Alternative Text Version - Force Strategy Plan 2006-2009 (English Version)
JOINT FOREWORD
This Strategy Plan sets out the joint vision and priorities of Northumbria Police Authority and Northumbria Police for the next three years. It is informed by the views of people living in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear and we will deliver on these priorities to ensure we fulfil our vision of building trust and confidence in the community and further reducing crime and disorder.
In line with our vision, the 'Total Policing' concept, introduced by the Chief Constable and supported by the Police Authority, has increased both police performance and public confidence in the force. We will build on our exceptional crime reduction record through the uncompromising pursuit of offenders to ensure more crimes are detected and more offences are brought to justice.
As well as continuing to reduce crime, we will also focus on reducing disorder, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime within our communities. Campaigns such as 'The party's over' have cut drunkenness, violence and disorder, whilst other campaigns such as 'Wipeout' have significantly reduced the number of criminal damage offences. We also intend to make our roads safer and less accessible to criminals.
Underpinning all our aims is the need to ensure our workforce is effective, diverse and
flexible, reflecting the needs and expectations of individuals and local communities.
Many challenges lie ahead for the future of policing. We are continuing to strengthen our capacity to protect the public from organised crime and the threat of national and international terrorism whilst ensuring there is no reduction in the level of service we provide. We will ensure that Neighbourhood Policing provides a locally based, visible and proactive police presence, helping to deliver safe and secure neighbourhoods. We are investing a great deal in partnership
working to achieve this goal, and are working within communities to give them greater influence over local priorities.
Whatever the future holds, by working together, Northumbria Police Authority and Northumbria Police will ensure policing remains focused on meeting the needs of local people, with a commitment to continually improving the service we provide.
Mick Henry
Chair Police Authority
Mike Craik
Chief Constable
OUR VISION AND ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
Our Vision
To build trust and confidence in the community and reduce crime and
disorder.
Our strategic priorities
The following strategic priorities have been developed in support of the force's vision:
1. increase public confidence within our diverse community
2. reduce crime and anti-social behaviour
3. increase the number of offences detected
4. increase the number of offences brought to justice
5. increase safety and reduce criminal activity on our roads
6. tackle serious and organised crime and terrorism
7. creation of a diverse, effective and flexible workforce.
These strategic priorities will be delivered through a 'Total Policing' philosophy that allows the force to provide a
flexible, comprehensive service that can combat crime and disorder at all levels.
'Total Policing' has nine areas of activity:
Ethical principles
In fulfilling the vision, every police officer and member of police staff is committed to adopting these ethical principles and demonstrating a commitment to equality and diversity. The principles are guidelines on how every member of the force should conduct themselves when dealing with the public.
They must be:
• attentive - by listening to communities
• responsive - by responding to the needs of communities
• reliable - by not letting people down
• skilled - by having staff with the right tools and abilities to do the job
• polite - to the public
• fair - at all times in carrying out their duties.
In addition to these individual commitments, Northumbria Police is committed to being accessible, by offering a range of contact methods and promoting who is responsible for policing local areas.
Effective leadership
Clear direction and support to officers and police staff to ensure that activity is aligned to the strategic priorities with a view to improved performance. The force will operate with three tiers of highly visible leaders:
• Chief Officers - national and force level
• Command Teams - area commands and headquarters departments
• Inspectors and Sergeants - neighbourhood teams, response teams and CID teams.
Use of the National Intelligence Model (NIM)
This is a business process designed to help forces gather and make the best use of available
intelligence to assist managers in prioritising and managing operational policing activity.
Neighbourhood policing
The vision of the force and authority is to provide a locally based, visible and proactive policing service that will help to deliver safe, secure and confident neighbourhoods by reaching out, listening and then working with partners to positively resolve community issues and improve people's quality of life.
Activities will be focused on four key areas:
• identifying neighbourhood areas which are meaningful to local residents and maximising
opportunities for effective partnership working
• introducing a bespoke policing team for each neighbourhood, which improves service quality, public satisfaction and provides understanding of the role
• creating simple and effective performance management processes for Neighbourhood Policing to encourage and recognise its distinctive contribution
• ensuring communities can readily identify and contact their Neighbourhood Policing team and are consulted about their priorities so that police activity can be focused effectively.
