LOSING THE DETECTIVES: VIEWS FROM THE ... - Police Federation

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All methods of data collection have their limits and it has not been possible to collect quantitative data to investigate further the qualitative findings from the focus group discussions. However quantitative data from the literature have been provided where they support or throw light on these findings. Despite the absence of studyproduced quantitative data the findings reported here are robust and give an accurate picture of GO CID in 2007. The fact that the same issues were raised in every group and there was a general consensus on their causes and consequences supports that claim. Other studies Several of the participants in our focus groups had recently attended a focus group on a similar theme led by representatives of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). If any of the findings of this report differ from those of the HMIC study, such differences will provide an agenda for discussion among interested parties. Further weight is added to the findings of this study by research carried out elsewhere previously and reference to the conclusions of those projects, and other publications on the criminal investigation process, are cited where relevant.
The depletion of GO CID CHAPTER 2 The skills and ex perience deficit in GO CID This chapter focuses on what are perhaps the most immediately obvious explanations for the impaired resilience of GO CID teams: the huge loss of skilled and knowledgeable detectives they have experienced, the vacancies this has created, and the related problems of recruitment and retention. The resulting skill and experience deficit is worse than figures released by police forces suggest because those statistics normally include trainee detectives (TDCs) and uniformed officers on attachment who have been used as replacements but who are obviously not fully trained and experienced in the field of criminal investigation. Staffing deficiencies were presented as the major issue in every focus group and ‘Lack of qualified staff’ was the frustration most frequently recorded by participants who completed the proforma. Those frustrations are increased by what is perceived to be senior management’s apparent indifference to, or denial of, the problem. You take a Leadership Course and you sit there for a week and a bit, learning about [the force’s] <strong>Police</strong> Values-Driven Leadership, and you just want to spit. It’s pie in the sky, because you come back and you’ve only got half the team you should have. My team is depleted all the time. We should call our duty state the visitors book. If, at any time, I had all six of them in at once I would take a team photo. But it’s not funny. We are losing camaraderie. The losses cause resentment in the team. In every force visited, GO CID offices are staffed by relatively small, skeleton teams of detectives, TDCs and uniformed officers on attachment which are struggling to cope with workloads that were once carried by larger teams of experienced detectives. This general decline in CID numbers has been on-going in most forces for a number of years and some longer-serving members of the focus groups argued it had been happening slowly for over a decade: The demise of the CID really started ten years ago or more. Others reported that the rate of the cuts had accelerated over the previous two to three years, as other departments and squads had expanded. The following is a typical comment: In three years of me being DS at W I’ve never had more than three DCs. My shift strength on paper should be five. 7
Page 1 and 2: LOSING THE DETECTIVES: VIEWS FROM T
Page 3 and 4: Acknowledgements Without the cooper
Page 5 and 6: We look for a considered response t
Page 7 and 8: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background to the
Page 9 and 10: Explaining the deficit - where the
Page 11 and 12: •&the achievement of sanction det
Page 13 and 14: Discussion The focus groups placed
Page 15 and 16: CHAPTER 1 Introduction Background t
Page 17 and 18: to do’ bracket because the invest
Page 19: The forces selected to be represent
Page 23 and 24: The replacements Alarming as the fi
Page 25 and 26: Group members and particularly supe
Page 27 and 28: esponse policing because of the eve
Page 29 and 30: We’ve had two staff permanently o
Page 31 and 32: instances, to manage and supervise,
Page 33 and 34: dissolved and the total number of d
Page 35 and 36: Our research on 24/7 officers four
Page 37 and 38: Although forces have MITs potential
Page 39 and 40: [Detective 2] They will always have
Page 41 and 42: up coming back [to the GO CID] for
Page 43 and 44: CHAPTER 5 The workload of GO CID an
Page 45 and 46: •&the lack of supervisory involve
Page 47 and 48: If the sergeant on the shift has sp
Page 49 and 50: provide the required level of stree
Page 51 and 52: The management of critical incident
Page 53 and 54: Although Innes is drawing upon his
Page 55 and 56: prosecution and conviction of crimi
Page 57 and 58: wounding; •&robberies; and •&ca
Page 59 and 60: school-related offences where, for
Page 61 and 62: Detective inspectors who carry resp
Page 63 and 64: The range of housekeeping activitie
Page 65 and 66: At best many investigations will no
Page 67 and 68: prosecutions brought and the convic
Page 69 and 70: They won’t charge without a full
Page 71 and 72:
obtained a TIC in their lives. They
Page 73 and 74:
offence which merits the degree of
Page 75 and 76:
solicitors, you’re waiting around
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minority and management can still d
Page 79 and 80:
ecome disenchanted with the way the
Page 81 and 82:
CHAPTER 9 Consequences of the under
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• not following up on leads - 'wi
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He’s done all he can physically d
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to minor offences which detectives
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standard in Crown Court and its exe
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They’re the ones who need to be t
Page 93 and 94:
We are losing sources because they
Page 95 and 96:
identified the gap that exists betw
Page 97 and 98:
New Public Management and the polic
Page 99 and 100:
consequently attenuated. This estra
Page 101 and 102:
The challenge for senior police man
Page 103 and 104:
2. CID Structure Under the MEP pilo
Page 105 and 106:
justify its selection. Detection ra
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carry out investigations effectivel
Page 109 and 110:
Team differences The team differenc
Page 111 and 112:
To overcome these problems crimes a
Page 113 and 114:
for a punch-up’ and you then had
Page 115 and 116:
as its innovatory feature. The eigh
Page 117 and 118:
In Waverley elements of this ‘res
Page 119:
Irvine, B. and Dunningham, C. (1993
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LOSING THE DETECTIVES: VIEWS FROM THE ... - Police Federation

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