Engagement Strategy 2009-2012.pdf - Lincolnshire Police

LINCOLNSHIRE POLICE
policing with PRIDE
ENGAGEMENT
STRATEGY
2009 - 2012

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Engagement Belongs to Everyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Definition of Engagement and Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Why We Must Engage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Who We Engage With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
How We Engage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Engagement Delivery Plans - Implementation Issues . . . . . . . . 6
Managing Engagement – The Cycle of Engagement . . . . . . . . . 7

Joint Engagement Strategy
Introduction
One of the
fundamental
principles of good
policing in
Lincolnshire is that
we truly listen to
the public that we
serve and provide
them with a
service which
meets their needs
and expectations.
How, when and
where we connect
with people is
crucial, and I want
us to use every
opportunity to be creative in finding new and
effective ways of building a positive and meaningful
relationship with communities.
If we do this well then we will be far better placed to
ensure that people receive the right type of service
from us. We will also have effective opportunities to
inform them of things that we are doing on their
behalf to help keep them safe and secure in their
communities. This will enable us to discuss those
things that really matter to people and to
strengthen the relationship between police and
public which is so important to building increased
trust and confidence.
This strategy outlines how we can achieve better
engagement with people and I commend it to you.
Community
engagement gives
the people of
Lincolnshire a more
significant voice in
policing. The Police
Authority and the
Force are working
hard to ensure that
local communities
and local
accountability are at
the heart of policing
in the county, and
that the police are
responsive to the
public’s needs.
The Authority is responsible for ensuring and
overseeing the effectiveness and efficiency of the
Force. We must also ensure open and constructive
procedures are in place to allow the public to
influence and shape their policing requirements.
The Authority will make sure that clear systems to
monitor and scrutinise the outcomes of community
engagement are put in place.
We recognise that it is only through working
together with our communities, and by encouraging
their active engagement, that we can help deliver a
service that meets the needs of local people.
The purpose of this Engagement Strategy is to
enable our partners, our staff and the wider public
to understand the responsibility of the Authority and
the Force for community engagement and to set out
how we will safeguard and strengthen local
involvement.
Chief Constable
Richard Crompton
Chairman
Councillor Barry Young
1

Public Service and Confidence
Engagement Belongs to Everyone
“
By consulting with our Neighbourhood Management Team
in relation to public surveys, these results help us to focus on
working towards what local residents want in the area
”
PCSO Debbie Adams
Engagement helps us to listen, learn and improve our service
“
I am a member of the Neighbourhood Panel and by working
closely with other panel members and the Police we were
able to identify problems and work towards a solution
Beryl Giblett (Chair of the Abbey Neighbourhood Panel)
Engagement helps people to get involved and empowers local action
”
“
I have recently been a victim of crime and the Police dealt
with this very professionally given that it was a sensitive
case. I was very impressed with the information that was
initially given to me and can only pass on my thanks to those
people who were involved in the investigation
Engagement keeps people informed and increases confidence
Wendy Shaw (local resident)
”
2

Joint Engagement Strategy
Definition of Engagement and Community
Our Definition of Engagement – The ‘Three Strands’
‘Engagement’ means:-
Informing
Inclusive methods of communication and access to information
Information, communication and reassurance
Consulting
Participating
Inclusive opportunities for people as stakeholders to influence,
including listening to and acting on feedback
Listening, monitoring and accountability
Inclusive methods of empowerment and participation (active
citizenship) in community and public service development and
action.
Partnership, co-operation, empowerment and co-production
Our Definition of Community
‘Community’ means a group of people who share things in common such as:
●●●
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Geographical place, local area of residence, employment, business
Interest or identity, such as ethnicity, sexuality, gender, age, disability, religion / faith or agenda based
communities
WHO THE STRATEGY IS FOR
Who is involved in this strategy Who are the stakeholders
We use the term ‘Stakeholders’ because engagement involves many different groups of people. Within this
strategy the term is used to describe people :-
INTERNALLY
EXTERNALLY
EXTERNALLY
within the Force and Authority
(For example: Staff, Members, Volunteers, etc)
members of public within local communities
(For example: Residents, Businesses, Elected Members, Independent Advisory
Groups (IAGs), Community Groups or Leaders, Voluntary Sectors, etc)
within the partner agencies
(For example: Local Authorities, Community Safety Partnerships, Road Safety
Partnerships, Local Strategic Partnerships, Lincolnshire Assembly, Lincolnshire
Criminal Justice Board (LCJB), Voluntary Sectors, etc)
3