Chief Officers have been nominated to lead the areas of Neighbourhood Policing and
communication to ensure that:
• communities identify to a greater extent with their neighbourhood and their policing team
• there is increased community confidence and satisfaction with the police service
• pressure on response teams is reduced, thereby improving reactive public services
• the public and our staff value the contribution of the neighbourhood teams
• members of communities enjoy a better quality of life
• there is improved problem solving which reduces crime and disorder
• communities have higher, yet realistic, expectations of the police service.
Best Value
The force and authority is committed to continuously improving all aspects of the service. Improvement techniques, such as Best Value, are used to help deliver high quality and cost effective services based on community priorities.
Risk management
The identification and management of risk, whether it is strategic, financial or operational, is important to both force and authority. Business risk management gives the organisation the opportunity to take advantage of the rewards of capturing and effectively managing significant threats and opportunities and will support front line policing. Robust risk management systems are being embedded within the organisation and individuals have been nominated to ensure risks are captured at local and strategic levels.
Partnership working
The development of partnerships with local communities, agencies and businesses is vitally important in reducing crime and anti-social behaviour. It is important that a co-ordinated approach is used to ensure we all work together to achieve mutually supportive priorities.
In developing local priorities, we have worked together with other local strategic partner agencies, including the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) and the Northumbria Criminal Justice Board.
Changes to the way in which partnership work is conducted are anticipated with the introduction of the Police and Justice Bill. We will reflect these new requirements in our working practices.
Training and development
The force and authority aim to ensure the organisation has a well-trained workforce which is flexible and responsive to change. Investment in training and development to support the delivery of the strategic
priorities is an integral part of continuous performance improvement. We are in the process of developing a human resources database which will further assist us in ensuring we have the right people, in the right posts, trained to the highest standards.
Key initiatives over the next three years include:
• personnel advisors being located at local levels in order to assist in the effective development of our staff
• the implementation of the Aspire scheme, aimed at the development of leadership skills in police staff
• the ongoing development of a leadership skills programme for police officers.
Communication and engagement
A review of communications has established a vision for communication in its widest sense,
providing a service of excellence designed to deliver 'Total Policing' which aims to build trust and confidence in the community and reduce crime and disorder. To achieve this vision the force and authority are committed to using public consultation and feedback to guide the way in which policing is delivered. It is recognised that there is an increasing need to be more accessible, to provide high quality services and to better inform people about force and authority activity.
The force and authority have plans in place to meet a range of external initiatives intended to improve standards and levels of customer service.
Examples include:
• workstrands arising from the National Centre for Policing Excellence
• the effective use of a Single Non Emergency Number (SNEN)
• service charters (including the Victims Charter)
• thematic reviews (such as the recent review of Contact Management).
REFLECTING NATIONAL AND LOCAL PRIORITIES
In arriving at the strategic priorities, which support the vision of Northumbria Police, it has been necessary to reflect both the Government's and our commitment to public service reform and drivers for change, providing significant challenges to both the force and authority.
Some of the main elements of reform which have influenced our vision and priorities can be summarised as:
The Protective Services Review
The recent 'Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary' (HMIC) report into policing in England and Wales called 'Closing the Gap', highlighted that the existing police structure was no longer fit for purpose, particularly in the ability of the organisation to provide protective services across force boundaries. Northumbria Police, with a total workforce of around 6,000 officers and staff, is
capable of standing alone within the criteria set by the Home Office and work has already begun to close the gap on providing protective services for the force.
Workforce modernisation
Police workforce modernisation looks at the way the police service manages its people, highlighting the need for a more flexible and integrated approach to the recruitment, development and training of officers and police staff.
The Government White Paper 'Policing a New Century: a Blueprint for Reform (2001)' sets out the Government's view of the workforce changes required to achieve wider aims on police reform through modernisation.
These aims include:
• achieving the optimum mix of staff and skills to deliver policing in the 21st century
• balancing freedom from bureaucratic burdens and unnecessary paperwork against a professional and accountable approach to tackling crime
• ensuring the efficiency of front line officers and staff by supporting them with improved IT and technology.
