Policing Insight is delighted to publish the sixth, and final set of finalists that are taking part in the inaugural World Class Policing Awards sponsored by Accenture.
This week the outstanding array of nominations feature the huge multi-agency operation following the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury to preserve public safety and reassure residents, alongside an anti-stalking unit that brings the police and NHS together to tackle stalking and the introduction of cutting-edge game technology to create a range of police training scenarios.
World Class Policing received well over 100 entries which have been rigorously judged against specific criteria by an expert panel consisting of senior police stakeholders.
Six winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony 14 November in central London. One of the six winners will also scoop the overall prize.
The awards are listed alphabetically.
The Blue Print for Evidence-Based Policing in New Zealand
New Zealand’s Evidence-Based Policing (EBP) Centre is a world-first, multi-disciplinary ‘team of teams’, including strong partnerships with the University of Waikato, ESR and Vodafone NZ. The Centre supports evidence-based decision making across policing, to inform what works, what doesn’t and what looks promising in keeping communities safe. The foundation of evidence-based practice throughout New Zealand Police operations will enable service delivery and provide confidence to the frontline, leadership, and wider public, that what the force does, works.
Lead force: New Zealand Police
Partners: Vodafone New Zealand; University of Waikato; Institute of Environmental Science & Research (ESR)
The Croft Unit – a high-demand location for vulnerable service users in supported living
Durham Police were receiving high levels of calls reporting crimes from the Croft Unit, which offered supported accommodation for vulnerable adults. But the calls were not reported to the regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which rated the Unit as ‘good’. By establishing a tiered level of response and flagging calls from CQC-regulated establishments, the force has improved protection for vulnerable residents and reduced costs by more than £85,000 over three years. The Croft Unit has since been shut down.
Lead force: Durham Constabulary
Partners: Care Quality Commission (CQC)
The EBIT
The Evidence-Based Investigation Tool (EBIT) enables police to become more effective and efficient in resource prioritisation and allocation without sacrificing legitimacy. EBIT calculates the likelihood that a case will result in a judicial outcome, while incorporating a public interest assessment that identifies victim vulnerabilities and offender propensities. It has been applied over 15,000 times and has halved the number of cases requiring a secondary police investigation, achieving the same level of successful judicial outcomes and maintaining victim satisfaction.
Lead force: Kent Police
Partners: The Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing
The Integrated Anti-Stalking Unit
The Integrated Anti-Stalking Unit is an innovative partnership which sees police co-located with NHS staff to deliver an improved response to victims of stalking by managing the risks and perpetrators more effectively. The Unit, established by DC Thomason and consultant forensic psychologist Daniel Price-Jones, involves staff working directly with stalkers, while providing dedicated and specialist independent advocacy for victims. The ground-breaking risk management model also provides tactical and investigative advice to police officers and professionals.
Lead force: Cheshire Constabulary
Partners: North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
The power and impact of Idea Drop at Kent Police
Idea Drop is an idea management software and innovation consultancy enabling organisations to capture and act on the best ideas of their people. Kent Police deployed the technology in 2016, and has achieved outstanding results. It has introduced new policing models, large-scale technology programmes and measurable improvements to efficiencies, thanks to the engagement and innovation of its workforce. More than 2,000 ideas have been shared and almost 700 actioned; three ideas alone resulted in potential annual savings of £7.6m.
Lead force: Kent Police
Partners: Idea Drop – idea management software
The Stalking Threat Assessment Centre
As a centre of excellence within the Met Police, the Stalking Threat Assessment Centre brings together police, mental health professionals, National Probation Service and victims’ advocates to screen all reported stalking cases in London. The unit provides bespoke investigative advice and support to frontline investigators, and assists with assessing the risk posed by offenders. The unit is responsible for improving service delivery, and all staff are Screening Assessment for Stalking & Harassment (SASH) and Stalking Risk Profile trained.
