Minutes of Chief Officer Group Meeting

0930 hours, Wednesday 17 August 2005

Chief Officers' Conference Room

Open Session

1. Attendance

Chief Constable (Chair), ACC(O), A/ACC(OS) and Chief Superintendent Cheeseman.

(ACO(S) for Closed items only)

2. Apologies

2.1 A/Deputy Chief Constable and ACO(S).

3. Minutes of the previous meeting

3.1. The minutes of Wednesday 10 August 2005 were agreed.

4. Outstanding Actions Schedule

4.1 All relevant actions were updated as per the schedule.

5. Tribune Trust Event

5.1 This matter had now been resolved outside the Chief Officer Group meeting and

Mr Fenton was progressing.

6. Membership of Unacceptable Organisations

6.1 A paper prepared by the Head of Personnel Branch, outlining the current national position in respect of membership of unacceptable organisations was considered. The paper made three recommendations in respect of reminding police officers, special constables and support staff about their obligations and responsibilities in respect of unacceptable organisations, such as BNP, Combat 18 and the National Front. The recommendations were agreed, but it was determined that communication would be by inclusion in Force and Association publications rather than by email or letter.

ACTION: Mrs Morley to remind staff of their obligations by publishing appropriate guidance in Force and Staff Association publications. Contact to be made with Marketing and Planning Section to make the necessary arrangements.

7. Roads Policing Reality Check

7.1 A/ACC(OS) presented a report by Chief Inspector Stead in the Operations Branch on the subject of roads policing reality checks. The paper outlined progress of the Best Value Review and the results of reality checks carried out by Police Authority Members in A and C Division. The paper reached a number of conclusions in respect of roads policing matters. After discussion, it was agreed as follows:

ACTION:

1. A/ACC(OS) to arrange for a presentation to be brought to the next Strategy Team to provide a review of roads policing matters, which will be factual and touch on issues including how the corporate standards are maintained. Included within the presentation should be consideration of TPAC and pursuit management issues.

8. Op Bracknell - Tsunami Cost Recovery

8.1 ACC(O) spoke to a paper prepared by Mr Newstead, Finance and Resources Manager, Crime Management/Ops Branch, which updated Chief Officers on the financial implications arising out of Humberside Police's support to the recent major disaster in the Far East. The paper made proposals for how staff costs that had been recovered by the Force should be redistributed. One of these options included retaining the money at the centre as part of the Chief Constable's Performance Fund. It was determined, however, that the full benefit of funding should go back to the Divisions and Branches that had contributed the staff.

ACTION: Mr Newstead to ensure that funding returned to the Force in respect of staff should then be returned to the respective divisional or branch police and police staff pay line.

9. Bonus Payments

9.1 ACC(O) spoke to a paper outlining how future claims for bonus payments for Inspectors and Chief Inspectors serving on national operations out of force should be resolved. The paper proposed three draft criteria that should be considered in the future. Chief Officers approved the introduction of the criteria, subject to some minor amendments which would be incorporated in the paper when distributed with the minutes.

ACTION: The paper to be circulated via the COG minutes and adopted forthwith. The payment to officer PH, who is currently seconded out of the Force, should be approved - ACC(O)

10. Football Commitments

10.1 ACC(O) briefed the Chief Officers on some of the arrangements for the forthcoming football season. He explained that a decision had been made to increase PSU training, but until such time as all staff were in place, there would still be a need to use staff from across the Force to support policing operations. He explained that one of the considerations was the need to pay money to some officers to recompense them when they are regularly having rest days cancelled and this would show good will, as well as helping to relieve budgetary pressures on divisions. The other issue was that the Force was improving on its cost recovery from clubs, however, C Division in particular, did not have a professional football team and therefore, although supplying staff to other divisions, were not able to benefit from the income being recovered. The following decisions were reached.

ACTIONS:

1. The Chief Constable requested that ACC(O) explore further the option of recompensing officers in respect of regular cancelled rest days.

2. ACC(O) to clarify to which account returned income currently goes and then take the matter to Strategy Team in respect of determining whether funding should be returned to a central budget and shared between the four divisions.

11. Chief Officers IT

11.1 Chief Superintendent Cheeseman discussed Chief Officers' future IT arrangements in respect of electronic diaries and email access and he was requested to explore the options and bring further proposals back to COG at a future date.

ACTION: Chief Superintendent Cheeseman to explore options and bring proposals back to COG.

12. Report Back on Chief Officer Visits

12.1 The Chief Constable and ACC(O) had recently visited the Incident Room in respect of the murder in Hull last weekend. The Chief wished to put on record his congratulations to the team responsible for ensuring the arrest of the suspect prior to his departing from the UK.

13. Communication Issues

13.1 There were no communication issues.

14. Strategy Team/PA Meeting - Last Week/This Week/Next Week

14.1 There were no issues to report.

Closed Session

15. Call Handling

15.1 Having returned from leave, the Chief Constable requested an update on action taken following the Police Authority report in respect of concerns over incident handling issues. This investigation was being overseen by A/ACC(OS). The Chief Constable re-stated that this is a matter of priority for the Force and the Police Authority. Chief Superintendent Cheeseman, who had been seconded to carry out work until Chief Superintendent Davison returned, outlined to Chief Officers progress made during the last week in producing a comprehensive recovery plan and the governance arrangements that would underpin the delivery of this plan and ensure that the issues of concern were addressed as soon as possible.