The force and police authority are committed to continuously delivering services that are better performing, faster and more cost-effective and are already making use of mixed teams of fully, partially and non-warranted staff.
Neighbourhood policing
As part of the 'active citizenship' and 'citizen focus' agendas, the Home Office published a document called 'Neighbourhood Policing: your police; your community; our commitment' (2005) which outlined that by 2008 every area in England and Wales will benefit from dedicated, visible, accessible and responsive Neighbourhood Policing teams – led by police officers, but involving Special Constables, Community Support Officers, volunteers and neighbourhood wardens.
The force and authority already have in place dedicated community officers providing
Neighbourhood Policing at a local level and have begun to implement the recommendations of a recent Best Value review to ensure we fully reflect national priorities and best practice.
The National Community Safety Plan &
National Policing Plan 2006/9
In November 2005, the Home Secretary published the first National Community Safety Plan, which included the National Policing Plan. The National Community Safety Plan 2006/9 provides guidance to Government departments throughout England and Wales, including the police, local authorities, primary care trusts, fire services and other public sector bodies. It outlines how each organisation should provide its services through a more co-ordinated partnership approach.
The National Community Safety Plan priorities are:
• making communities stronger and more effective
• further reducing crime and anti-social behaviour
• creating safer environments
• protecting the public and building confidence
• improving people's lives so they are less likely to commit offences or re-offend.
The specific policing priorities in the National Policing Plan 2006/9 are:
• reduce overall crime by 15% by 2007/8, and further in high crime areas
• bring more offenders to justice in line with the Government's Public Service Agreement
• provide every area in England and Wales with dedicated, visible, accessible and responsive
Neighbourhood Policing teams and reduce the public perception of anti-social behaviour
• tackle serious and organised crime, including improved intelligence and information sharing between partners.
Local priorities
Local priorities have been established through:
• a Strategic Assessment, providing a longer term, high level look, at law enforcement issues
• a control strategy derived from the Strategic Assessment
• an organisational assessment complementing the Strategic Assessment in non-crime areas
• force performance, evidenced through Baseline Assessment and the Policing Performance Assessment Framework
• inspections and audits, both internal and external
• a desktop review of current Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) strategies
• an analysis of public and other partnership priorities.
How we plan
Planning is a key activity running through any organisation. Effective service and financial planning are essential to the delivery of high quality services. The planning process enables organisations to set objectives and priorities, to turn policy into programmes for action, to decide how to best allocate resources and to review the results so learning can be fed back into the decision making process.
The Strategic Management Framework
The force and authority have developed a Strategic Management Framework (Figure 1), which demonstrates the link between the vision, strategic priorities, performance management and outcomes. This framework provides clear direction to area commanders and department heads ensuring area command and departmental service delivery supports strategic priorities.
The Strategic Management Framework also ensures individuals are accountable for their
performance, with the aim of improving and delivering a high quality service.
This Strategy Plan is a more comprehensive statement of the Strategic Management Framework.
The Corporate Planning Process
The Corporate Planning Process enables the force and authority to plan and be ready for the coming year. The process enables the organisation to prioritise activity at a force and local level, ensuring the necessary resources - in terms of financial, human resources, IT and training - are aligned to deliver the strategic priorities.
The Corporate Strategic Assessment
Traditionally, this has focused on reducing and investigating crime domains within the Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). In order to ensure a more inclusive and corporate approach, an assessment across all domains and service areas will be adopted during 2006/7.
This assessment, repeated on a six-monthly basis, will align the planning process and inform the development of our Strategy Plan, Corporate Plan and Business Plans.
Control Strategy
The force Control Strategy represents a list of priority policing areas and of intelligence,
enforcement and prevention objectives over a specific period. The Control Strategy is based on the force Strategic Assessment and is reviewed on a six-monthly basis in May and November, complementing the prioritisation process at area command level. As stated previously, future control strategies will cover all the policing domains within PPAF.
