Home Office publishes policing White Paper

03 Dec 09

The Home Secretary has launched a new programme of measures to help the police work smarter to fight crime, tackle anti-social behaviour and further increase public confidence.

By Brian Sims

According to the Government, the policing White Paper will render the police service more accountable to the public, and deliver significant cost savings by working better in partnership, improving efficiency and standardising procurement.

The Home Office report (entitled ‘Protecting the public: supporting the police to succeed’) builds on the “successful reforms in the 2008 policing Green Paper that have put the public at the heart of policing”. This has been achieved, states the Home Office, through neighbourhood policing, the single confidence target, the policing pledge and the ‘Justice Seen, Justice Done’ campaign.

For its part, the new White Paper sets out a programme that includes:

Supporting the public and meeting their expectations

• £2.5 million is being invested to improve working between police and councils to identify and tackle antisocial behaviour

• from March 2010, new police ‘report cards’ are to be introduced by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to give the public a clear view on the quality of police services in their area

• neighbourhood agreements across the crime and justice agendas are being introduced to spell out service standards

• there’s an expectation that Basic Command Units and their equivalent will hold meetings at least three times a year with local people

• by supporting the police to ‘get it right first time and make amends quickly and informally when they don’t, setting out a clear and simplified complaints system

• giving the Independent Police Complaints Commission new powers to uphold complaints where there has been no individual misconduct

Protecting the public

• by publishing new principles and working with the Association of Chief Police Officers on guidance to underpin the policing of public protests

• by introducing new capabilities to tackle organised crime in four new regions

• by legislating to remove remaining barriers to effective collaboration

• by legislating to provide PCSOs with extra powers to tackle anti-social behaviour

Strengthening accountability

• by having lead police authority members who will address public concerns in each local area and be contactable by the public

• by creating a competence framework for police authority chairs and a legal status for police authority chief executives to increase the effectiveness and impact of these key bodies

• by giving members of the public the power to sit on local authority ‘Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committees' to hold local partners to account

Continuing to cut bureaucracy

• by responding to Jan Berry’s report

• by legislating to cut the paperwork involved in stop and search

• by piloting the transfer from the Crown Prosecution Service to the police of powers to charge for lesser offences.

Boosting police productivity through working smarter

• by reducing the overtime bill through improved deployment of staff and internal management

• by developing standard national uniforms for police officers and PCSOs

• by way of national procurement for a standard ‘beat car’ for all forces

• by the introduction of standardised body armour

Meeting the challenges of the 21st Century

Commenting on the new White Paper, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: “In the last ten years the Government’s reform agenda has supported the police to help drive up confidence and drive down crime.

“We have firmly put the public at the heart of policing through neighbourhood policing, the single confidence target, policing pledge and the ‘Justice Seen, Justice Done’ campaign. The new policing White Paper builds on these successes to meet the challenges of fighting crime and building public confidence in the 21st century.”

The Home Secretary concluded: “The White Paper supports the daily hard work and dedication of the police by making clear the entitlements of the public, providing greater accountability and meeting the public’s expectations.”

Reducing bureaucracy in policing

The ‘reducing bureaucracy in policing’ advocate Jan Berry has released her first year report.

‘Reducing bureaucracy in policing’ presents the findings of Berry’s examination of how the police service can build on the progress of the last year and remove even more unnecessary red tape, freeing up police time and strengthening front line discretion to serve the public better.