Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Ethics Playing Cards
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The Constabulary is short-staffed. Can you pull a seconded officer from an OPCC-funded role to cover your gap?
Case Studies
- What if it is a Friday night and several people have called in sick?
- Would it change anything if it was a Tuesday, and this was routine activity?
Discussion
- Could you use a PCSO to cover a role specified for a uniformed officer, like attending a Road Traffic Incident, and ‘manage the risk’ of not having a full spectrum of warranted powers or training, if they are willing to help? What if this becomes a norm or accepted practice?
- The role of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) is to be the voice of the people and hold the police to account.
- PCCs aim to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service within their police force area. They are elected by the public to hold Chief Constables and the force to account, making the police answerable to the communities they serve.
- The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) varies in size and configuration across England and Wales, reflecting local determinants and the different priorities of individual PCCs elected on different local mandates.
- The PCC may bid for funds from the Home Office to support particular types of activity (e.g. Domestic Violence reduction, or delivering training for door staff related to the Safer Streets initiative etc), working with external partners. This can sometimes fund an additional person or role. This support is ultimately often aimed at reducing overall demand on the force.
Ultimately, a seconded officer can be deployed for other purposes if there is a genuine need. The public have the right to expect any officer to be deployed in their interests and not be ring-fenced to a specific role if they are required elsewhere.
The term ‘exigencies of duty’ appears on a number of occasions in Police Regulations and Determinations (2003) and is used in such disparate areas as hours of duty and expenses claims. As such it is always open to a degree of subjective interpretation. The most frequent reference to the term however is in relation to the drawing up of duty rosters and subsequent changes thereto. It is this area that creates the greatest opportunity for dispute between officers and duty planners.
It is clearly not possible to produce an exhaustive list of all the potential reasons that may necessitate changes. By way of example, however, unforeseen public order situations, court attendance, and essential training would justify changes to rostered duties.
Repeating annual events where policing demand can be foreseen in advance such as Christmas, New Years Eve, Halloween, Bonfire Night etc. would clearly not (unless there was late notice intelligence which radically changed the threat assessment for the event) and nor would large scale festivals and events which are known about well in advance.
The term ‘exigencies of duty’ appears on a number of occasions in Police Regulations and Determinations (2003) and is used in such disparate areas as hours of duty and expenses claims. As such it is always open to a degree of subjective interpretation. The most frequent reference to the term however is in relation to the drawing up of duty rosters and subsequent changes thereto. It is this area that creates the greatest opportunity for dispute between officers and duty planners.
It is clearly not possible to produce an exhaustive list of all the potential reasons that may necessitate changes. By way of example, however, unforeseen public order situations, court attendance, and essential training would justify changes to rostered duties.
Repeating annual events where policing demand can be foreseen in advance such as Christmas, New Years Eve, Halloween, Bonfire Night etc. would clearly not (unless there was late notice intelligence which radically changed the threat assessment for the event) and nor would large scale festivals and events which are known about well in advance.