Consultation
The force and authority are continuing to develop a variety of consultation mechanisms to ensure policing services are of a high standard and meet the needs and expectations of communities:
• Northumbria Police Authority sends 'Your Views Count' questionnaires to every household; this year over 28,000 responses to the questionnaire were received
• every two years a household survey is commissioned which asks a representative sample of local people about a wide range of issues in relation to policing and the fear of crime
• quarterly satisfaction surveys are conducted to measure the quality of service provided to victims.
In addition, ongoing work is undertaken with partners such as Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and the Northumbria Criminal Justice Board to identify local policing priorities.
The following is a list of the top priorities identified by local people as the cause for greatest concern. The results were taken from the 'Your Views Count' survey and the Residents' Survey:
• responding rapidly to emergency calls/situations
• reducing anti-social behaviour by young people and adults
• preventing/solving terrorist attacks
• reducing drug related crime and drug availability
• solving/reducing violent crime
• protecting vulnerable children and patrols on foot.
Strategies and plans
We produce a number of annual plans and strategies which cover a wide range of issues.
Their main role is to communicate the level of service that can be expected, how we have performed and our future targets and priorities.
Strategy Plan
The Police Reform Act 2002 introduced the requirement for force and police authorities to produce a three-year Strategy Plan, setting out the medium to long-term strategic direction for the force.
The Corporate Plan
The Corporate Plan will underpin the Strategy Plan and ensure that resources are aligned at an organisational level to deliver against strategic priorities. It will allow the force and authority to manage the delivery of key actions by clearly outlining owners, milestones and deliverables.
The Corporate Plan will be monitored quarterly by the force and authority.
Medium Term Financial Forecast (MTFF)
The MTFF is an integral part of the force's financial strategy. It is developed as a result of the Corporate Planning Process to enable the force to establish the budgetary implications of its long-term aims. It also assists the prioritisation of activity and allocates the resources necessary to
deliver those priorities.
The forecast is used by the Treasurer as the basis for the medium term financial plan, approved annually by the Police Authority. The plan covers three financial years, is revised on an annual basis and covers both revenue and capital budgets.
The Local Policing Plan
The Local Policing Plan is required under section 8 of the 'Police Act 1996' and the
'Local Government Act 1999' and reports the Strategy Plan and Corporate Plan to the public.
These aims include:
• how we engage with others including our communities and our partners
• how the force will achieve the joint strategic priorities
• detailed target information and the Statutory Performance Indicator Matrix
• details of funding and budgets as well as our Human Resource plan
• how we link the plan to operational policing through control strategies.
Local Policing Summary
A summary version of the annual Local Policing Plan, will be circulated to every household in the Northumberland and Tyne & Wear area as per Government requirement. It will include local information about how the area command is tackling crime and local priorities as well as reflecting on how each area command was policed during the previous year and what is intended for the future.
Business Plans
Business Plans are produced by all departments and area commands on an annual basis.
They demonstrate how area commands and departments will contribute towards the force
and authority's strategic priorities.
How performance is monitored
There is a constant need for the force to deliver improvements in performance and services. Consequently, the need to ensure force plans, such as the Corporate Plan and Business Plans, support the force's strategic aims is critical. The force and authority have therefore developed a Corporate Performance Management Framework which operates at all levels of the organisation, providing the structure to support and manage service delivery and performance improvement.
It outlines the accountability mechanisms at strategic and local levels, clearly showing the links to both individuals and supporting committees.
Business Plans are monitored on a continuous basis through performance meetings held between local senior managers. They ensure performance is driven on a local level and that, through the Performance Development Review process, every member of staff is accountable for their contribution to the delivery of the force's strategic priorities.
Performance Development Review (PDR)
The greatest assets of Northumbria Police are its people and the professional service they provide. An effective PDR process is essential, both to enable people to reach their full potential and to assist the service in achieving its aims and objectives. The PDR system ensures that staff are continually developing and performing their duties, with integrity and to the highest standards, in line with the ethical principles of 'Total Policing'.
Policing Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF)
The regular monitoring and evaluation by the force and authority is key to the achievement of the Strategy Plan and Corporate Plan. The development of a balanced performance assessment for policing also supports the monitoring of this Strategy Plan, allowing for performance across seven key areas to be monitored and assessed.
