Many of you more senior in service will recall
the old complaints/misconduct system.
This was when you would receive a set of
'papers' they would go in your locker, and that would be it for 5-6months. At
some point then you would receive some contact from the Professional Standards
Branch and you would seek out your Federation Rep for some advice and guidance.
Investigations were lengthy and cumbersome.
The Professional Standards Branch was viewed
with some suspicion and it is fair to say that the Federation and the PSB did
not get on, we hardly spoke and often cheap 'point scoring' on both sides went
on usually to the detriment to the officer.
How times have changed
Here in 2013 your Federation and particularly
your Divisional and Branch Representatives have worked tirelessly to change the
way we represent you. The motto of the Federation is Represent, Influence and
Negotiate, you cannot do this when such a historic bad relationship prevails.
You cannot negotiate with someone who you don't even talk to!
So we have evolved and worked with the PSB to
build a better relationship, one built on trust and openness which benefits
all. The PSB have more than played their part in this under the command of Ch
Supt Paul Rumney they have also taken a leap of faith in building a new
relationship and encouraging staff to engage fully and openly with the Fed.
Has it worked?
The relationship between GMP's Federation and
the PSB is viewed nationally as a center of excellence and is recognised as one of
(if not the best) professional relationships in the country. There is mutual
trust, respect and transparency. This has resulted in significant reductions in
investigation times, and speedy resolutions to misconduct matters that years
ago could only have been dreamed about.
We have jointly brought in Restorative
Justice/Mediation into the complaints arena, and due to the PSB 'realistic
relationship' with front line policing we jointly achieve sensible low level
outcomes on a daily basis. This massively benefits the officer, their family
and of course their colleagues.
We are not perfect, nor is the PSB and mistakes
happen and we don't get it right all the time, but in the significant majority
of cases we are able to jointly secure excellent outcomes for you as we
'represent, influence and negotiate'.
So why do we tell you all of this, and what
relevance is it to you?
Put simply it is this. If you are under
investigation do not worry. See your Federation Rep within the first 24-48
hours. Your rep will have an established relationship with the PSB
investigation team and can have early dialogue and work towards a speedy and
sensible outcome. The conversations will be open and honest.
This allows you to fully understand the severity
of the allegation against you, and will prepare you, and your family for what
is going to follow, this will include potential outcomes and expectations of
time limits.
We would also encourage you wherever mistakes
have been made to be open about this, in the large majority of such cases the
focus will be on learning and development, there is no shame in accepting that
we make mistakes. Policing is a complex profession and even harder with the
lower level of resources available, we all make errors and sometimes this can
result in a misconduct investigation.
An early acceptance and some learning can be all
that is required to resolve the issue and there is certainly no shame in this.
The focus must always be on learning and developing not punishing.
Early intervention between the Federation and
the PSB is critical so please speak to your local rep soonest.
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