Executive Summary and Recommendations
Overview
1. Fife Constabulary provides a high level of service to the people of Fife and HMIC found commitment and loyalty within the force and partnerships that are well established because of a genuine desire to make Fife a safe and excellent place in which to live, work and visit. The Inspection Team spoke to representatives of partner agencies, community groups, voluntary bodies and other stakeholders and it is clear that the Chief Constable and his force have good support within the communities served. The Chief Constable is a strong, visible and strategic leader who has offered continuity through a period of change in the force executive. He has vision, believing in service delivery through partnership and community policing, and is well supported by his senior managers. The force has good structures in place to aid effective leadership, internal communication and accountability. 2005 was the most demanding year in Fife Constabulary's history with the G8 Conference, the graduation of Prince William and the Open Golf Championship running consecutively throughout the summer followed by a Primary Inspection by HMIC in November. The force has risen to these challenges whilst continuing to deliver an effective policing service to the people of Fife. This appears to have been achieved because of the professionalism, commitment and enthusiasm imbued in the force which became apparent to HMIC during the fieldwork.
2. HMIC acknowledges that the Chief Constable used the impending Primary Inspection as the impetus for internal review and this has resulted in a slightly higher number of areas to which HMIC will return as part of the review inspection. This proactive approach is to be commended as internal inspection and benchmarking fuel continuous improvement.
Key Issues
3. The purpose of these inspections is to add value and support continuous improvement and HMIC has made 12 recommendations, and a number of other suggestions included in the text, to assist Fife Constabulary enhance service delivery. It is recommended that the force examines its planning process to improve alignment with the forward planning adopted by its partners and that divisions and departments formulate more structured plans in support of the annual Force Policing Plan. To assist in the planning process and in other areas of business the force should embrace a culture of continuous environmental scanning encompassing the widest range of political, environmental, cultural, technological and financial factors that impact on policing in Fife. This scanning should include predictive forecasting and trends analysis and should be available to all managers and staff throughout the force.
4. The Force Contact Centre ( FCC) is an area of operation that was raised both internally and externally throughout the inspection. The transition from local control rooms to a centralised FCC has not been easy for the force and this is not a unique experience across the UK where other forces have found migration a challenge. The Inspection team examined the area in depth and noted that performance has improved considerably since inception and that strong leadership and a comprehensive programme of action will continue the drive. The perception that it still performs poorly must be challenged and the force must market improvements both outside and within the organisation. HMIC will return to the FCC in the review inspection.
5. The provision of firearms support for officers is an area that HMIC recommends is reviewed. There are few spontaneous firearms incidents in Fife but the force has a duty to respond to these professionally and effectively with the appropriate level of support to minimise danger to public and officers. HMIC considers there are some issues relating to the availability of resources, call-out procedures for specialist support and the ability to respond quickly to these incidents which should be addressed.
6. Other areas highlighted in this report include force policy and guidance, promotion and appraisal systems, transfer policies, external monitoring of diversity issues, project design and commissioning of services and the role of the Community Constable.
7. The force is currently developing procedures and reviewing a number of important areas of work and HMIC will return to monitor progress and consider the impact of these changes as part of the review inspection. These areas include performance reporting; human resources; demand management; sex offender management and mental health care. A number of other areas are under examination and will be the subject of review when HMIC revisits.
Conclusion
8. HMIC considers Fife Constabulary to be efficient and effective.
Recommendations
9. It is anticipated that following publication of the Report, the force will prepare an action plan to progress the following recommendations, which will be the subject of future review by HMIC.
Recommendation 1 - HMIC recommends that the force consider the introduction of a three year planning cycle to better facilitate partnership working and forward planning; that the force review the content and format of the annual Force Policing Plan; that a corporate approach be implemented towards the publishing of divisional and departmental plans and that these plans clearly identify actions, targets and timescales in support of the force plan.
(paragraph 2.8)
Recommendation 2 - HMIC recommends that the force develop a capability and produce a document reviewed annually for the collection and summarisation of information required for forward planning. This would include performance review, strategic assessment, community and stakeholder consultation, risk assessment, predictive forecasting and trends analysis. It may be appropriate to consider producing elements of this document in consultation with partners. HMIC considers that such a capability is a valuable management tool at all levels of an organisation and should help to inform many other policies, strategies and publications.
(paragraph 2.12)
Recommendation 3 - HMIC recommends that the force review its policy and guidance documents with a view to introducing a corporate format that separates policy from guidance. This policy and guidance should follow a clearly defined process to ensure ECHR and diversity compliance checking before implementation and be subject to rigorous annual audit.
(paragraph 2.24).
Recommendation 4 - HMIC recommends that the force consider devising a policy and process to facilitate and encourage the transfer of officers and staff between divisions in order to foster a learning and developmental environment where good local practice is exchanged and opportunities for diverse experience shared. This transfer policy should encourage movement for reasons other than promotion, welfare or by mutual agreement.
(paragraph 3.2).
Recommendation 5 - HMIC recommends that Fife Constabulary review training policy and develops strategy to deliver effective training to the force. This review should consider how best to determine and prioritise organisational training needs for the force and implement a process to identify the right officers and staff for specialist and other training.
(paragraph 3.7).
Recommendation 6 - HMIC recommends that the force review use of the current staff appraisal system with a view to linking it effectively to promotion and other selection processes; ensuring a robust process is in place to manage and monitor the system and; collating information from it to provide management with an indicator of performance, training and developmental needs.
(paragraph 3.12).
Recommendation 7 - HMIC recommends that the force review the promotion system with a view to making it more efficient and user-friendly by making the process shorter and reducing bureaucracy. Cognisance of operational performance should be considered by including information from staff appraisal and taking into account divisional or departmental input. A robust appeals process based on evidence should be incorporated.
(paragraph 3.14).
Recommendation 8 - HMIC recommends that Fife Constabulary review its arrangements with Fife Council to ensure that the force is securing value for money in the areas of project design and commissioning services and that agreements on service provision take into account timescales and commencement dates for projects.
(paragraph 4.20).
Recommendation 9 - HMIC recommends that the force review the role of the Community Safety Chief Inspector with a view to considering the level of support in liaison with communities of interest; and that the force review the functions of the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Group and Diversity Opportunities Inclusion Team with a view to broadening their remit to take account of all diversity issues, both internally and externally, and also to consider how the relationship between these groups and Community Advisory Groups can be developed.
(paragraph 5.42)
Recommendation 10 - HMIC recommends that the force review its policy in relation to call-out procedures and, as part of that review, considers implementing a process for immediately identifying which officers with which skills are on duty at any time and ensures that sufficient authorised firearms officers are either on duty or identified as available to be called should a spontaneous firearms incident occur at any time.
(paragraph 5.69)
Recommendation 11 - HMIC recommends that the force consider introducing a mobile armed response capability as a matter of urgency.
(paragraph 5.71)
Recommendation 12 - HMIC recommends that the force review the role of Community Officers, develop a generic force role description and better focus its activities through clear measurable objectives linked to the Policing Plan.
(paragraph 5.77)