Citizen Focus Policing Hallmarks Summary Document

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1 Citizen Focus Policing Hallmarks Summary Document Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme

2 Preface Being citizen focused is central to ensuring communities remain confident that their Police Service will protect them and deliver effective services in everything it does. These Hallmarks have been produced by ACPO Standards and Qualities Portfolio and the NPIA Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme to enable forces and individual members of staff to better understand what the characteristics of Citizen Focus are. Hallmarks are traditionally used to indicate quality. They should be clearly identifiable and act as a recognisable standard of what can be expected. The Hallmarks of Citizen Focus policing are exactly that. It is intended that they should be interwoven throughout the whole system of policing, from neighbourhood teams, response patrols, protective services and the wide variety of supporting activity. If Citizen Focus is the excellence we are striving to achieve, critical to our success will be promoting and focusing on the key enablers of excellence. Effective Leadership and Communication, and a concentration on People, Partnerships and Processes will be required. In setting out the Hallmarks we hope you use them to plan, deliver and evaluate your services. They are intended as a first step to systematising quality, but need to be tested in practical situations and, importantly, shared with the public and partners. Only by further developing the underpinning detail and how they connect with each other and then exploring how they can influence the culture of policing, with a greater emphasis on customer service, will we really know how effective they can be. Citizen Focus is not a new concept. Putting people first both the public and our own staff has been a feature of much of our policing over many years. However, forces will be starting from different baselines and it is now time to have a big conversation around the links between confidence and satisfaction, standards and values and how we can continuously improve to become truly citizen focused. Chief Constable Steve Finnigan Chair, ACPO Standards and Qualities Portfolio Hallmarks Copyright NPIA 2008

3 Citizen Focus Policing. A policing service that secures and maintains high levels of satisfaction and confidence through the consistent delivery of a first class policing service that meets the needs of individuals and of communities and provides a service that people value. Introduction ACPO Citizen Focus Business Area 2008 Across England and Wales police forces are changing the way that they provide policing services to become more focused on the needs of citizens with the aim of improving public safety and the quality and effectiveness of the service delivered from the public perspective. A key measure of the success of these changes will be improved public confidence in the police service as a whole. This is reflected in the single confidence target set by Government for the Police service. Consistent standards and improvements introduced in victim and witness care and call handling have led to marked improvements in service delivery that are reflected in increased levels of service user satisfaction in these areas of our business. Research and evaluation have shown that the increased police visibility, improved public engagement and the effective problem solving in local communities that Neighbourhood Policing brings, can impact positively on the confidence that local people have in their local police. However, improvements made to date are not as evident in other areas of policing or across the Criminal Justice System as a whole. What Citizen Focus means or looks like for these areas is not widely understood. Hallmarks of a Citizen Focused Organisation What drives public confidence in the police and what impacts upon it is a complex area. Research from individual police forces, other public and private sector organisations, and international research and analysis of the confidence data within the British Crime Survey, give an indication of the main drivers and inhibitors of public confidence. Reference has been made to these research documents, the HMIC Developing Citizen Focus inspection reports and effective practice identified in forces and other organisations to identify the characteristics of good citizen focused organisations. These have been drawn together in a simple framework to provide a more structured approach to the implementation of Citizen Focus across the police service. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

4 This framework is based upon 4 hallmarks under which the qualities of a Citizen Focused organisation can be presented. These Hallmarks are summarised and detailed below:- Understanding People Understanding Services Designing Services Delivering Services Successful implementation of a citizen focused approach to policing is supported by using the hallmarks in conjunction with the five key enablers from the Business Excellence Model described below. Leadership Vision, priorities, commitment Communications Medium and message, engagement People How well they are equipped to perform their tasks Partnerships Formal, alliances, collaborations and other helpers Processes Systems, decision-making This model, in conjunction with the hallmarks, offers the ability to benchmark activity and use effective practice from other organisations and forces within a structured format. The diagram below helps to explain how the enablers and hallmarks fit together to drive Citizen Focus performance. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

5 Understanding People This hallmark incorporates:- a) Understanding the people a force serves. b) Understanding staff, and the internal culture of the force. c) Understanding partners, stakeholders and regulators - their differing influence, motivation and levels of co-operation. Understanding the current profile of local communities, what the different priorities are within them and what people need and expect in terms of standards of service and outcomes is the basis for Citizen Focus. Needs and expectations may vary according to local diversity, demographics and environment. These may also change as people s expectations rise. Therefore identifying how the profile of the community is likely to change over time will enable services to be adapted accordingly. Services are delivered through people, so an understanding of those who deliver our services in terms of diversity, skills, attitudes, behaviours and workforce mix is important in ensuring that they are properly equipped and motivated to deliver the standards of service expected. This is also true for partners and others who contribute to delivering policing related services. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

