A collection of news articles, reports, and publications available in the public domain, which are relevant to UK policing.
The Home Office have announced funding to enable 101 calls to be free for members of the public starting from today. Up to this point calling 101 has incurred a 15p charge for members of the public. Until the 1st July, there remains a chance that users of small operators will be charged for using the service.
Source: Gov.uk
The Home Office has announced that it will scrap the 15p charge and spend £5m a year to fund the phone service in the UK. The 101 number, which received around 30m calls annually, was introduced in December 2011 to free-up calls to 999.
Vodafone will scrap the charge from the end of this month for its pay-as-you-go customers. The Home Office is also funding the creation of a new website where the public will be able to contact the police and report crimes. The service, the Single Online Home (SOH), will be fully launched in the summer.
Source: BBC
The appeal of Sherratt v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police 2018, was dismissed in August 2018 and was specific to assurances given during emergency response.
Case Details: The subject’s mother called the police regarding the subject, who was a risk to her own safety due to her mental state. A call handler provided assurances that the police would respond by dispatching officers as a priority step and that, if required, a transfer to hospital would be arranged by the police, rather than the mother. This did not occur and the subject was later found deceased from a painkiller overdose.
The appeal recorder found that by providing specific assurances, the Chief Constable owed a duty of care for the welfare of the subject. Further detail can be found here.
Consideration should be given to the availability of resources before providing assurances. If assurances are made, then it is essential that the police adhere to them.
Northamptonshire Police is building an automated chatbot to handle responses to the local 101 service, to deliver an online triage service for non-emergency calls that will work through existing chat apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Instant Messenger and Snapchat.
The pilot is due to begin in January 2019, taking in the reporting of low level crime and intelligence. An extended roll out is planned for next year, incorporating workflow integration, automated intelligence management, live video feed integration and the provision of metadata through real time AI.
A third phase – so far with no firm timescale – will extend to police response assisted by machine learning, situational awareness, live intelligence management and public alerting.
Crimestoppers is a 30 year old charity which allows people to anonymously pass on information about crimes and can be vital in providing key details that lead to arrests. Callers remain anonymous thanks to the great lengths that Crimestoppers goes to ensure that no one knows where the information it receives has come from, including no record keeping about personal details, phone number or computer IP addresses. It emphasises that it operates independently of and in a different way from the police. In a BBC News report Mark Hallas, chief executive of Crimestoppers, says that this anonymity partially explains why Crimestoppers is growing in popularity with both young people (under 35yrs) and those from BAME communities, commenting that: “Surveys we’ve carried out indicate that there’s a hard core of about 20% of people who find it very difficult to talk to the police directly under any circumstances – but many of those people want to do the right thing and we provide the avenue to let them do that.” Mr Hallas added that “There is in some parts of the country an element of frustration with 101, they know if they call us they will be answered pretty quickly.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) recently issued findings in a report that, despite an overall drop in the number of complaints against the police, the way that such complaints are handled varies wildly between forces with some choosing formal investigations and others using the less formal ‘local resolution’ process. The IOPC reports these discrepancies as symptoms of an overly complex complaints system and welcomes simplifying changes that are due to come into effect next year, which will include more clarity over the definition and categorisation of allegations. IOPC also aims to ensure the capture and logging of less serious complaints that are dealt with informally in order to clearly identify complaints at all levels.
Director General Michael Lockwood said that he hopes these changes “promote a culture across policing which is more consistent and transparent” adding that “What’s more important than the overall numbers is how complaints are viewed by the forces themselves. They offer forces a great opportunity to learn from and address any common concerns that their local communities express. Done properly, this can be really positive for police and community relations”.
The High Court has dismissed a damages claim against police by the daughters of Ms Griffiths, who was murdered by a man, John McFarlane, after calling the police. The daughters claimed that the call should have been graded as emergency, triggering an immediate police response, due to their mother’s previous complaint to police of harassment from McFarlane. The court also dismissed a claim against mental health professionals for not having detained the man in hospital three days prior to Ms Griffiths’ death. Mr Justice Ouseley ruled that medical staff had been under no duty to warn the police and Ms Griffiths that the man posed a danger.
Source: LexisNexis [available with sign-up]
Following previous actions by the government including the introduction of forced marriage as a specific criminal offence, lifelong anonymity for victims and criminalising breach of a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO), Sajid Javid this month has announced further measures to help combat forced marriage. These include plans for:
Source: Gov.Uk
By working in partnership it is hoped that a new service between Greater Manchester Police and North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS FT, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT and Pennine Care NHS FT will reduce the demand on emergency services. It sits alongside the Greater Manchester Integrated Healthcare, Liaison and Diversion Service which launched in February this year.
The new service, commissioned by Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the 10 NHS CCGs in Greater Manchester will provide trained mental health professionals that:
Rob Potts, Assistant Chief Constable at Great Manchester Police said:
“This collaborative approach will see trained mental health professionals working alongside and supporting officers, allowing us to protect the most vulnerable at times of crisis and ensuring the best outcome for the individuals affected at the earliest opportunity”.
Source: planetradio.co.uk
The report highlights various time where hate crime has spiked in response to specific event, such as the EU referendum result. Multiple news agencies have reported that this indicates a risk of increased offending for the UK leaving the EU next year.
HMICFRS carried out an inspection into the following areas:
Recommendations for Chief Constables include:
Source: Justice Inspectorates
Police Horizon Scanning 