Managing foreign nationals

Cambridge Constabulary has adapted a multi-agency web-based case management system more commonly used in anti-social behaviour (ASB) and integrated offender management (IOM) cases to help manage foreign nationals.

And due to the success of a pilot in Peterborough using E-CINS (Empowering Communities Inclusion and Neighbourhood Management System), it is now being rolled out across the whole force area.

Sergeant Mick Thorpe, the safer neighbourhood deputy manager in Peterborough, explained: “We have been using E-CINS in Peterborough for around a year, originally just for managing ASB and IOM. It didn’t take long to see the huge benefits that could be derived from expanding its usage to other areas of business.

“We’ve been instrumental in introducing a new gallery to E-CINS called ‘Foreign Nationals’. This new gallery is allowing us to work with partners to share information about repeat offenders that have breached their conditions of being able to live in the UK.”

Sgt Thorpe said legislation introduced last year meant forces needed to record and evidence the type of offences and number of offences being committed by people who had entered the country from overseas.

“As a result we started to use E-CINS to record data on people coming into the police station in Peterborough,” he added. “When the offenders go into custody, the prison officers use E-CINS to update us and our partners of their behaviour and, as a result of their sentence, we can alert UK Visas and Immigration to whether the offender should be repatriated.”

Sgt Thorpe said E-CINS ensures they take the right steps and have the evidence they need to either get people the support they need or get them repatriated.

“More and more agencies are wanting to use E-CINS and the more partners we get on board, drug services, housing, etc, the better the service we can provide,” he said.

“The data we are recording is also allowing us to recognise who is causing the most harm. We can very quickly identify the top 20 foreign nationals that are the priority offenders and get a description of their offending patterns. It’s also a secure way of sharing the full picture with our partners and you can share as much or as little as you want.”

Sgt Thorpe said that although they have been recording this information since last year, having a specific gallery dedicated to foreign nationals makes it easier to manage where the offenders are and the individual guidelines based on the regulations from their own country of origin.

Chief Inspector Andy Bartlett added: “This new way of working has speeded up our processes around arrests. As a result of working in this way, we have removed 63 offenders from the country.”

•Detective Inspector Tim Nasta is lead for foreign nationals at Cambridgeshire Constabulary. For further information email Tim.Nasta@cambs.pnn.police.uk