Read on for some of the key insights we took away from this event and how they might affect policing.

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Reform for policing and the national agenda

The NPCC’s vision clearly demonstrated a strong desire for significant reform. There is the intention to introduce a national policing body / capability with legal status and power. The aim here is to do things once and well and provide a capability to national threats and incidents (with the aftermath of the Southport murders and the riots in the summer 2024 cited as an example of where policing response can and should change).

There is a real opportunity to begin to feed evaluation insights in to newly emerging central organisations and help design best practice and/or align solutions to emerging national problems.

However, there are potential tensions between the ambition of national capability (and consistency) versus local responsibility and accountability for outcomes. Will a national police capability enhance or erode local efforts to build and sustain trust in policing from local communities?

There were refreshing messages from the Home Secretary regarding a high-level promise of investment. There is an equal blend of prioritisation of increasing policing numbers (13,000 into neighbourhood teams), improving performance (through central data and performance centres) and enhancing technology. Whilst there are no tangible plans yet, we expect a white paper from the government to be released in the coming weeks.

Partnerships will continue to play a bigger part in policing in the coming years

“A take away for me was the reliance and requirement of a partnership approach – the Minister was very clear that the government want to work in collaboration with the College of Policing, inspectorate and forces – very much demonstrating a recognition that there’s a need for a symbiotic relationship across the strategic partners to deliver best outcomes and actually make progress against consistent, persistent challenges .” Laura Schell, Client Director

Further, we would argue, is that there’s a need to collaborate with delivery partners across the policing landscape. Effective community safety is underpinned by working across a multi-agency environment – for example, support services are often charity led; there are over 12,000 volunteer roles within policing and a huge amount more that support community safety; the collaborations with healthcare, fire and rescue, and local authorities that support emergency planning or youth justice initiatives; and specialists in research, systems, psychology and more are leveraged every day.

All of these partnerships and stakeholders will have a key part to play in ensuring any new aligned, national strategic direction can achieve success.

Training and experience challenges

We had a number of conversations with Chief’s and Commissioners regarding training, many of who were at point of wanting to pause and review. Many forces we spoke to have circa 40% of their frontline workforces with under two years’ experience, and during Op Uplift there was a rapid optimisation strategy that sought to increase throughput and speed of training.

Many senior leaders are wondering whether the training is now too quick or not focused on the operational capabilities needed.

These factors present challenges to the modern workforce, who now need to understand and evaluate what skills gaps and ongoing training needs they need to provide to ensure consistency and professionalism in public service provision.

There is certainly a need to review this now, ahead of the introduction of any oversight or performance bodies, and before any planned new injection of officers and staff.
Chief’s and Commissioners know they have to try new solutions to old problems. Some of this is technologically driven, however some involves new approaches to tackling anti-social behaviour, knife crime, and restorative justice.

It was great to hear that the new Government recognise the connection between increases in crime and the reduction of neighbourhood policing; but that term is now different to policing from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. If we are to introduce 13,000 new recruits into neighbourhood teams, what can we learn from past approaches and what must we change for the modern environment?

Innovation in policing approaches will also have an impact on the training and experience needs from the workforce. With many new initiatives, there is a need to evaluate current and planned interventions, to ensure that they are implemented on an evidence-based approach to achieve the desired outcomes and impacts.

Effective demand and capacity planning for police workforces is still underdeveloped

One of the biggest challenges forces are facing involves the strategic planning of officers and staff progression through policing organisations. All officers start their career in frontline roles; after they evidence competency and gain experience, they are then often recruited and developed into specialist teams and areas. This draw on the frontline, if not managed correctly through planning, strips response and neighbourhood teams of all experience.

The policing sector could well look to the clinical world as a blueprint for managing skills and experience levels needed in different operational and administrative environments.

A holistic review is needed to understand how the workforce transitions through policing roles and agencies, what skills and capabilities roles, teams and services need as a baseline, and how to build in transferable skills across policing and the wider justice system to ensure opportunities for progression and effective deployment of the workforce.

This understanding then needs to underpin the recruitment and retention of the policing workforce, as well as informing the transition of the workforce through their careers.

Are we on the front foot when it comes to data and technology?

There is also an expectation that policing can adapt to and adopt technological changes faster. A big part of this is data integration and national data sharing. Doing so, coupled with a national capability, should yield benefits including:

  • Agility to react (operational effectiveness)
  • Foresight to prepare (prevention)

At Skills for Justice we recognise that technology alone won’t save policing. Technology will release capacity and funding, but forces will be required to direct this into their workforce, ensuring that the right people are in the right place at the right time. Equally, there is a requirement to continue partnership planning and working, commissioning preventative services that work to address community problems, ranging from health and work challenges.

Find out more about Skills for Justice’s expertise in workforce planning →