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Major Force Projects

Current Force Projects

Neighbourhood Policing
National Intelligence Model
Managing Critical Incidents
Safer Detention
Crime Recording
Case and Custody
PIP
SSS Justice
MOPI

Force Remodelling Programme

The force remodelling programme co-ordinates the planning and implementation of a large number of projects and smaller action plans to deliver significant organisation changes over a three to five year period.

The first year has already seen significant changes and progress against the 100 initiatives. The programme board is closely monitoring the project to ensure the aim of reducing our costs whilst maintaining service delivery.

Building on discussions over a four month period in the summer of 2006 the force has identified a large number of changes that can be made which will modernise our workforce and reduce our overall costs in response to the financial constraints placed on the force.

Overseen by its own programme board, chaired by the chief constable, and including representatives from all areas of the business as well as staff associations, the programme aims to deliver the changes identified by senior management teams across the force.

The programme structure, including the new Vacancy Management Group also manages the reduction in officer numbers as part of the national workforce modernisation initiatives, and the increase in police staff opportunities.

The programme board currently meets on a monthly basis so that the impacts of change on overall performance can be closely monitored.

Neighbourhood Policing

The aim of Neighbourhood Policing, as set out in the National Policing Plan, is to ensure the ‘right people are in the right place in the right numbers in order to create neighbourhoods that are safe and feel safe.’ This is something we have been committed to for a number of years and sits at the heart of our force vision to deliver ‘Excellence in Community Focused Policing’.

The Neighbourhood Policing Project was established and significant progress has been made towards the implementation of a robust and effective model of Neighbourhood Policing across the force area. Central to this is the involvement of communities in influencing policing priorities in their neighbourhoods. Consequently, the North Area has been divided into 24 zones and 81 neighbourhoods (sub-zones) and the South Area is presently undergoing the same process.

Additionally, public forums have been established across the force area. These will enable communities to have a greater say in determining policing priorities for their area than ever before, as key pieces of intelligence which emerge from forums are fed directly into the National Intelligence Model Tasking and Co-ordinating process. Procedures have also been put in place to: minimise abstractions from Neighbourhood Policing teams; improve multi agency information sharing; recruit volunteers to work alongside neighbourhood teams; specifically measure performance in the area of Neighbourhood Policing; and, develop a multi agency Action Plan to progress Neighbourhood Management in Co Durham and Darlington in the next 3 years.

Add to the above the force’s ongoing recruitment of PCSOs, which will see 172 in the force by April 2007, and the broadening of the role of neighbourhood teams to subsume some of the functions carried out within Community Safety teams, and the force’s ongoing commitment to delivering a high quality, community focused policing service is clear.

National Intelligence Model

The National Intelligence Model is the product of work led by National Crime Intelligence Service (NCIS) on behalf of the crime committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to fully develop intelligence policing and set common standards for intelligence led policing across the country. The model operates at three levels:

Durham Constabulary is seen by the NIM Team as progressing well in terms of implementing the model. Force, Regional and Sub Regional levels and all control strategies have been set. The Force is currently addressing issues regarding staffing of the Force Intelligence Unit.

This has been a long-term project put in place to ensure the force is using NIM effectively to drive operational policing activities. A significant amount of work has already been completed to ensure the correct resources, skills and processes are in place across the force. The main activities left to deliver cover improved systems and tools for briefing and tasking.

A soon to be completed NIM audit will chart the future development of the intelligence model, which will be closely linked to Neighbourhood Policing and the reflection of community priorities in policing activity.

Critical Incident and Major Crime Project

The Critical Incident and Major Crime project was established following a health check of the forces ability to manage critical incidents and major crime. This health check identified that there were several areas where the force needed to make improvements. This was reinforced by Her Majesty Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in the ‘closing the gap’ report that also highlighted areas for development. Durham Constabulary recognise that there is a need for its staff to be equipped and able to manage both spontaneous and pre-planned critical incidents more effectively.

A critical incident is defined as:-

“any incident where the effectiveness of the police response is likely to have a significant impact on the confidence of the victim(s), their family and / or the community”

The project will develop the management structures to ensure the handling of these incidents is correctly done and supported throughout the organisation. This is directly linked to ‘role clarity’ and what is expected of each member of staff, especially those whom are critical incidents managers. This is inextricably linked to the force Aiming For Excellence philosophy.

Ultimately the force aims to develop a similar response to all potential critical incidents in the same manner that we respond and manage firearms and pursuit incidents. Intelligence, prevention and enforcement are the key principles of response to critical incidents and form the fundamental aspects of our approach to such situations.

