New online ACPO guidance will speed decision-making

New streamlined guidance has been issued to the police service this week aimed at helping officers make the right decisions “quickly and accurately”.

The Authorised Professional Practice (APP), launched this week, streamlines existing guidance onto a single online platform. Police will no longer have to consult “bulky” manuals to stay up to date with the latest guidance which will now be available electronically.

Chief Constable Sara Thornton, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead for APP, said: “By referring to an online document they [officers] will spend less time poring over guidance books in an office and more time on the beat in their communities.

“As technology improves, officers will be able to check policy and guidance while at the scene of an incident using hand-held devices. This will bring massive change to their work and the service we provide the public. Policing relies on discretion and decision making and we need to give police officers the tools to help them operate, in a way which is practical and not a burden. APP is a major step forward in doing this.”

ACPO said that in recent years, there has been an increased focus on producing large amounts of policing policy and guidance. But research has shown that an over-abundance of guidance impedes good policing rather than assists it.

In September 2010, ACPO agreed a wide-ranging review of guidance across all its business areas. This review resulted in the decision to consolidate and replace current guidance with APP.

To date, APP has seen a 60 per cent reduction in policy documents, equating to a reduction of thousands of pages of guidance.

ACPO added that before the APP, the variety of reference documents – on even an activity such as investigation – consisted of up to 50 manuals, which demonstrates a clear benefit to bringing information together in one place, ensuring it is up to date and accessible to officers and staff across the country.

Ms Thornton said that key information must be delivered in a way which makes it practically useful, but emphasised that policing must still be dynamic and willing to embrace risk.

“No one can stop to consult a textbook in the middle of a developing situation. But equally, knowledge and guidance has to be made available as an invaluable tool to assist good decision-making.

“This is where the APP comes in. The aim is create a concise, searchable and authoritative body of knowledge to support police officers and staff. Over the last ten years we have developed many policies and procedure guidance documents which were all aimed at making us better at doing the job,” explained Ms Thornton.

“The extent of the guidance reflects the increasing complexity of the job we ask police officers and staff to do, and also our desire to improve policing standards in response to critical incidents, inspections or recommendations of the past.”

APP is expected to continue to develop with new content being added and the platform being improved. The electronic format will allow officers to keep the content up to date as policing knowledge and practice develops. It will also underpin training and fall within the responsibilities of the new College of Policing which comes into being in December 2012.

The APP was formally launched to police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on October 22. All chief constables have since endorsed it and ACPO has urged police forces to add a ‘click through’ button on their force home page.