Public Service and Confidence
Why We Must Engage
The purpose of this strategy is to offer direction for engagement. This document explores the:-
Why Where When Who How
It also links to the cycle of engagement, which will inform a delivery plan and review process for engagement
What are the BENEFITS
By investing in engagement, we can develop the
related work streams that will build on our
relationships with stakeholders. These
relationships are essential in identifying ways to
improve, deliver and evaluate our public service,
performance and business planning.
Information and Consultation will develop higher
levels of trust, knowledge, understanding,
legitimacy, influence and respect.
Participation will develop ‘active citizenship’
(including active employment / active partnership).
This is about building relationships and actively
tackling problems or making improvements
together.
Empowering stakeholders to get involved in
appropriate areas of decision-making aims to
improve policy development and service delivery.
We aim to achieve this through our inclusion of
direct, real experience from stakeholders,
considering the broader perspective of everybody
involved in the service relationship and sharing the
responsibility and ownership for service issues.
Stakeholder participation aims to provide the
utmost levels of accountability through direct
involvement. It is not just about asking for advice
and opinion, it is also about showing trust (in) and
respect (for) stakeholders and their ability to be
involved in making decisions about the services
that they have or will need to access.
Where, When and Who We Engage With
Engagement should be as inclusive as possible. We
aim to consider all possible methods of providing
engagement opportunities that are flexible to
communities and individuals based on geography,
interest and identity. This is to ensure that when and
where we engage best meets the needs of our
stakeholders.
We will work in partnership to establish opportunities
to use community profiling, mapping, socio-economic
data and other marketing based resources to help
identify our target audiences for engagement. (See
Force Communication Strategy for further information
on how to communicate with target audiences).
We aim to develop work streams that pay particular
attention to establishing a connection with hard to
hear / hard to reach groups through existing and new
relationships established within the public and
commercial service sector.
4

Joint Engagement Strategy
How We Engage
We have a vision to deliver our services for Policing with PRIDE (Professionalism, Respect, Integrity,
Dedication, Empathy). The Force and Authority also have shared and separate responsibilities in relation to
engagement requirements (statutory and aspirational). As such, separate delivery plans will be produced.
Each delivery plan will consider the following areas which impact on ‘how’ we engage with stakeholders.
What types of engagement will we consider
and use
We aim to develop an engagement toolkit for
practitioners which will provide the guidance, skills
and materials required to deliver engagement using
different techniques.
We aim to monitor and evaluate different
techniques, and consult with stakeholders in
relation to the effectiveness of each technique to
inform future development.
We aim to develop ways to help external
stakeholders identify, understand, and access the
most suitable engagement opportunities.
Levels of engagement
We aim to do more to manage and co-ordinate
engagement at national, regional, force /authority,
BCU, sector and neighbourhood levels.
Mapping engagement
We aim to map engagement activity at all levels and
regularly maintain and publish this knowledge to
ensure that stakeholders are informed or able to
access engagement opportunities.
Sharing effective practice in engagement
We aim to develop more formal methods for sharing
such effective practice at different levels internally
and externally. This could also include working with
commercial industries to understand how they
engage with their customers.
What are the minimum standards for
engagement
In line with minimum standards for quality of
service, the Quality of Service Commitment, we aim
to develop basic standards for all internal
stakeholders to incorporate in to their core role,
regardless of their business area.
How do we consult on engagement
We aim to develop a better understanding and
appreciation of stakeholders preferences in relation
to the engagement methods, times, venues,
samples / audiences selected.
By understanding engagement preferences, we can
be more flexible with stakeholders and increase our
volume of information, consultation and
participation activities.
5

Public Service and Confidence
Delivering Engagement - Implementation
ENGAGEMENT DELIVERY PLANS
We recognise the challenges of implementing engagement delivery plans.
We aim to develop engagement work streams that consider the following implementation issues.
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Organisational Commitment and Cultural Change
Mainstreaming Engagement
Empowerment – Internal / External participation
Tailoring and Flexibility
Performance Management – focus on quality
Training and Capacity Building
Confidence and Trust – Building relationships
Communication - Two-way dialogue – Feedback and good quality information
Partnership Working
Resources
6

Joint Engagement Strategy
Managing Engagement – The Cycle of
Confidence and Engagement
We aim to provide a direction for the delivery of engagement based on the Neighbourhood Policing model of
Access, Influence, Interventions and Answers. This model is relevant to any stakeholder involved in the
engagement process and provides a simple process to ensure all activity is open, inclusive, empowering,
active, informed and evaluated.
ACCESS
Establishing How, Where, When, Why and with Whom
stakeholders can connect with through ENGAGEMENT
INFLUENCE
Being clear about what our stakeholders should expect, how
much and where they can have a voice and how their voices
can make a difference through ENGAGEMENT
INTERVENTIONS
Solving problems and implementing actions to improve
services through ENGAGEMENT.
ANSWERS
Making sure stakeholders know how they have made a
difference to the services they are or may be involved with
through ENGAGEMENT and feedback.
ENGAGEMENT
Feedback from
stakeholders
Identify areas for
improvement
Activity through NIM
and Business Planning
THE CYCLE OF
CONFIDENCE AND
ENGAGEMENT
Solving Problems /
Improving Services
Together
Community
Intelligence and Public
Service Intelligence
Inspire Trust
Build Confidence
7