As part of the development of PPAF, and to fully reflect the force's performance with regard to local priorities, a Local Policing Domain has been incorporated into the framework. This allows each force to report on their performance against local priorities that are not reported elsewhere within PPAF. The force and authority have identified a range of performance indicators, for 2006/7, for inclusion within the Local Policing Domain. These indicators are detailed under each of the relevant strategic priorities within the Strategy Plan.
Most similar family of forces
To facilitate effective and meaningful comparison of performance between forces, the Home Office has grouped Northumbria Police with Cleveland, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire forces. This group of 'most similar forces' has been established on the basis of similar socio-economic factors and policing issues.
Baseline assessment
Baseline assessment brings together a range of quantitative and qualitative information and
judgements and enables Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to compile a comprehensive assessment of each force. A key part of the process is the need to self-assess our strengths and weaknesses and to propose areas for improvement. The assessment results provide a series of gradings, from poor to excellent, across each of the PPAF domains outlined above.
Each grade is also accompanied by an indication of the direction of travel, i.e. deteriorated, stable or improved.
The gradings for 2004/5 are shown in Table 1.
Public Service Agreement targets
The performance measures and targets within this Strategy Plan support a number of Public Service Agreements (PSAs). PSAs are commitments by the Government to improve public services.
The Government works with others who may also influence the outcome to achieve these ambitions and challenging targets. PSAs are about enhancing service delivery and ensuring that public resources are focused where it counts; on the patient, the pupil, the citizen.
Table 2 shows PSA targets for Northumbria Police.
Force targets
The force and authority have a robust approach to target setting. Targets are set to achieve continuous significant improvements on past performance and to contribute towards the achievement of national priorities and targets. This approach takes past performance and most similar family comparisons into account to ensure that the force compares well against its peers.
The targets outlined under each strategic priority are based on forecasts and will be amended with the availability of the out-turn data for 2005/6.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 1
Increase public confidence within our diverse community
Reducing the fear of crime and responding rapidly to emergencies are among the top
priorities identified from consultation. We aim to provide more citizen focused policing, enabling us to effectively engage with communities.
We must reassure the public and increase satisfaction amongst those who come into contact with the police service, especially victims and witnesses who are at the heart of this plan.
We must provide high quality services which respond to the needs of all our communities. We must offer our communities protection against criminals and the assurance that we are tackling quality of life issues in conjunction with our partners.
We will deliver this priority by:
• implementing the national Quality of Service Commitment
• implementing the Victims of Crime charter
• implementing a Single Non Emergency Number in partnership with local authorities
• ensuring the effective delivery of Neighbourhood Policing
• giving the public a real say in how they are policed at a neighbourhood level
• provide meaningful feedback to the public about what we are doing
• working in partnership to increase our capacity to deal with major incidents.
Outcomes
In addressing this priority we expect to improve public satisfaction in policing services.
We want communities to have confidence in us and we want to police with consent in order to maintain safe and secure environments where people are happy to live and work.
We intend to further reduce levels of crime and the resulting fear of crime. We want the public to feel we take their concerns seriously, understand their needs and they have a real opportunity to shape the delivery of policing services. It is about putting the law-abiding
citizen first and ensuring decisions are taken and services designed with the involvement of the public.
We will use quarterly user satisfaction surveys to monitor our improvements:
Public satisfaction:
Increasing the satisfaction of victims of domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime and road traffic collisions by 2008/9, in terms of:
• making contact with the police, by 1.5%
• the action taken by the police, by 3.9%
• being kept informed of progress, by 7.2%
• their treatment by staff, by 2.1%
• the overall service provided, by 2.7%.
Increasing the satisfaction of victims of crime being kept informed without asking by 2%, by 2006/7 (Local Policing Domain Indicator).
Increasing the satisfaction levels for attendance at incidents by 2%, by 2006/7
(Local Policing Domain Indicator).
Fairness, equality and diversity (as measured by quarterly satisfaction surveys):
Increasing the satisfaction of victims of racist incidents with respect to the overall service provided by 1.5%, by 2008/9.
To reduce the gap between the comparison of satisfaction of white users and users from minority ethnic groups with respect to the overall service provided by 3%, by 2008/9.