Lead force: Metropolitan Police
Partners: Barnet, Enfield and Haringey MH NHS Trust; National Probation Service; The Suzy Lamplugh Trust
Trauma-Informed Supervision Pilot – Central North Gangs Unit
The Met Police has been working with social care and healthcare professionals to improve support for officers needing to reflect on and process challenging or traumatising experiences, to contribute towards a better functioning workforce. The six-month pilot with the Central North Gangs Team has included trauma training for officers, providing confidential space for processing some of the subject matter, and exploring how best to work with children and young people who have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect.
Lead force: Metropolitan Police
Partners: Camden Youth Offending Service; Camden and Islington NHS Trust
Virtual Training
Dubai Police has employed cutting-edge video games technology to create virtual incidents – ranging from crime scenes to traffic accidents and hostage scenarios – in an engaging way that mimics real-life situations, enabling trainees to learn-by-doing and harness their skills in a practical environment. The technology provides virtual training for specialist Dubai Police officers and teams, as well as a range of other organisations at local, regional and national level, including the UAE Ministry of Interior and the UAE Armed Forces.
Lead force: Dubai Police
Wiltshire LRF Strategic Coordinating Group – Salisbury/Amesbury Poisonings 2018
The Novichok poisonings in Salisbury of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia, and the subsequent incidents involving local residents Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, posed risks to public health never previously encountered anywhere in the world. The Wiltshire & Swindon Local Resilience Forum Strategic Co-ordinating Group worked tirelessly, and in collaboration with partners, to preserve public safety, reassure the public, and clean up affected areas of Wiltshire as quickly and safely as possible.
Lead force: Wiltshire Police
Partners: Wiltshire Council; Ministry of Defence, DSTL; NHS – Salisbury District Hospital Trust, South Western Ambulance Service (NHS Foundation Trust), NHS England; Government Agencies – DEFRA, Public Health England, Environment Agency, Public Health Wiltshire
The World Class Policing Awards celebrate and acknowledge the best in all aspects of 21st century policing. The awards reflect that effective modern day policing requires partnership and collaboration, whether in teams of officers and staff; collaboration between forces; multi-agency operations; wider public sector involvement; and collaboration also with the supplier community and beyond.
The awards also recognise that successful outcomes and developments in policing come from a blend of innovative, committed and well trained personnel, serving, engaging and protecting the public, delivering good practice, using technology and systems to police efficiently and effectively.
This year’s awards are supported by National Police Chiefs Council, Police Superintendents’ Association, the Police Federation of England and Wales, the College of Policing, Police ICT and techUK.
The Founder sponsors for the World Class Policing Awards 2019 are Accenture, Sopra Steria, Chorus Intelligence, Grant Thornton and KPMG. Policing Insight (policinginsight.com) and Police Oracle (www.policeoracle.com) are the official Media Partners for the World Class Policing Awards 2019.
Entry for next year’s World Class Policing Awards 2020 will open in the new year.
Read about the other finalists here:
World Class Policing Awards: Week five finalists announced!
This week, the brilliant nominees include an operation that has led to the arrest of thousands of drug dealers, a first aid programme for frontline officers that has already saved 15 lives and a telematics fleet system that ensures optimal use of vehicles.
World Class Policing Awards: Week four finalists announced!
This week, the brilliant nominees include an operation to foil an attempt to kill the UK Prime Minister, a project to better support children exposed to domestic abuse and a highly complex investigation that resulted in the conviction of a major organised crime group.
World Class Policing Awards: Nine more outstanding finalists published
This week, our outstanding nominations include a mobile technology project that has freed up over half a million officer hours a year and an intelligence officer whose work targeting online child abuse has led to 270 arrests.
World Class Policing Awards: More details of the outstanding finalists published!
This week, the outstanding nominations include a police cadet scheme for adults with learning difficulties, a new mobile fingerprint reader, a drink awareness project in Australia and many more.
The final countdown: A focus on the finalists for the World Class Policing Awards
From missing people to reducing offending to fulfilling potential in the work place and fast-tracking detectives – Policing Insight is delighted to publish a series of six weekly articles highlighting the 54 finalists for the inaugural World Class Policing Awards. We present the first nine in alphabetical order.
World Class Policing Awards: Shortlisted nominations announced
Following rigorous judging of over 100 UK and overseas entries to the inaugural World Class Policing Awards, the shortlist of nominations has now been finalised! See if your force has made the final cut.
