NPIA association undermines governance structure

Senior figures have told Police Professional of their widespread consternation over the involvement of a senior National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) employee in the production of a highly controversial report.

Gavin McKinnon, the NPIA’s Head of Corporate and Public Affairs, was loaned by the NPIA to centre-right think tank Policy Exchange between October last year and January this year, becoming the head of its Crime and Justice Unit when a controversial report, Partners in Crime, was published.

The report’s main recommendation directly contradicts government policy and supports opposition proposals to introduce directly elected police commissioners. It supports the Conservative Party’s biggest police reform policy, but has been widely derided by all police organisations.

Senior figures within the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) are said to be particularly angry that a senior figure from the Government-funded agency should be involved in the production of such a highly-political document, especially in a year when the proposals will be the subject of considerable debate at a general election.

A senior chief officer said every colleague he had spoken to was livid over the fact it appears that the NPIA endorses the Conservatives’ proposal, despite all major policing organisations, including ACPO, advising against it.

“It is time this agency, which is in effect a non-governmental public body, was brought under the control of either the police service or the Home Office, which generously funds it,” the source said.
Police Professional understands the activity has led to a situation of almost internal warfare within the agency and a dressing down for its chief executive, Peter Neyroud, by a senior civil servant, shortly after the report was published in November 2009.

Mr McKinnon worked for Policy Exchange for two days a week during the period the report was published, for which the agency claims it was reimbursed. However, the fact that Mr McKinnon, a controversial figure in policing circles, is seen as supporting one party’s political proposals, while serving at a senior level in policing, has been described by one source as “particularly naïve”.
Mr McKinnon is employed by the NPIA as a police chief superintendent, despite never having served operationally at any rank above constable.

Chair of the Association of Police Authorities (APA), Rob Garnham, said the APA reflected the concerns of its members that an NPIA officer, whilst on secondment to a private organisation, has been associated with a report which has sought to undermine the governance structure of policing.

Another leading police authority figure, who did not want to be named, said they were very surprised to see an employee of the NPIA connected to such a blatantly partisan document.

“It raises a serious issue of impropriety, having come out so fervently against government policy it is very difficult to see how the NPIA can claim to have any independence. When everyone is fighting to maintain the independence of policing, it is crazy for senior police officers to seek to meddle in politics.”