CVF Emotionally Aware

Question 1

Give an example of where you have considered the perspectives of people from a wide range of backgrounds before taking action?

Answer 1

Opening

As a chief Inspector it is important to consider other perspectives
There is no one size fits all approach
I don’t have the right answer every time
And a good chief inspector will surround themselves with a create a structure involving people with the required skills to achieve the desired outcome

Action

Staff officer to Gold
Significant amounts of information coming through nationally
Through a prioritisation process that I developed I came across something around Ramadan
I put myself in the Muslim communities shoes and recognised that Ramadan and Eid is a celebration that normally revolves around large gatherings with family and friends
And during COVID - they wouldn’t be able to celebrate in the normal way
In addition, not all of the Muslim community can read or speak English so whilst all of the videos are good - the Muslim community may not understand the policing style
Lastly - risk that we could be over zealous with our enforcement and seriously damage relations with the Muslim community

I became Silver
Created a team around me
Media bronze
Community bronzes in each of the LPAs - normally CADOs
Welfare and wellbeing bronze - Muslim Police association
I also identified it as a recruitment tool to increase our BAME officers and so ensured the PAET were on the team as well
We began planning - encouraged suggestions - quite open and honest with them in that whilst I feel that I have the necessary skills to deliver an operational response - I lacked the knowledge required to effectively support our community and our staff
Through some open and honest discussions I was able to hear first hand the struggles the Muslim community had
Through this we were able to develop a plan - allocated areas of responsibility
Tasked media with coming up with a proactive strategy - multiple languages video and multiple languages literature
MPA - wellbeing - comms - option to reserve
CADO on call function - Ramadan - gatherings overnight
When the plan was being developed someone made the comment about Easter
Challenged this - highlighted the particular complexities
Presented the plan to Gold and later at CCMT before briefing the LPA commanders
During Eid - the on call CADO was used frequently
I held weekly meetings to hold everyone to account whilst identifying blockers

Closing
As a result minimal issues
Had a debrief - everyone including me had to say what went well and what could be improved
General theme was that the force response was excellent
Community felt supported and we received messages of thanks
We also received comms from our staff from a wellbeing perspective
Main feedback was that we probably could have had more CADOs on duty for Eid itself
Highlighted nationally as good practice by the CoP
I also reflected - I would have sent out an all user - benefit of a group
Consider that whilst I’m doing the right thing - it’s the way we do it and the perception

Question 2

Give an example of where you have taken responsibility for helping to ensure the emotional wellbeing of your team?

Answer 2

As a Chief Inspector my role is to ensure the emotional wellbeing of the teams in my command as well as my own wellbeing. There is no point in looking after everyone else if i fall over myself.

• FCID
• took over a poor performing team
• i took responsibility for it - it reflected badly on me
• it cannot be a one size fits all approach - i have to adapt depending on the people
• sought feedback - what are we doing well and what can we improve on?
• stress
• less vocal people so did an anon survey
• i wanted to get views of everyone and it also made everyone think, reflect and consider what could be improved
• Identified and allocated a wellbeing SPOC to help drive it and devise the questions with me
• all my 25 staff completed it - unheard of for a survey
• this identified issues around workload, technology and supervision
• workload - too much rubbish
• technology - they wanted two screens
• supervision - not challenging inappropriate behaviour
• got the results back
• in two minds about how I deliver this to my supervisors - tough read
• decided to have a supervisors meeting
• they reflected - they all thought certain comments were about them
• i challenged one DS - rape victim
• Tasked a DS with a strand of wellbeing - so one had cleanliness, one had technology, one had welfare support for suicides, one had positive activity
• within a few months everyone had double screens, me challenging the DS had changed the outlook, cleaner place to work, it was a more open office
• wanted to repeat the survey
• positive feedback

As a Chief inspector i would look to repeat that on a larger scale
Use my DI’s and Inspectors to work with their teams
Monitor

Question 3

Give an example of where you have taken responsibility and dealt with inappropriate behaviour?

Answer 3

It is important for a Chief Inspector to challenge inappropriate behaviour. Some people may not feel able to challenge but i need to have the necessary skills to challenge and I have learnt from my own experiences that challenging behaviour can have a significant impact on a team.

