Staffordshire Police Federation chair Lee Robinson has welcomed plans to create a new crime administration bureau in an attempt to take some of the pressure off overworked frontline officers.
Lee said he hoped the bureau would free frontline officers to respond to and investigate crime which in turn would lead to the performance improvements demanded by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
Inspectors said not enough progress had been made on the way the Force investigates crime, manages offenders and suspects and responds to the public.
A recent inspection found some aspects of performance in investigating crime effectively had improved but were still not up to the required standard.
It found there had been no meaningful progress on providing adequate supervision throughout investigations.
There was some improvement in using investigation plans and recording consideration of evidence-based prosecutions but inspectors found the Force was still not implementing this routinely.
Responding to the report and the planned crime administration bureau, Lee said: “Frontline PCs and sergeants are still doing far too much around admin work which obviously ties them up from responding to and investigating crime.
“They are doing all the crime recording, the statistics that are required for Home Office crime recording, and they are basically fulfilling a back office function.
“It glues our response sergeants and our detective sergeants to a screen and that is not where we want them to be.
“The Force is aware of that and is opening a new crime administration bureau which hopefully will be up and running in a few months and I’m told will be well-staffed.”
Lee also called for PCs and sergeants to be given more career development opportunities.
“At this moment in time and in recent years there has been a lack of opportunity for PCs and sergeants to develop themselves,” he said.
“The lack of the availability of CID attachments, for example, which used to be a really good way for sergeants and PCs who wanted to become skilled investigators could go and taste it and bring those skills back to share with colleagues.
“Even if they decided they didn’t want to join the CID, the skills they learned were for everybody’s benefit. They don’t do that any more and I think it’s something we should encourage.”
Lee said another key issue raised by HMICFRS - the Force’s failure to provide adequate supervision throughout investigations - was having an impact on members.
He said: “I have spoken to the Force this week about the lack of one-to-ones. We are missing that crime investigation guidance at frontline supervision level and the opportunity for sergeants to direct investigations and support officers with them.
“If we can get the one-to-ones done we can get officers talking about workload, current issues at home, career aspirations but also about wellbeing and what they need guidance and support with.”
HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said she was optimistic for the future, but added that the Force would continue to be monitored.
“As part of the Engage process, we revisited the Force last month and found it had made progress in some areas,” she said.
“We welcome these improvements - they are positive steps in the right direction.”