The Strategic Project Manager is a Detective Superintendent whom is one of the forces Senior Investigating Officers. The project is predicted to be completed by the end of 2007.

Safer Detention and Handling of Persons in Police Custody Project.

The Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers commissioned the National Centre for Policing Excellence to produce comprehensive guidance on the safer handling of people who are in police custody or who come into contact with the police.

A guidance document ‘The Safer Detention and Handling of Persons in Police Custody’ was subsequently issued to forces in 2006.

Work has been undertaken to identify where Durham Constabulary’s standard of detention and handling of persons in custody not only meets the guidelines set out by the Home Office but also where further development is required to improve our current custody provision.

Our Health check report identified some 76 recommendations under the categories of Organisational Structure, Information Technology, Human Resources, Estates and Finance.

A Custody Nurse Pilot was commenced in October 2006 providing Durham and Chester le Street Police stations with an on-call nurse service to support custody sites. This initiative has proved to be successful on implementation and has been extended in duration until September 2007. Negotiations have also commenced with a view to introducing Darlington police station to this scheme.

The force IS&T Investment Board has recently approved a business case to replace the existing custody CCTV systems with digital recorders and this work is expected to be commenced in March this year.

Further to these pieces of work we have been able to achieve a number of other ‘quick wins’ on behalf of the force namely the introduction of ligature knives and cutters to all custody sites. This includes personal issue of knives to all custody officer and detention officer staff for prompt intervention.

A review of all aspects of risk assessment / management from the point of arrest of detainee is to be considered in the coming months.

Crime & Property IT System

Over the last 12 months the force has been developing a new IT system to replace the current crime recording module. The new system (Information Management System – IMS) provides the capability to record crimes and manage the ongoing investigation electronically. It also allows property attached to the crime and other found property to be managed within the new system. IMS provides enormous cross-referencing, storing and searching capabilities.

Crime reports will be scanned and electronically populated into IMS thus removing manual input. Detailed information will be captured earlier, streamlining the crime recording process, improving the information flow to our intelligence systems. A virtually paperless system involves officers directly inputting investigation data onto the crime record, providing the most up to date information against which all other officers can search in our efforts to increase detections.

In relation to property only Stolen, Attacked (TFMV), Seized and Damaged Property concerning a Crime will be logged on IMS initially. There is a facility to record Lost, Found and other Seized Property, this will be configured and rolled out at a later date.

The implementation of IMS Crime is inextricably linked to the development of the Force’s CDH (Customer Data Hub). A review of the progress of work on the CDH will be conducted in late January/early February and will inform the IMS implementation date in 2007.

Case & Custody IT System

Is designed to streamline the ‘booking-in’ process within Custody Suites and improves Police National Computer (PNC) access. It also provides an electronic ‘whiteboard’ facility to display prisoner details and interfaces with Case Preparation to reduce duplication in the file preparation phase. Future enhancements are likely to provide links to detainee fingerprints and photographs that will be captured and retained within the custody record. This will assist with offender identification and significantly reduces the time taken to process prisoners.

The products have now been implemented throughout the force with a full roll out from the 6th October 2006.

Work has now commenced on the electronic link between Case Preparation and the Crown Prosecution Service System (CMS). Over the next month, workshops will be held to look at the business processes involved with an expected Go Live date of the middle of June 2007.

Similarly work will be commenced in the next month on the electronic link between Case Preparation and the Magistrates Court System (Libra). Durham will be the area in which the Site Acceptance Testing will take place in relation to the Libra Link. An Expected Go Livedate of July/August 2007 is anticipated.

Implementation of the CMS Link and Libra Link will further streamline the movement of case papers and provide more timely updates on court results to PNC.

Professionalising the Investigation Programme

Durham Constabulary continues to be one of the lead forces with regard to implementing the Professionalising Investigation Programme (PIP) and has gone beyond merely introducing the process.

Significant progress has been made in respect of delivering the programme at the three main levels and accrediting successful participants. This has led to the National delivery incorporating a number of ideas and practices devised within Durham Constabulary.

In addition the ACPO Investigative Interviewing Strategy has been incorporated into the programme to address the needs of the force in respect of interviewing not only suspects but victims and witnesses. 12 Interview advisors have been trained and are actively making a difference in serious crime investigations.

Initial candidates for Level 3 (Senior Investigating Officers) have completed the programme and are on the national register, with further individuals identified to commence the process later this year.

For those within the Level 2 remit (CID & specialist investigators) PDR will be used to assist in identifying the registration status or whether the programme needs to be undertaken. This would commence this year.

