of representatives from all the Service Units who come together at force headquarters as the need arises. In practice this is often about every six to eight weeks. The aim of the Groups is firstly, to allow the members of the force to develop policy proposals and secondly, to resolve practical procedural problems. While HM Inspectors found a lot of positive evidence that the people in the organisation felt more included and valued in decision-making, there were also views expressed that the management process was consuming disproportionate time and resources at the expense of operational policing. HMIC has concerns that some issues requiring urgent attention are becoming bogged down in the meeting cycle and has recommended that the force subjects the Practitioner Group process to critical review and undertakes a detailed costing, in order to assess whether the outcomes are justified by the resource commitment.

5. The force published its strategic plan, "Our Strategy for Policing with Purpose" in September 1998. This document is supported by 24 identified Force Actions which the senior management are accountable for delivering. HMIC had concerns over the measurability of some of the objectives and the validity of the performance indicators. Service Unit plans had been produced six months prior to the publication of the force strategy and although basically reflecting the force plan, HMIC questions why things were done in that order. There was little evidence from operational officers that the planning process was seen as having relevance to their day to day work, and while HMIC recognises the value of the measures taken to date, considers that further progress needs to be made if the force is going to be equipped to face the likely operational challenges of the 21st century.

6. The force recognises the need to maintain a corporate approach to strategic issues and the European Foundation for Quality Management model of self-assessment is being built into the planning cycle. Bi-monthly performance reviews have recently been introduced and are designed to maintain accountability amongst Service Unit Managers who have also been designated as "quality auditors" to ensure a uniform approach to the procedural guidance contained in the new force reference document. All these are interesting and innovative developments which will merit a closer examination in future inspections.

7. HMIC noted that a proposed public perception survey scheduled to be completed by August 1999 had not taken place at the time of the Review inspection although we were later told that the target date was a misprint. Nevertheless, the force has long established and well founded community links which allow it to provide a very responsive and sensitive policing service. Consultation has recently been formalised into a three tier process detailing the appropriate level of liaison expected at local command meetings, area command level and by the force executive.

8. In 1997/98 the Joint Police Board did not take

up approximately £864,000 of available Central Government grant and again in the current financial year some £1.2 million of potential grant has not been included in the budget. This grant cannot be used for other services and represents a significant loss of income. It is therefore to the credit of the force management that Northern Constabulary continues to enjoy high levels of operational performance and public confidence. HMIC would observe that repeated failure to maximise the best use of available grant could result in calls for it to be allocated elsewhere.

9. The Primary inspection report recommended that strategy for the provision of Support Services should be determined following consideration of all value for money options. HMIC is encouraged that the force is currently progressing Service Level Agreements (SLA) with Highland Council in relation to the provision of financial and administrative services. These are targeted to be in place by April 1999 and will be based on the actual cost of services provided, instead of a general corporate charge. HMIC recommends that once the SLAs are in place they be subjected to benchmarking, market testing, or other form of assessment in order to ensure that they constitute best value.

10. The Chief Constable is committed to the principle of devolved resource management and it is planned to fully develop this by 1 April 1999. For a number of years the force has devolved budgets to the lowest practical level and HM Inspectors found that Service Unit Managers had a good grasp of the concept and its practical implications although there may be a need to further develop an understanding of the limits of local management freedom. In conjunction with the Accounts Commission, HMIC has recently published "Credit to the Force" which sets out good practice with regard to funding and financial delegation in the police service. HMIC would recommend this report to both the force and its constituent authorities.

11. The force is currently looking at developing a relocation package which would provide scope to buy and sell property from officers moving about the force in an effort to speed the process and lessen the personal and financial difficulties which some transfers incur. Whilst recognising that there are legal obstacles, HMIC nevertheless commends this initiative and hopes that the means can be found to deliver a pragmatic solution. Two new major building projects were nearing completion at the time of the Review inspection, the new force headquarters at Raigmore and a new Area Command office for Inverness. Both were running to time and budget and will provide a sound basis for the future policing of the area. Positive progress had also been made in response to the Primary report recommendation that the security of police stations be reviewed.

12. The Primary inspection report had raised a concern that the Computer Services Manager had no direct line of communication to the force executive and recommended that the management structure of the department be reviewed. There has been no change in this situation although there was evidence that the Computer Services Manager's professional experience is now carrying greater weight. However, HMIC has recommended that the reporting level for this post should be subject to continuing review. As the force strategy document was not published until September 1998, there was a delay in the development of an Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT) strategy, which is not scheduled for completion until March 1999. However, the force is not without direction and is basically following the principles of the Scottish Police Information Systems (SPIS) strategy. Nevertheless without a published force IS/IT strategy, the Information Technology Department is requiring to continually explain and link departmental proposals to a concept, rather than to a hard copy document which the rest of the force is aware of and committed to.

