The Partnership Committee, at its September 2020 meeting, requested an update on the Neighbourhood Policing Extraction plan, and on any other measures to ensure officers have the time and space for meaningful engagement and partnership working with local communities.
It is our intention to minimise any abstraction of neighbourhood officers from their communities and that they will carry out as broad a range of duties, as possible, with a focus on recommendation 1 as set out below.
We have already increased the number of neighbourhood officers, with 30 extra team across Northern Ireland, and we would hope that communities are already seeing a difference.
District Policing Command is currently reviewing its strategy for the deployment of Local and Neighbourhood Policing Teams.
This review has broadened the ambit of neighbourhood policing to allow these Teams to deliver against Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Recommendation 1 on neighbourhood policing, contained in their 2016 PEEL Effectiveness Review.
Recommendation 1 sets out that, among other things, effective neighbourhood policing constitutes:
- public engagement to inform preventative policing activity;
- targeted intelligence-led preventative activity and patrolling;
- effective problem-solving policing to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour;
- effective involvement of neighbourhood policing in tackling serious and organised crime, in preventing violent extremism and in keeping the most vulnerable members of communities safe;
- effective multi-agency approaches to local problems;
- analytical capability to support effective and targeted preventative policing; and
- capability to review and assess the effectiveness of the action taken, to learn what works and to implement that effectively across the whole force area.
Draft abstraction guidance is being prepared to reflect the spirit of Recommendation 1 and will be submitted to the Neighbourhood Policing Delivery Programme Board for approval.
What constitutes an abstraction?
- Public order duties outside of a designated neighbourhood area
- Counter terrorism operations outside of a designated neighbourhood area
- Relief duties such as backfill for LPTs, custody duties or enquiry office duties. Backfill for Local Policing Teams
- Modified rest days when not engaged on one of the duties above
What does not constitute an abstraction?
- Rest days
- Annual leave
- Overtime
- Dealing with calls for service either on the basis of need or in line with the DPC call allocation model
- Dealing with diary type appointments or providing a scheduled service within the designated neighbourhood area
- Any duty directly related to Recommendation 1 activities within the appropriate designated neighbourhood area.
Abstraction Monitoring
Abstractions will be recorded and monitored using the Options Duty Rostering System in the respective Operational Planning offices and routinely monitored via Section 78 Accountability Meetings and the Neighbourhood Policing Delivery Board.
Limited abstractions will ensure officers have the time and space for meaningful engagement and partnership working with local communities.