Level 1 has been successfully delivered (with the exception of RPU officers who will commence the programme this year) and details of those who have attained accreditation are now held on a local register. Maintenance of this status will be by way of the PDR process. PDR will also be used to identify those individuals still to achieve accreditation.

The main driver for integrating PIP into the core business of the force is to improve performance and ability in respect of investigation. This in turn will lead to a more effective and professional service for the people of County Durham and Darlington.

Simple, Speedy, Summary Justice

SSSJ is a Magistrates Court review project set up with the aim of improving case management and performance in the Magistrates Court. The broad aim is to ensure “Guilty” pleas are identified and dealt with at the 1st opportunity and “Not guilty” cases proceed to an effective trial date with the fewest possible hearings. This came about as a result of a review of the Magistrates Courts which highlighted significant problems within the system.

Proposals to radically improve speed and effectiveness were published in July 2006 “Delivering Simple, Speedy, Summary Justice”. The SSSJ initiative was piloted in 4 areas and is now being rolled out nationally. SSSJ involves all the Criminal Justice agencies and a working group has been set up to manage the process of implementation.

SSSJ has three main principles: -

Through the better provision of advanced information defence solicitors will be in a far better position to advise their client and ensure a plea is entered. The earlier resolution of cases through the entering of a plea or an earlier trial will allow the CPS and Defence to free up significant time attending courts for pre-trial reviews and other adjourned hearings.

Both Magistrates and Defence Solicitors have been encouraged to embrace the scheme with awareness sessions organised for Defence Solicitors and Magistrates to provide them with information concerning SSSJ.

Management Of Police Information

Durham Constabulary has setup a Management of Police Information Project(MoPI) overseen by the Organisational Development Programme Board(chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable) to deliver “…the right information to the right people at the right time and for the right purpose”

The Project is specifically designed to deliver full compliance with the MoPI Codes of Practice 2005 , MoPI Guidance 2006 and IMPACT CRISP data feed requirements. There is a full time project team of 1 Insp, 1Sgt and 1PC working within a Business Change Unit, headed by a Superintendent. Work is supported by staff from

A detailed Action Plan has been developed to provide continuous business change within an environment of severe financial constraints. Funding over the next three years for organisation structure/ business change, IS&T developments and training requirements, is in the process of being obtained via the Force Re-Modelling Project.

Short terms tasks include the development of the Durham Intelligence System to facilitate the adoption of new procedures required to implement MoPI in relation to Group1/Group2 suspects and offenders and ensure information feeds to INI and IMPACT CRISP.

Demand Management Project

Durham's WFM project seeks to reduce the demand placed upon front line officers on response and neighbourhood policing teams including reactive CID in the investigation of volume crime. There are two streams to this, pre arrest and post arrest.

Pre Arrest

An assessment of the current demand profile for high volume/ high priority incident and crime related activity and associated admin/ back office tasks, has been conducted. This focuses on the top five volume crime types and incident types that are resource intensive in terms of officer time. The intention is to realign tasks and identify a better workforce mix with the creation of a number of new roles around team level administrative support for front line teams. The time freed up for front line officers will enable them to spend more time on a citizen focused response and investigation of volume crime and incidents. The aim is to improve performance in terms of crime reduction, detection and customer satisfaction.

Post Arrest

This element of the project looks at those elements of demand associated with suspect and offender management. Within the project, 'offender management' has been defined as the demands placed upon the functions of Police Custody and PPO / PYO/ 'At Risk Offenders' Management

The focus of the post arrest stream will be the investigation of volume crime from the point of arrest or from the point of identification as PPO, PYO or 'At Risk Offender'.

Through task analysis, followed by a task clustering process, the force anticipates significant savings around many of the supporting tasks within the offender management process. They also anticipate the creation of a number of new roles around team level and file building administrative support.

The aim of this element of this project is to provide a significantly enhanced service between arresting officers and the case preparation function which in turn will result in a higher standard of case files and a potential increase in Offenders Brought To Justice figures. Also improvements in the arrangements for early joint intervention of PPO PYOs and 'At Risk Offenders' will contribute to a reduction in offending.

It is anticipated that the project should realise the following high level benefits for the force:

Increased levels of public confidence, and customer satisfaction with regards to
- response to incidents
- availability & visibility of officers for front line response and NHP duties
- reduction of open incidents

Increase in the number of offences brought to justice via
- Reduction of volume crime and improved investigation
- Increase the proportion of PPOs that result in OBTJ
- Increase non court disposals
- Improved bail mangement