13. Lack of resources within the IT Department has prevented the force from fully implementing all of the recommendations of the Primary report but HMIC was encouraged to note that good progress had been made in relation to improving the performance of the force's main database system and that the appointment of a Contracts and Procurement Manager was proving beneficial in framing supply and maintenance contracts. HMIC was also impressed by the structured project which had been set up to steer the force through the range of IT and operational issues associated with the step into the next millennium.

14. The issue of transfer was a significant concern with nearly all officers spoken to and HMIC found no evidence that the recently published policy on selection and deployment, which was couched in very general terms, had lessened the anxiety noted at the time of the Primary inspection. The main principle of the policy appears to be flexibility, and while HMIC acknowledges that the force was acting with the best of intentions and a desire to treat people fairly, this new more open approach had in fact opened the door to some difficult issues which had been kept at bay in the more rigid system of previous years. HMIC has recommended that the force needs to revisit this issue and set out with greater clarity the ground rules in relation to transfer and deployment.

15. A more formal approach to promotion was providing an objective selection process and while commending this initiative, HMIC had some concerns over how officers accumulated an adequate portfolio of the experience required to give them the necessary skills to successfully compete. HMIC has recommended that the force progress towards a more structured selection process for specialist appointments, which should be fully consistent with their equal opportunities policy. Comment had been made in the Primary inspection report over the low numbers of women officers in the force, both at constable and supervisory ranks. There has been a small but steady increase since then, and women officers spoken to during the inspection gave an impression of positive change and increased opportunity. HMIC hopes that the development of a more structured specialist appointment selection process will further assist this.

16. The Chief Constable is keen to promote participation by the support staff in the running of the force and they are well represented on the various management and planning groups. However HMIC noted that there was no support staff appraisal system in place and that there was no evidence of a structured career path for the civilian workforce. HMIC encourages the force to pursue both these issues. HMIC also felt that there was an unresolved issue in relation to the duties being performed by special constables and that some central oversight required to be taken of this, along with a more consistent approach to the training provided. This observation should in no way detract from the valuable service which special constables in Northern Constabulary provide, and is simply intended to assist the force in ensuring that best use is made of the commitment from these men and women.

17. The force now has a distance learning co-ordinator and is making use of the extensive library of packages available from the Scottish Police College. The system is soundly based with supervisors playing an important part in the identification of the skills their officers need. However most training is still delivered centrally and in view of the geography of the force, this is an expensive and time-consuming activity. HMIC considers that there may be scope to deliver more training within the Area Commands and has recommended that the force firstly, conduct a training needs analysis and secondly, a cost benefit analysis on the options for delivering such training in light of the heavy existing costs.

18. HMIC considered that the interface between the Training Department and the Information Technology Department was not clear enough. HMIC has suggested that in the development of any future IT systems, that the ability to provide cost-effective training must play an integral part in the selection of the systems themselves.

19. Much good work had been undertaken in relation to the production of risk assessments to conform to the new Health and Safety legislation. However when talking to managers, HMIC found that this issue was usually spoken of as one of "buildings" rather than of "working practices", and felt that the supply of equipment and delivery of skills in relation to the findings of the risk assessments, had not been fully addressed.

20. In 1997/98, reported crime in the force area fell by just over 13% and the Constabulary also maintained its excellent clear up rate of 67%. However at the time of the Review inspection there were indications, similar to those emerging in some other forces, that the decrease in the number of crimes of dishonesty was beginning to level out. A project team is currently looking at producing a model of good practice in relation to crime management and two of the Area Commands already have Crime Management Units. Some of the smaller Area Commands were keen to adopt good crime management principles but saw the resourcing of specific units as beyond their capabilities. HMIC commends the force for striving to provide an ever-improving service to the victims of crime, in what is a traditionally low crime area with an excellent record of detection.

21. The appointment of Local Drug Liaison Officers is popular with area commanders although HMIC felt that they would benefit from fuller integration into the crime management process. HMIC was disappointed that the suggestion in the Primary report that drug related statistics and intelligence should be subjected to greater analysis had not been taken up and has repeated this recommendation. However it was encouraging to note that the force had taken firm steps towards the confiscation of assets from convicted drug dealers and criminals.

22. At the time of the Primary inspection, concern was expressed over the lack of progress in developing a co-ordinated approach to community safety. HMIC was impressed by the work that had been undertaken in the interim, and the appointment of a partnership development officer with Highland Council had provided support for the local authority in its community safety role, culminating in a strategy launch in October 1998. The other constituent authorities were also progressing community safety and HMIC would urge all the parties to drive this common approach forward.

23. All the local authority officials and elected representatives spoken to by HM Inspectors during the course of the inspection were extremely complimentary of the support and day to day contact they had with the police area management teams and operational officers. However HMIC encountered some uncertainty over whether liaison at area management level should be confined to councillors who represent their authorities on the Joint Police Board, or whether it could be broadened out to be more representative of the authority as a whole. In consequence, liaison tended to be at an informal level and HMIC has recommended that the force places such contact on a more formal footing.

