The Policing Pledge

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
congratulated Essex Police on being the first force in the
country to publicly roll out the new Policing Pledge, a
series of minimum standards and commitments to deliver set
policing priorities for local communities.

But while the Government and senior officers such as Essex
Chief Constable Roger Baker believe the new pledge is an
essential part of the future of policing, other officers
have voiced concerns about how realistic it will be for
forces to meet the pledge, particularly without additional
funding. And the initiative also has its critics outside of
the police service. All 43 forces in England and Wales
should have signed up to the pledge by the end of the year,
but the TaxPayers Alliance group has described the move as
a "costly charade", accusing the service of wasting money
while "stating the blindingly obvious".

So where does the Policing Pledge come from, and why is it
seen by some as an essential plank of modern policing? The
recent origins of the initiative can be found in three key
documents - the Flanagan Review of Policing, the Engaging
Communities in Fighting Crime report by Louise Casey, and
the Government's Policing Green Paper - although the roots
of many of the principles of the pledge can be traced back
much further.

In his report published earlier this year, Chief Inspector
of Constabulary, Sir Ronnie Flanagan called for police
forces to adopt a much stronger "customer service"
approach. He advocated building on the Quality of Service
Commitment launched across the service in 2006, but
recommended that the 'citizen focus' principle be extended
much wider than the usual neighbourhood policing
boundaries, to encompass all elements of policing: "A step
change in this area will both inform and win public support
for police resourcing to be dedicated to dealing with
threat, harm and risk," said Sir Ronnie.

Following publication of the Flanagan Review in February,
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
announced the introduction of a new Policing Pledge at the
end of March, focusing on a national standard for what
people could expect from their neighbourhood policing team.

Mr Brown described the introduction of the pledge as the
start of "a new era of policing", adding: "I'm determined
that every person has access to the same level of support
and service when it comes to policing."

While details of the Policing Pledge were still somewhat
sketchy at this stage, the publication of Louise Casey's
report in June added further impetus to the initiative. Ms
Casey, who has previously led government initiatives on
homelessness, anti-social behaviour and respect,
recommended that all forces across England and Wales should
put in place "a local police commitment in every
neighbourhood" based on the ten approaches identified by
the public in her report. She also called for the
commitments to be put in place by the beginning of 2009.

A month later, the Government's Policing Green Paper
included an example of what the Policing Pledge could look
like, and consultation began with forces to agree a final
version. While still focusing on neighbourhood policing,
the draft pledge included 12 main commitments which formed
the basis of minimum standards to be adopted across the
police service, along with information about local contact
details, policing priorities and commitments for
neighbourhood policing teams which will be specific to each
team.

But since publication of the Green Paper, it's been clear
that there are some serious concerns about how these
commitments could be implemented. So it was no surprise
that the Pledge eventually adopted by Essex Police this
month includes some key changes, particularly on response
times.

The initial commitment to respond to all 999 calls within
15 minutes has been replaced with the aim of "deploying to
emergencies immediately, giving an estimated time of
arrival, getting to you safely, and as quickly as possible.
In urban areas, we will aim to get to you within 15 minutes
and in rural areas within 20 minutes."

Similarly the commitment to answer all non-emergency calls
within 30 seconds has been removed, and replaced with
greater clarification of what the public can expect in
terms of response to non-emergency situations.

But the Home Secretary is still as enthusiastic about the
value of the pledge. Speaking at the launch in Essex, she
said: "The public are our strongest weapon in tackling
crime and I passionately believe that empowering them to
get a good deal through the Policing Pledge will play a
powerful role in driving up the quality of policing for our
citizens and in our communities.

"I congratulate Essex police force for being the first
force to fully implement the pledge for their public. For
the first time the public will know the minimum standard of
service they should receive and I look forward to all
forces making the same, visible commitment to their local
communities."

That enthusiasm was shared both by ACPO and by the Essex
Chief Constable, Roger Baker. Cambridgeshire Chief
Constable Julie Spence, ACPO's lead on citizen focus, said
that chief officers were "unswervingly committed to a
visible, accessible, responsive and familiar policing
style, focused on the expectations and needs of local
people," and added: "I hope the national Policing Pledge
will help reassure the public that policing is responsive
to their needs."

However, it's also clear that the current approach to
policing in Essex has helped the force to adopt the pledge
much sooner - and probably more effectively - than many
other forces. Mr Baker described the force's policy of
attending every crime as "vital in reassuring our
communities that positive action is being taken", and the
neighbourhood policing initiative and Policing Pledge run
alongside a commitment to place an additional 600 officers
on the frontline over the next three to five years. But for
forces who don't operate a policy of attending every crime,
or are seeing the number of frontline operation officers
reducing, meeting the national standards - particularly the
response targets - could be much more difficult.

The Home Secretary also said earlier this year that there
were no plans to increase funding for rural forces which
face specific difficulties in meeting some of the targets
in the pledge. Speaking at the Superintendents' Association
Conference, Ms Smith said that while she did "recognise the
issues" facing forces with tight budgets and even tighter
deadlines to get the pledge in place, it was important that
communities had "national minimum standards" governing the
level of service they should receive.

But the introduction of the Policing Pledge has already
been criticised by opposition politicians. Dominic Grieve,
the shadow Home Secretary, said: "On the one hand, it
includes policy proposals - such as crime-mapping - copied
directly from the Conservatives.

"On the other hand, attempts to prescribe quotas and
response times look like the return of discredited
Whitehall targets under another name."

And the TaxPayers Alliance Chief Executive Matthew Elliott
described the initiative as a "costly charade", adding:
"There is a real danger that police time and resources are
being spent on stating the blindingly obvious. The police
should be generally answerable to the public rather than
having to indulge in this costly charade of accountability."

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