We will use the British Crime Survey to monitor our improvements in:
Confidence
Increasing the percentage of people who think we, their local police, do a good job
by 1.5%, by 2008/9.
Crime level
Reducing the risk of personal crime by 1.8% and household crime by 1.5%, by 2008/9.
Quality of life
Reducing the fear of crime in relation to burglary by 1.5%, car crime by 2.4% and violent crime by 3%, by 2008/9.
Reducing people's perception of anti-social behaviour by 4.2%, by 2008/9.
Reducing the perception that people using/dealing drugs are a problem in the local area by 1.5%, by 2008/9.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 2
Reduce crime and anti-social behaviour
Anti-social behaviour (particularly by young people) drug availability and the fear of being a victim of violent crime are all issues the public have highlighted as prime concerns. It is our clear intention to take an unashamedly hard-line approach to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and to target those who break the law.
Through Neighbourhood Policing we will target crimes that are of most local concern and will use the concept of 'Total Policing' to make life tougher for people who are involved in criminality.
We will continue our commitment to tackling the alcohol-fuelled violence that affects our cities and town centres at night. We must also intervene early to deter youngsters from starting to engage in anti-social behaviour or criminal activity.
We will deliver this priority by:
• using new powers at our disposal, in particular those contained within the 'Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003', 'Licensing Act 2003' and 'Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act 2005'
• partnership work, ensuring a multi-agency approach is adopted to solving problems
• working with and supporting victims of anti-social behaviour
• using unique and robust forcewide tactics to tackle issues that cause the greatest concern to law-abiding citizens
• implementing Neighbourhood Policing Teams forcewide and adopting the recommendations of the Best Value Review of Neighbourhood Policing.
Outcomes
In addressing this priority we expect to create safer environments in which people can live, work and seek recreation. We also want people to feel safe and secure and to be shown respect within their neighbourhoods.
Through listening to communities and targeting the crimes of most local concern we also want to demonstrate how we share a desire for low crime and safe and productive neighbourhoods which are more likely to attract the business and investment necessary for economic development,
further benefiting local people.
We acknowledge that we cannot do this alone and must work with all our partners to tackle the problems of criminality and anti-social behaviour.
We will use force information to monitor improvements in:
Frontline policing:
Increasing the percentage of police officer time spent on frontline duties to 72.5 %,
by 2007/8.
Crime levels:
Reducing, by 2008/9, the percentage of:
• violent crime per 1,000 population by 3% per year, from 17.5 to 16.0
• acquisitive crime per 1,000 population by 2% per year, from 21.3 to 20.1.
Reducing, by 2006/7, the percentage of:
• criminal damage offences per 1,000 population, from 26.4 to 25.4
• incidents of anti-social behaviour, both youth and non-youth by 5%.
(New indicator, no comparative data available).
We will also monitor within the force:
Fairness, equality and diversity:
The percentage of Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) searches that lead to arrest by ethnicity of the person searched.
Enforcement:
The percentage of domestic violence incidents, with a power of arrest, where an arrest was made in relation to the incident.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 3
Increase the number of crimes detected
The public has a clear expectation that we detect as many crimes as possible. They also want to see more visible and responsive policing and would like us to work more closely with communities, sharing information and intelligence. We must make best use of a range of tools, methodologies and partnerships and we will continue to use both scientific and technological advances. We will work closely with the Forensic Science Service to ensure the most up to date and
current practices are adopted and will continue to work in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service to
guarantee that the best evidence is provided during court cases. We remain committed to catching and convicting
prolific and priority offenders who are responsible for committing a high proportion of offences.
We will deliver this priority by:
• making effective use of advances in science and technology to identify more offenders
• using the National Intelligence Model (NIM) to target all levels of criminality
• increasing the number of sanction detections across the force
• improving partnership working with fellow law enforcement agencies such as the Crown
Prosecution Service to ensure prosecution cases succeed at court thereby improving
conviction rates
• improving investigative techniques with a view to detecting more offences during the
interviewing of offenders - offences taken into consideration (TIC)
• attending every volume crime
• raising standards of investigation by professionalising the investigative process.
