Policing bodies respond to leadership commission findings

APCC Chair Emily Spurrell, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners said: “Strong and effective leadership is fundamental to defining any organisation, so we welcome the Police Leadership Commission’s work towards ensuring the best leaders with the right skills and standards are selected and equipped to deliver the high quality police service the public expects.

“While leadership starts at the top, the Commission has rightly recognised the importance of identifying and developing talented leadership at all levels of policing, and we support the idea of a root and branch modernisation of recruitment, training and performance monitoring. However, a greater emphasis should have been placed on driving improvement in the culture, ethics and inclusive leadership of forces.

“There are many great senior leaders in policing but there have been too many examples in recent years where the behaviour and actions of chief officers have been found wanting, and it is disappointing this is not addressed by the Leadership Review. Chief constables’ actions are highly consequential and where there have been allegations of misconduct, Police and Crime Commissioners and Deputy Mayors have demonstrated they have the authority and the tools to make sure those are properly investigated. If public trust and confidence is to be improved, it is vital the future policing model, both locally and nationally, retains robust and transparent public accountability.”

Police Superintendents’ Association President Nick Smart: “We welcome these recommendations, many of which align with the evidence and proposals we shared within our response to the call for evidence and in formal consultation events.

“It is right that the commission has overtly recognised the exceptional leadership demonstrated in many areas of policing, and the difficult context in which police officers work. We are in austerity and face a lack of funding, chronic under-resourcing, and rising demand.

“Senior leaders and politicians have allowed policing to become the service of last resort, picking up other agencies’ demand and taking vital resources away from the core role of policing. This leads to criticisms of leadership and the wider workforce when we don’t have the people to deal with the core policing that communities expect. Time and time again we have called for an urgent definition of the police mission to stop this from happening.

“Brilliant people are delivering excellent policing day in, day out, but for too long have been hampered by bureaucracy, inadequate and inconsistent training and development and most concerningly, toxic workplace cultures that leave officers at all ranks, including superintendents, unable to speak out or to challenge the actions of others. We have consistently raised these issues, but these ‘red flags’ have been ignored. We hope that through these recommendations and the clear evidence reinforcing our views, that they no longer will be.

“Many of our members do not have faith in promotion or appraisal processes. They tell us repeatedly that they lack transparency, and they speak of vast inconsistencies in the training and development on offer. Alongside this, superintendents, and their colleagues, are working dangerously long hours to keep up with the excessive demand placed upon them.”