6 Understanding Services This hallmark incorporates:- a) Staff understanding the force vision and values and their contribution to achieving them. b) Understanding the quality of the service expected and delivered from the public perspective. c) Staff understanding what services are provided by the organisation and the standards expected of them in developing and delivering them. d) Leaders and staff understanding how their area of work impacts upon the overall experience that individuals have with the organisation. e) Clarifying responsibility and accountability with partners to align services and make them as effective as possible. f) The public understanding what services the police deliver, how to access them and what standard of service they can expect. Without an understanding of what service the police deliver an unrealistic expectation of service delivery can develop. Understanding and, where appropriate, influencing the expectations of people outside the organisation enables these expectations to be managed. People are then aware of what the organisation is reasonably able to deliver and public confidence can be maintained. It is therefore important that forces communicate clearly what it is the public can expect when they contact the police and the standard of service they will receive, as well as how to access services and how to get involved in decision-making. Mapping organisational processes enables forces to understand how they fit together. Linking this to the quality of service delivery from the public perspective can help to identify where improvements to effectiveness, efficiency and quality will support improvements in public satisfaction and confidence. This understanding needs to be extended to what partners do and how relevant partnership services can be improved. Staff need to understand the connections between the part of the service they deliver and the overall experience and outcome of the contact that an individual has with the organisation. They also need to understand the standard of service they are expected to deliver to positively influence this experience and improve outcomes. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

7 Designing Services This hallmark incorporates:- a) Considering the actual or potential impact of services on people as part of the service design and review process. b) Providing opportunities for staff, the public and partners to be involved in decision-making processes at appropriate levels. c) Giving staff, the public and partners access to relevant information and the support necessary to be effective in their involvement. d) Co-ordinating public engagement activity with partners. e) Providing clear and accessible feedback to staff and the public on actions taken as a result of their involvement. Understanding people and services enables forces to adapt what they do to meet public needs and expectations and improve the service delivered. Effective public engagement and involvement in decision making is a key factor in ensuring actions taken make a positive difference that people can feel. Processes need to be in place so that the public perspective is effective in informing the continuous improvement of services as well as identifying local priorities. Where engagement is conducted in partnership and feedback is shared, a more efficient, consistent approach to improvement can be achieved across agencies to address the issues raised. The involvement of staff in identifying and implementing changes to improve the service they deliver is an effective means of promoting greater ownership and sustainability of the changes made. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

8 Delivering Services This hallmark incorporates:- a) Delivering adaptable services driven by public demand and priorities. b) Encouraging and training staff to improve service delivery. c) Agreeing service standards with the public, partners and stakeholders and achieving them. d) Evaluating the effectiveness of service delivery from the public perspective. e) Including a wide range of partner agencies in delivery. Forces need to agree the standards that the public expect their staff to deliver and ensure that these are well understood and applied and deliver improvements to public satisfaction and confidence. In terms of service, the Policing Pledge sets out national standards, supplemented by local pledges, that are designed to give the public a consistently fair deal from the police service nationally and in their local neighbourhood. Quality services are delivered when forces have the right people in the right place doing the right job who feel valued and inspired by a sense of service and have people s needs at the forefront of their minds. Training and rewarding staff for delivering quality are therefore important elements that contribute to citizen focused service delivery. Services delivered through collaboration and partnership between statutory agencies, other local organisations and communities can often achieve effective solutions to local priorities that the police alone cannot. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

9 Hallmarks Summary Understanding People a) Understanding the people a force serves. b) Understanding staff, and the internal culture of the force. c) Understanding partners, stakeholders and regulators - their differing influence, motivation and levels of co-operation. Understanding Services a) Staff understanding the force vision and values and their contribution to achieving them. b) Understanding the quality of the service expected and delivered from the public perspective. c) Staff understanding what services are provided by the organisation and the standards expected of them in developing and delivering them. d) Leaders and staff understanding how their area of work impacts upon the overall experience that individuals have with the organisation. e) Clarifying responsibility and accountability with partners to align services and make them as effective as possible. f) The public understanding what services the police deliver, how to access them and what standard of service they can expect. Designing Services a) Considering the actual or potential impact of services on people as part of the service design and review process. b) Providing opportunities for staff, the public and partners to be involved in decision-making processes at appropriate levels. c) Giving staff, the public and partners access to relevant information and the support necessary to be effective in their involvement. d) Co-ordinating public engagement activity with partners. e) Providing clear and accessible feedback to staff and the public on actions taken as a result of their involvement. Delivering Services a) Delivering adaptable services driven by public demand and priorities. b) Encouraging and training staff to improve service delivery. c) Agreeing service standards with the public, partners and stakeholders and achieving them. d) Evaluating the effectiveness of service delivery from the public perspective. e) Including a wide range of partner agencies in delivery. Hallmarks Copyright NPIA

10 For further information please contact us at: Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme Floor 3, 10 Victoria Street, London SW1H ONN Tel: Fax: Produced by the NPIA Citizen Focus and Neighbourhood Policing Programme and ACPO Standards and Qualities Portfolio Hallmarks Copyright NPIA