A new report by leading Think Tank The Policy Exchange shows roles in departments like forensics and Control Rooms are occupied by “sworn officers” instead of much-cheaper civilian staff.
Some police forces have hundreds of sworn officers in back office roles. This includes over 600 officers in the Metropolitan Police Service Control Rooms and 44 police officers in the forensics department of Essex Police – despite half of all forces having no officers in this area.
The Policy Exchange study shows plans to trim police budgets are manageable because there are large inefficiencies in the current police workforce. Despite big increases in officers and staff, in some forces civilianisation has “gone backwards”: with more officers filling back office roles than in 2000.
The report’s authors – namely Edward Boyd, Rory Geoghegan and Blair Gibbs – call for fresh efforts to make the police more visible through innovations like encouraging officers to wear uniform on their way to work and making a shift to single-officer patrolling.
Roles that could be carried out by civilians
Policy Exchange’s new analysis shows that one-in-20 police officers – or at least 7,280 of the total – are undertaking roles that could be carried out by civilians.
Based on an average employee cost gap between officers and police staff of GB pound 20,239, this represents a waste of GB pound 147 million per annum (or GB pound 588 million over four years in extra employment costs alone).
The report finds that, in 2010, police resources and officer numbers were at all-time highs. Since 2000, police numbers have risen by 18,000 but taxpayers have not necessarily received value for money and the performance of the service – on crime and public confidence – has not been transformed.
An exclusive YouGov poll* carried out alongside the research finds that just 5% of the public think that increasing budgets for the police is the way to make them more successful, while just a third feel that spending on the police currently represents good value for money.
Almost half the public surveyed – 45% – think that the police service as a whole has actually declined over the last decade.
Key findings of the report
Since 2000, funding for the police in England and Wales has risen by 25% in real terms. In 2010, each household was paying GB pound 614 per year for policing, up from GB pound 395 in 2001.
Policing in the UK costs significantly more than in other developed countries including the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
By 2015, taxpayers in England and Wales will still be spending more than GB pound 12 billion on policing annually: that’s more than in 2004 and GB pound 100 per household more than was spent in 2001 when funding totalled GB pound 9 billion.
Extra funding should have delivered a big boost in performance, but it’s not clear that it has. There is insufficient evidence that increased police numbers alone drove falls in crime – over two thirds of the fall in offences recorded by the British Crime Survey between 1995 and 2010 preceded increases in police budgets and officer numbers.
Police visibility has remained low and there has not been a step-change in police performance on crime, especially as detection rates remain poor despite fewer crimes to detect and the cost of investigating offences rising by up to 50%.
Significant numbers of sworn officers made no arrests at all last year. In some forces, the proportion was as high as half of all officers.
Meantime, the lack of workforce sickness management and proper fitness monitoring means that too many personnel are on sick leave or restricted duties, and therefore away from the front line.
Police funding “up by 25% since 2001”
Report author Blair Gibbs – the head of crime and justice at Policy Exchange – said: “Since 2001 police funding has surged by a quarter in real terms, but this investment has not transformed police performance. Costs have risen and detection rates have stagnated. Huge sums have been swallowed up by an inefficient and inflexible organisation.”
Gibbs went on to state: “Too many sworn officers are hidden away in back offices. Some forces like Surrey and Suffolk became more efficient by hiring cheaper civilian staff, but many did not. As a result, taxpayers have spent at least GB pound 500 million since 2006 in extra employment costs for over 7,000 police officers who have a uniform but who aren’t ‘policing’.”
Continuing the theme, Gibbs explained: “There remains a clear gap between additional police resources and the service delivered. As far as the public are concerned, the unprecedented expansion in officer numbers since 2001 may as well never have happened.”
Gibbs joined Policy Exchange in June 2010. Prior to this, between 2007-2010 he served as Chief of Staff and senior policy advisor to the policing and criminal justice minister Nick Herbert, and before that as a director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
Edward Boyd joined Policy Exchange’s Crime and Justice Unit as a research Fellow in January this year. Prior to this he worked as a strategy advisor for the National Policing Improvement Agency. He holds an MSc in Management and Economics from the London School of Economics.
Rory Geoghegan also joined Policy Exchange’s Crime and Justice Unit in January in the post of research Fellow. He worked for the Institute for Government in 2009 covering Ministry of Justice transformation and, prior to this, was with PwC Strategy from 2007-2009.
In conclusion, Gibbs outlined: “The budget cuts in the years ahead will be challenging, but after such a massive investment there is real scope for the police to become more efficient and effective so that taxpayers receive the service they pay so much for.”
Key recommendations outlined by Policy Exchange
According to Policy Exchange’s report, improving the visibility and availability of officers to the public must be a key strategic priority for police forces through measures like single-officer patrolling and expecting officers to wear uniform while on their way to work.
Chief constables should examine closely their staffing mix and determine how many officers in back and middle office functions could be redeployed to frontline policing roles.
Management ought to prioritise the proper deployment of their most valuable assets – sworn officers – to policing roles where warranted powers are required.
Civilians need to make up a bigger share of the police workforce in future to reduce cost and ensure police are deployed better, thus maximising the visibility of sworn officers.
Forces need to practice better absence management and bring in measures like standardised annual fitness tests, as happens in the fire service, to improve workforce health and resilience.
Responses from ACPO and The Police Federation
The Policy Exchange report repeats an argument that ACPO has made on many occasions.
In responding to its contents Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police and ACPO’s lead for Workforce Development, said: “It’s crucially important the police officers are used in roles which require their expertise, powers and experience. That said, this doesn’t just apply to the frontline: there are many office-based jobs where police officers are required, including handling intelligence, delivering training or processing offenders through the criminal justice system.”
He continued: “All these roles support our service to the public and, in times of emergency such as the recent disorder, all police officers can be deployed for operational duties.”
Fahy went on to state: “In the past, police forces would be financially penalised if they went below a target number of police officers, and this has acted as a barrier to further ‘civilianisation’. That reflects the historical political obsession with the number of police officers rather than the effectiveness of the overall workforce and service to the public. The reality is that there’s little political will locally or nationally to support a reduction in the police officer headcount.”
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has also voiced his opinions on the new report and doesn’t pull any punches.
“Nothing in this report will come as a surprise to police officers,” said McKeever, “as the very nature of Think Tanks is that they’re detached from rationale and engage in agenda-driven ‘blue sky’ thinking. However, there is a huge vacuum between ‘blue sky’ thinking and the practical reality of policing. That is the case with the suggestions, recommendations and claims contained in this report: they simply do not translate in to reality.McKeever then elaborated on his assertions.
“For example, the report suggests that to improve police officer visibility, officers should be required to wear their uniform while en route to work and on their way home. This takes no account of the fact that police officers already have a duty to intervene in incidents whether on or off duty, that this could expose them and their families to threats and reprisals at home, that they would be required to have all their protective equipment and this would need to be stored at home in a safe and secure area and that, if officers are approached to assist with issues on their way to work, then the station at which they are based may find itself with no officers available for duty. This is what I mean when I say the content of this report does not represent reality.”
*YouGov polled 2,567 UK adults for its survey. The fieldwork was carried out 25-26th August 2011
A full copy of ‘Cost of the Cops: Manpower and Deployment in Policing’ can be downloaded from the <a href=”http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/images/publications/pdfs/Cost_of_the_Cops_-_Sep__11.pdf>Policy Exchange website</a>