• FCID
• took over a poor performing team - rape and sexual offence outcomes - toxic environment
• i took responsibility for it - it reflected badly on me
• it cannot be a one size fits all approach - i have to adapt depending on the people
• sought feedback - what are we doing well and what can we improve on?
• less vocal people so did an anon survey
• i wanted to get views of everyone and it also made everyone think, reflect and consider what could be improved
• Identified and allocated a wellbeing SPOC to help drive it and devise the questions with me
• all my 25 staff completed it - unheard of for a survey
• this identified issues around workload, technology and supervision
• workload - too much rubbish
• technology - they wanted two screens
• supervision - not challenging inappropriate behaviour - negativity
• got the results back
• in two minds about how I deliver this to my supervisors - tough read
• decided to have a supervisors meeting
• they reflected - they all thought certain comments were about them
• i challenged one DS - rape victim
• I’m not ashamed to say it was actually quite difficult - 28 years in the job - really experienced - fully expecting a confrontation
• found that doing it publicly and then following it up privately was the best approach
• asked the DS to reflect on how that comment could be perceived with the team
• reminded him of the COE - respect
• how it could breed negativity
• held a de-brief as a team - provided honest feedback
• action plan - included RASSO training - COE
• Joe Kidman came and thanked me
• unintended consequences of that was less negativity, people felt able to challenge others
• our performance started to improve

As a Chief inspector i would look to repeat that on a larger scale
Use my DI’s and Inspectors to work with their teams
Monitor
But if there was any offensive comments or behaviour - i wouldn’t hesitate in challenging it again and I see it as my duty

Question 4

How have you embedded the force values?

Answer 4

So the force values are:

• take pride in delivering a high quality service
• engage, listen and respond
• code of ethics
• learn from our experiences and always seek to improve

I believe as a chief inspector, my role is to embed the code of ethics on an LPA on behalf of the LPA commander. I take it personally if there is inappropriate behaviour or misconduct on my area or department and i would be professionally embarrassed. Integrity matters report 2015 highlighted importance of of strong leadership and leading by example.

So in terms of how i have done that.
The first point around delivering a high quality service. I have always striven to leave a team in a better way than i found it. As an example when i started FCID in Oxford, quite a poor performing and negative team - involved people in change - changed processes - focus and positivity - improved performance.

Engage, listen and respond - recognise that i haven;t got all of the answers and not one size fits all - consider perspectives of others - so i created an anon survey for my department in CID - listened to concerns - allocated areas of responsibility to sergeants and responded to what people were saying around stress.

COE - when i drew up the Oxford CID plan - the COE was at the centre of what we did - challenged inappropriate behaviour of DS’s. Created environment where people could challenge. Action plans. 121s with all my team - make it clear. Times when I’ve referenced COE in my reviews particularly around objectivity - keeping an open mind.

Learn from our experiences and always seek to improve - de-briefing incidents. Asking for feedback. Even something that went well. Refer back to objectives and ask ourselves did we hit it? For example Ramadan/Dos Santos. Being humble about what i could do better next time and sharing that. I regularly do it as a team. External project managers do this routinely but in the police we don’t.

Question 5

How will you embed the force values and COE?

Answer 5

Context
Important for a chief inspector to ensure that the officers and staff under my command represent the force values and act with integrity. Also important for me as a Chief Inspector to lead by example.
Externally - George Floyd - use of force.
COE mentions integrity at all levels.

Simply having the COE that everyone looks at for promotion isn’t good enough, it is important to embed it, without staff even realising it in some cases. Mentioning the COE can often turn a switch off in some people so its about how we get this into everyday practice.

Action
In terms of what I would actually do
As a chief inspector - it is important that i know the force values and COE.

Take pride in delivering a high quality service - what are we good at? What are we not so good at? How do we improve performance in certain areas? What are other areas do? What can we learn from other forces? This is about using the performance inspector - working with those i manage to identify blockers - identifying bright sparks on my LPA with good ideas not rank specific. Holding teams to account. If team 4 isn’t good enough in certain areas - it is my responsibility as chief inspector to improve that. Constructive way.

engage listen and respond - i see that being both staff and the public. So internally Look after emotional wellbeing - those staff that feel valued and looked after are more likely to act with integrity. What welfare support is there? I know the force delivery plan has a section on wellbeing and increasing the number of initiatives. Who is my wellbeing SPOC - lets get a wellbeing group set up on the LPA. I would either chair it or be a member to show leadership on behalf of the SMT. Anon survey. 121s with my Inspectors - 121s with new joiners to the LPA - i always remember having a 121 with my C/Insp and the very first thing i did when i left was go and tell everyone in my team about what we discussed.