Outcomes
We want all our communities to be confident that we will do our utmost to detect each and every crime. We will improve our performance when investigating crimes and look to detect more offences through effective questioning and having offences taken into consideration (TIC) by courts when sentencing. This will lead to improved public
confidence and increased satisfaction with Northumbria Police's performance.
We want to minimise variations in detection rates according to the ethnicity of the victim and increase the number of sanction detections we achieve.
* Sanction detections - cases resulting in charge, summons, caution, taken into consideration, penalty notice for disorder.
We will use force information to monitor improvements in:
Fairness, equality and diversity:
Reducing, by 2008/9:
• the gap between sanction detection rates for violence against the person offences committed against white and minority ethnic persons by 3%.
Sanction detections:
Increasing, by 2008/9:
• the percentage of notifiable offences recorded that result in a sanction detection to 33.5%.
Increasing, by 2006/7:
• the sanction detection rate for burglary dwelling to 17% (local domain)
• the sanction detection rate for vehicle crime to 17.5% (local domain).
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 4
Increase the number of offences brought to justice
The public want offenders to be swiftly arrested and brought to justice. There is also anexpectation that we fully
support victims and witnesses throughout the criminal justice system.
Crown Prosecutors have been co-located at police stations to provide early advice and guidance through the Statutory Charging Scheme. This partnership, working at a strategic and operational level, is helping improve quality in both complex and volume casework and maximising the potential for offences brought to justice.
We will deliver this priority by:
• continuing to work in partnership with Northumbria Local Criminal Justice Board (LCJB) to develop strategies to bring more offences to justice, while specifically focusing on the type of crime and criminal that cause most distress to local communities
• continuing to work with Crime Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) to target priority offenders through the implementation of the Prolific and other Priority Offenders Strategy (POPOS)
• using the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) to target specific and dangerous offenders
• reducing the likelihood of re-offending through effective monitoring and engagement
• enhancing the crime investigation capabilites of all staff through the Initial Crime Investigators Development Programme
• improving on the care provided to victims and witnesses through the No Witness No Justice scheme and the continued use of dedicated witness care units
• ensuring greater attendance at court
• better partnership working between law enforcement agencies to deliver greater effectiveness.
Outcomes
In addressing this priority we will play our part in providing a trusted criminal justice system that is tailored to the needs of victims and witnesses.
We will increase public confidence in both our actions and those of our partners through increasing the percentage of offences brought to justice and ensuring that, through the dedicated care units, more victims and witnesses are willing to attend court.
Ultimately, we seek to strengthen public confidence in the criminal justice system, the force and
its partners.
We will use force information to monitor improvements in:
Offences brought to justice
Increasing the percentage of offences brought to justice to 29.9%, by 2006/7.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 5
Increase safety and reduce criminal activity on roads
Northumbria Police has a duty to ensure the public can travel safely on the region's roads and that criminal activity is disrupted. We will use legislation to tackle unlawful behaviour, particularly in relation to uninsured driving. We will continue to actively patrol our roads to deny criminals use of the local and national road network. Our patrol activities will be intelligence led.
By working in partnership we have launched a number of road safety campaigns. The Driver Improvement Scheme aims to educate drivers helping to reduce the number of future collisions. The Northumbria Safety Camera Partnership aims to reduce the number of speed related collisions.
We will deliver this priority by:
• implementing a Roads Policing Strategy
• detecting and disrupting criminal activity on our roads
• reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads
• promote a safe environment for all road users
• investigating incidents to a high standard
• using new and existing technology to bring more road using offenders to justice.
Outcomes
By addressing this priority we expect to reduce the likelihood of incidents involving death, injury, damage or a threat to personal safety on our roads.
We want to proactively target criminals to deny them the use of the road, disrupting unlawful activity at all levels which will contribute to further reductions in crime levels.
We will use force information to monitor improvements in:
Road safety:
Reducing, by 2008/9:
• the number of people seriously injured or killed within 30 days of a road traffic collision, by 2% per year
• the number of people seriously injured or killed within 30 days of a road traffic collision, per 100 million vehicle kilometres travelled by 2% per year.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 6
Tackle serious and organised crime and terrorism
Northumbria Police will contribute to the national counter terrorism effort, working with communities to isolate terrorism and extremism and prevent young people from being drawn into these forms of criminal activity. All forms of legislation will be used in the fight against terrorism.