24. An area of concern for the Island Authorities, which was raised with HMIC, was the forthcoming review of the structure of Scottish policing. Previous experience of "rationalisation" by other service providers had not been happy, leading to a lessening of presence in the peripheral areas. There was a genuine fear that this would be repeated. HMIC promised to convey these concerns to the Secretary of State and is of the view that any future policing structure for Scotland should be firmly based on locally accountable command units at community level.

25. The Primary inspection had made a number of Traffic related recommendations. At the time of the Review inspection agreement had just been reached by the force executive to civilianise the road safety post currently held by a sergeant within the department. The recommendation that support staff be recruited into the camera enforcement unit to free up officers' time was still on the agenda, and HMIC encourages the force to progress this as a priority. The level of abstractions from the Traffic unit was also of some concern, and again HMIC would ask the force to look at this carefully. HMIC was encouraged to learn that the Constabulary will have new electronic breath testing devices in all eight area commands by the spring of 1999, extending previous coverage and strengthening the fight against drink driving.

26. A variety of practical and procedural areas, some of which had resulted in Primary report recommendations, were looked at in the course of the Review inspection. It was found that sound procedures had been put in place to assist officers in dealing with the issue of domestic violence and that staff had a good awareness of the complex issues surrounding such crimes. HMIC felt that there was scope to extend the use of local operational officers in doing basic scenes of crime examinations, and has asked the force to review its practices. Good call out procedures were in place for authorised firearms officers, and these were tested throughout the year. In response to a recommendation in the Primary report, the force had been developing a strategy to cater for media involvement during major incidents and comprehensive training was underway for all command area personnel. An examination of firearms licensing revealed that the force was up to date with its renewal procedures. Changes to legislation have given forces a two year period where no further renewals are required to be processed, but it is important that sound procedures are in place when this substantial work load recommences in the Year 2000. HMIC had some concerns over the force's proposed procedures regarding the expiry of certificates, and has asked this to be looked at again. Lack of a central computerised recording system for lost and found property has hampered the recommended review of procedures. Nevertheless HMIC was encouraged to see that area commands were using their own initiative to try to overcome this and increase the exchange and flow of information. Training had been provided for officers undertaking an identified media liaison role in their local command areas, and a rolling programme of secondments to Media Services for operational officers was providing developmental opportunities. However HMIC was disappointed that despite being in the final stages of preparation, no policy document in dealing with the media had been issued. A number of other general issues, mostly relating to the challenges of rural policing, were raised by staff with HM Inspectors. These included the suitability of vehicles provided in areas of difficult terrain; the lack of provision of mobile phones; and the fact that officers in remote stations would have welcomed more frequent visits by their senior officers.

27. Although there had been a rise in the number of complaints against the police by members of the public, a total of 60 during 1997/98 still remains relatively low. However, the monitoring of trends is important and HMIC noted that despite being highlighted in the Primary inspection report, no computerised system to identify officers who might be the subject of a disproportionate number of complaints had been installed. HMIC encourages the force to address this matter as a priority.

28. The forthcoming move to the new Inverness Area Command office will provide much improved prisoner handling facilities and to coincide with this, a new training package on prisoners' rights and the care of prisoners is being developed. HMIC considers that there is scope to extend such training throughout the force area.

29. In looking at the force response to the recommendations contained in the Primary inspection report, HMIC was unable to find any centralised formal mechanism within the force for evaluating and responding to those recommendations. HMIC is of the opinion that Inspectorate recommendations and observations should be addressed in a systematic manner, and has recommended that a structured system be put in place and that the Joint Police Board might wish to consider its own role in overseeing the response of the force.

30. As stated earlier the Review inspection has, by its very nature, been mostly restricted to the issues that were prominent at the time of the Primary inspection and has therefore tended to concentrate on selected aspects of policing. All eight Area Commands were visited during the pre-inspection and inspection and HMIC is very appreciative of the open and helpful way which enquiries were met and the frank and informed discussion that this led to. Inspectorate staff were impressed by the dedication of officers and support staff, and by their quiet self-reliance and acceptance of responsibility towards the force and its communities. In carrying out the inspection a small insight was gained into the unique nature of policing in an area, not only geographically diverse, but one with widely differing social, cultural and linguistic traditions. In the course of the inspection HMIC was made aware of many positive local initiatives as well as much solid day to day police work. It would be wrong to pass by any comment on operational policing in Northern Constabulary, without paying tribute to the men and women who deliver that service, often in extreme conditions of physical isolation, and whose daily dedication forms the foundation of successful policing in Northern Constabulary.

31. HMCIC acknowledges the assistance of the Department of Celtic Studies, University of Edinburgh and Taigh Na Galdhlig in Edinburgh in the translation of this report.

32. It is the professional view of HMIC that Northern Constabulary is efficient in the terms of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 as amended.