Externally - what does victim satisfaction look like? ENTER FORCE STAT

COE
First of all need to work out where we are now in terms of complaints compared to other areas, how do we support supervisors to tackle inappropriate and unethical behaviour? What are we doing at each rank on the unit? Are we publicising the integrity line enough? Are supervisors given the time to have 121’s to provide an opportunity for someone to raise inappropriate behaviour?

Integrity matters report 2015 highlighted importance of of strong leadership and leading by example.

Use the inspectors to walk the talk - as a probationer an inspector is extremely impressionable.

Have an ethics panel for the LPA So that we consider perspectives from everyone - give an Inspector the responsibility to lead the code of ethics on an LPA and embed it. everyone views ethical decision making differently from response officers to performance inspectors. Promote discussion and accountability.

Recruitment questions.

Lead by example - focus on performance but be mindful that if we don’t support our staff, it can lead to unethical practice - read quite a few books around the NYPD and Compstat and it encouraged lies. So if there is a crime series - support not punish. Integrity Matters surveyed staff and a third of officers said they didn’t feel their supervisors encouraged challenging and reporting of unethical behaviour.

Ensure our values and the COE are visible - posters, in PDR, 121’s - everyone has a responsibility - hold my Inspectors account for COE.

Monitor trends for complaints.

Diversity group - I was on the slough one when I was there - really useful to help with decisions

Challenge - Kev - do it publicly and then in more detail privately - after I did it had a massive affect. also challenge those that don’t challenge.

Peer review - get PSD to come in and have a look at what we are doing - make suggestions.

Learn from experiences and seek to improve - do we debrief enough - part 2 DMMs - talk through jobs with Inspectors.

Learn from misconduct and share it with the LPA. I think the knowzone piece is really good. Take it one step further and delve deeper. This is what I do with serious case reviews now. This was a point from integrity matters report 2015 that forces didn’t do enough.

We should be reviewing how we are performing against the COE in the same that we do burglary and robbery. Look at complaints that are upheld, repeat offenders, looking at our stop search and dip sampling for unethical behaviour.

Results 
Important to monitor how we are doing 
Ask for feedback
Anonymous surveys 
One to ones

Question 6

What does the COE mean to you?

Answer 6

my role as a chief inspector is to embed the cOE on an LPA on behalf of the chief and the LPA commander.

The code is the foundation for promoting, reinforcing and supporting the highest professional standards from everyone who works in policing.

It applies to everyone in policing including staff.

Integrity matters report 2015 highlighted importance of of strong leadership and leading by example.

It is a guide to show what good looks like rather than being used to beat up poor behaviour.

The vast majority of our staff work in accordance with these principles whether they realise it or not and it is important that we use the code make ethical decisions. It is at the centre of the NDM for a reason.

Use it to direct activity on an LPA or a department - ethics panel - who are our officers receiving the most complaints? We learn lessons as an LPA. Visible on an LPA.

Question 7

Why do we need a COE?

Answer 7

my role as a chief inspector is to embed the cOE on an LPA on behalf of the chief and the LPA commander.

The code is the foundation for promoting, reinforcing and supporting the highest professional standards from everyone who works in policing - without a code the only time our staff would hear about the standards of behaviour would be when they are subject to disciplinary proceedings.

It applies to everyone in policing including staff.

It is a guide to show what good looks like rather than being used to beat up poor behaviour - if we don;t know what we are trying to achieve then it makes it harder to work towards something.

The vast majority of our staff work in accordance with these principles whether they realise it or not and it is important that we use the code make ethical decisions. It is at the centre of the NDM for a reason. It reminds us of the importance to consider our integrity and accountability when making decisions - without it we could jump to decisions without considering the ethical impact.

Use it to direct activity on an LPA or a department - ethics panel - who are our officers receiving the most complaints? We learn lessons as an LPA. Visible on an LPA.

Not having a code could breed unethical behaviour which can have significant consequences like we have seen in America.

Integrity matters report 2015 highlighted importance of of strong leadership and leading by example.