On a more local level, public surveys have identified the protection of vulnerable children as a priority. Responses also highlight the effect drug related crime and drug accessibility has on local neighbourhoods. Such serious and organised crime does not adhere to police boundaries so it is important to take action at both local and national levels. This process should be led by intelligence and co-operation from communities. We must continue to build community links to tackle serious and organised crime and work closely with other national agencies such as the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, the Serious Fraud Office, Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs and the Asset Recovery Agency to tackle this type of criminality.
We will deliver this priority by:
• continuing to develop specialist capabilities to deal with terrorist attacks
• ensuring effective counter terrorism exercises are conducted regularly to develop resilience
• seizing criminals' assets where possible and using those seizures to support policing activities
• increasing the use of new powers in relation to the Proceeds of Crime Act
• developing financial investigation skills within the force
• implementing changes brought about as a result of the Bichard Enquiry
• improving the force's protective capabilities
• developing effective intelligence using the National Intelligence Model
• improving cross-border and specialist capability.
Outcomes
By addressing this priority we expect to reassure the public by demonstrating the capability to address crime at all levels. We will work closely with local and national agencies to exploit every legal means available to tackle all levels of criminality. Future service delivery will be enhanced by re-investing the seized assets.
All terrorist activity needs to be stopped at the earliest opportunity and we will act swiftly to
disrupt, pursue and bring to justice those involved. By developing the specialist capability needed to deal with terrorist attacks and conducting regular counter terrorism exercises we will develop and maintain resilience, thereby increasing public confidence.
We will use force information to monitor improvements in:
Crime level:
Reducing the percentage of life threatening and gun crime per 1,000 population by 2%
per year, equivalent to 0.394 per 1,000 population, by 2008/9.
Within the force we will also monitor:
Enforcement:
Monitoring the value of cash forfeiture orders and confiscation orders per
1,000 population.
STRATEGIC PRIORITY 7
Creation of a diverse, effective
and flexible workforce
Consultation continually highlights the public's high expectations of Northumbria Police.
To meet these expectations we will continue to deliver a service that spans local and
national requirements, developing and retaining the skills and abilities required for policing in the 21st century. We will continue to recruit, retain and support the progression of all staff.
We will embrace the opportunities afforded by workforce modernisation to provide services which are more responsive, cost effective and better performing, making use of mixed teams of fully, partially and non-warranted staff.
We will deliver this priority by:
• continually modernising the service in line with Goverment requirements
• equipping leaders at all levels of the service with the knowlege, skills, confidence and
freedom to fulfil their roles
• improving career development for all members of staff at every level in the force
• integrating the role of Police Community Support Officers and Special Constables within Neighbourhood Policing teams
• increasing the rates of recruitment, retention and progression of minority ethnic, women and under-represented groups within the police service
• capitalising on the opportunities of workforce modernisation to increase visibility, accessibility and accountability
• capturing efficiencies provided by workforce modernisation within our efficiency plan.
Outcomes
In addressing this priority we want the public to be served by a well trained and motivated workforce which is
representative of the communities we serve. We expect to improve the training, recruitment, retention and diversity of our staff to provide a multitude of policing services.
We will build a culture of learning and self-improvement in which the contribution of everyone - officers, police staff and volunteers - is fully recognised and used to deliver visible and accessible front-line services.
We will use force information to monitor improvements in:
Fairness, equality and diversity:
Increasing, by 2008/9:
• the proportion of police recruits from minority ethnic groups by 4.7%
• the overall percentage of female police officers compared to the overall force strength to 23%.
Use of resources:
Achieving the 3% cashable and non-cashable efficiency target.
Reducing, by 2008/9:
• the percentage of working hours lost due to sickness per police officer to 3.2%
• the percentage of working hours lost due to sickness per police staff to 2.8%.
Sickness data is presented as a percentage of hours lost against hours available, as per revised Home Office guidance.