World Class Police Awards Judging Process
Nominations were submitted to an online portal by police forces themselves or by third parties. All nominations were required to have a ‘lead police force’ and be endorsed by the chief constable of that force. The judging panel then reviewed the submissions and scored the nominations out of ten with marks awarded for fulfilling the World Class Policing characteristics and for overall quality of the submission.
The shortlisted nominations all go forward to be represented at the awards ceremony and to be put forward for consideration by the judges when they select the overall winners.
The World Class Policing Awards judging panel
The World Class Policing Awards judging panel is comprised of experienced and expert representatives from across policing in the UK and overseas. They include:
- John Apter, Chair of the Police Federation for England & Wales
- Superintendent Danny Hatfield, Chief of Staff at Police Scotland
- Chief Superintendent Ian Wylie, Police Superintendents’ Association
- Rachel Tuffin, Director of Knowledge and Innovation at the College of Policing
- Ian Bell, CEO Police ICT Company
- Mark Evans OBE, Deputy Chief Executive: Service Delivery at New Zealand Police
- Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, Metropolitan Police Service
- John Azah, Kingston Race and Equality Council
- Ben Bradford, Institute for Global Cities at UCL
- Rick Muir, Director of the Police Foundation
- Allan Fairley, Chair of techUK’s Justice & Emergency Services Committee
- Stephen Kavanagh QPM, former Chief Constable of Essex Police and Chair of the World Class Policing Steering Group
Nomination categories
The nominations could represent one or more categories across the range of policing activity:
- Victim support including improvements in identification of vulnerability
- New system/technology implementation
- Outstanding or complex investigations
- Operations delivering difference
- Projects driving change
- Crime prevention reducing harm in communities (real or virtual)
- Business change to tackle new and emerging offences
- Training and development in a changing world
- Employee and officer welfare building sustainable policing
The overall winners will be selected regardless of category but special commendations by category will be awarded where appropriate.
Characteristics of a successful World Class Policing Awards nomination
As well as explaining and evidencing why they represented examples of World Class Policing, the nominations also had to demonstrate and evidence some or all of the characteristics of World Class Policing:
- Did the activity demonstrate exceptional performance?
– Efficiency
– Effectiveness
– Improving police legitimacy
– Value for money
– Successful outcomes set out and achieved - Did the activity demonstrate progressive policing?
– Innovative strategy/tactics
– A new system or technology developed
– A new technique or practice
– The activity and benefit can replicated by other organisations
– Complexities that were overcome - Was the activity collaborative?
– A team effort or an effort across multiple teams
– Collaboration with another police force/agency
– Local collaboration with other agencies
– National collaboration with other agencies
– International collaboration with other forces/agencies
– Industry, academic or 3rd sector collaboration
– How were strategic hurdles overcome?
– Free up resource or demand reduction on non-police matters - Did the outcomes benefit the public/victims?
– Crime prevention/reduction
– Minimise risk or harm
– Victim/witness welfare
– Public engagement
– Free up resource or demand reduction
– Positive handling of diverse and vulnerable groups (young people, women, mentally infirm, BAME, LBGT+ etc) - Does the activity take into account officer/staff welfare?
– Improved working conditions
– Improved welfare or support
– Improved skills through training and development
– Improved job satisfaction
– Improved inclusion or reduction of stigma
– Positive handling of diverse and vulnerable officers and staff (women, mentally infirm, BAME, LBGT+ etc) - Does the activity benefit how suspects and offenders are handled for better outcomes?
– Early intervention
– Rehabilitation
– Restorative justice
– Reduce re-offending
– Positive handling of diverse and vulnerable suspects and offenders (young people, women, mentally infirm, BAME, LBGT+ etc)
The judges awarded points for these characteristics and for the overall quality of the submission, producing an overall mark out of ten. Those nominations scoring seven or above were selected for the shortlist to be represented and recognised at the awards ceremony.
The six winners including an overall winner will be selected by the judging panel on a further in-person judging day. Further commendations by category will be awarded where appropriate.