15.2 Having listened to the verbal presentation, the Chief Constable said he was satisfied that whilst this is a matter of priority for the Police Authority and the Force, a good deal of work is already in hand and a formal update will then be provided to the Police Authority on

20 September.

16. Chief Constable's Performance Fund

16.1 Chief Officers noted that £4,000 had been allocated from the fund in respect of Fests and £610 in respect of faith calendars.

17. Bronze Commanders - Firearms

17.1 A/ACC(OS) presented a report prepared by Superintendent Duggleby in respect of this matter. After discussion around a number of issues arising from the paper and in respect of other firearms matters, it was agreed that a more detailed analysis of incidents including threat assessments, the time taken to resolve them and the ultimate outcome, was now required. This should feed into a paper that was already being prepared in respect of Gold Command and the Chief Constable stated that he would like a half day Chief Officer Away Day set aside to resolve a number of firearms issues.

ACTIONS:

1. ACC(O) to bring a paper in respect of Gold Command issues to the next week's COG. Once complete and agreed, ACC(O) to bring together Gold Commanders for a formal meeting.

2. A/ACC(OS) to undertake an analysis of the relative facts and figures in respect of firearms incidents, particularly those referred to at paragraph 2.3 of Superintendent Duggleby's report.

18. Payment of Disruption Allowance - Dedicated Source Unit (DSU) Controllers and Handlers

18.1 ACO(S) presented a paper prepared jointly by the Head of Personnel and CMB in respect of the above matter. The paper made a number of recommendations which were considered and discussed. However, it was agreed that at this stage the recommendations would not be implemented until further information in respect of Special Priority Payments was obtained. It was confirmed that until that decision was reached officers would continue to be recompensed under the existing arrangements.

ACTION: ACO(S) to clarify the position in respect of SPP and, if necessary, bring a further paper to a future COG.

19. Proposal to adjust LPT arrangements on C Division

19.1 ACC(O) presented a paper produced by A/Chief Superintendent Furlong, proposing adjustments to the deployment of Inspectors on a C Div LPT. The Chief Constable said that whilst the operational deployment of Inspectors was a matter for the division, no changes in respect of LPT Commanders should be made until after his presentation to the Police Authority on 20 September.

20. Chief Officers' PAs

20.1 Chief Superintendent Cheeseman outlined proposals made by Chief Officers' PAs, to undertake flexible hours working in accordance with the current practice direction and the views of Chief Officers were sought. On the understanding that core times would be agreed and covered and that the office would be covered throughout the working day, they supported the proposal and asked that it be implemented forthwith.

ACTION: Chief Superintendent Cheeseman to make the necessary arrangements with Chief Officers' PAs.

21. Implications of the National Policing Centre of Excellence Guidance on the Safer Detention and Handling of Persons in Police Custody

21.1 A/ACC(OS) presented a paper prepared by Superintendent Bagshaw, outlining work that was required to be done over the next 18 months in respect of custody, provision related projects, audits and reviews. Chief Officers agreed there was a considerable amount of work required and some fairly tight timescales. The paper proposed that Inspector Hodgson, who had now been replaced within the CSCC should transfer to AJU and undertake this work. However, Chief Officers did not support the recommendation in the paper that the costs should be picked up from the centre and advised that these costs be met from within Ops Branch devolved budget.

22. National Police Memorial Day

22.1 ACC(O) returned this matter to COG and Chief Officers agreed that it was important that one of them attended on 2 October in Cardiff for this event. ACC(O) was tasked with contacting Mr Griffin to see if he would be available to represent the Force, given that he would be Deputy Chief Constable at that time.

23. Movement of Officers between Divisions

23.1 ACC(O) outlined some difficulties that were being encountered in respect of the lack of guidance when requests were made for officers to move between divisions. After discussion, it was agreed as follows:

ACTION: ACC(O) to arrange for divisional P & S officers to come together with a member of Personnel Branch and draw up some guidance for use in future requests from officers.

24. Gun and Knife Crime

24.1 The Chief Constable outlined a letter he had received from Government Office, offering the Force £30,000 to be spent by 31 March 2006, on reducing gun and knife crime. He was keen to ensure that the Force utilised their allocation. It was agreed that A/ACC(OS) would lead on this matter and bring proposals back to COG, once appropriate consultation had taken place.

ACTION: A/ACC(OS) to bring proposals back to COG.

25. Police Authority Meeting - 20 September

25.1 The Chief Constable updated colleagues on two items he had been asked to present to the Police Authority meeting to be held on 20 September, namely incident handling issues and the future of local policing. It was agreed that the presentation on local policing would be by way of a Powerpoint presentation and a small group of those staff with current knowledge of neighbourhood policing issues, would come together with the Chief Constable to assist in preparation of this presentation.

Attached: Completed/Outstanding Actions

Next Meeting Thursday 25 August 2005

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COG Minutes 17.8.05 Not Protectively Marked

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