Listening and acting
A core part of my mission for the Met is less crime, and over the last few months I've been talking to officers and staff across the Met and scrutinising our data to understand what needs changing to help us deliver this.
Fundamentally to be successful in achieving less crime we need to ensure that we are making the most of every officer we have, so it was difficult hearing how stretched our people feel and reading the data that we have 3,500 officers currently with some sort of restriction who are not fully deployable.
That is about 10% of our total officer numbers, but in some areas of local policing it is far worse at a shocking 16%. It is a situation that is creating additional pressure on other officers and in our capacity to respond to crime demand.
We all know that policing is a very physical job and that some of the challenging and traumatic cases officers deal with can have an impact on mental wellbeing.
We ask a lot of our people and it is important we have generous financial and occupational health support for those who are injured or ill. Those individuals who have a genuine need for organisational help will get it. I want us to be an organisation which cares for its people, I care deeply, and I want those who get a physical injury or mental illness from work to know that we will support them.
We want to make sure that our people are using all the support that is available to them to help them keep healthy physically and mentally.
I also know we need to be better at this in some areas, and we are bringing in improved trauma support and we must get better at supporting our colleagues who have disabilities, including making the adjustments that will support people who are able to get back to work more quickly.
However, if any individuals can work but are using our processes to avoid carrying out their duties as a police officer then this is a performance issue. It isn’t fair on their colleagues or the public and we must get better at dealing with these situations and either supporting people back to work or exiting them.
I have been making the case for regulation and process changes so our conduct cases can be resolved faster. This would mean that the just under 500 individuals of this 3,500, who currently have conduct related restrictions, could then either return to work and be fully deployable or be exited from the organisation.
And as well as this I, and my senior colleagues, have the responsibility to look at what else we can do to create capacity and make it easier for the vast majority of our willing and hard-working officers to reduce crime.
And we are - we are using data to better prioritise officer deployments aligned to our priority and high demands, we are listening to our people and identifying internal red tape to reduce or remove where possible, we are making it easier for officers to do the tasks they need to by equipping them with the technology to be more agile and we are going to be stopping things that others should be doing but aren't.
To improve the Met for the public, and for colleagues in it, change is needed and is happening.
You can read more in an in-depth interview I did for The Times (paywall in place).
Behavioural Analysis Researcher, applied AI & Computer vision, advanced cognitive & behavioural assessment techniques that bring the Inside Out.
1yThere is a need for a strong culture in First Responder organisations (police, fire, military etc) as the positive and negative aspects of the culture support bravery, camaraderie, and sacrifice and will embolden members to place themselves in harm’s way. They can rely on colleagues, who share the same values. Those leaders who have been more focused on physical safety and operational outcomes also don’t really understand why their people can’t put up their hands to ask for help. Some truly believe they have done all they can do to ameliorate the situation for staff and work colleagues, but in reality they just perpetuate the First Responder mental health crisis. A lack of understanding, hollow words or inaction have a significant mental health cost and is tantamount to victim blaming and shaming. The challenge for these leaders therefore is to minimise the negative aspects of the culture (that are harmful to mental health), but maintain operational capability and commitment, in which the same traits are embedded. Behind that competent, stoic, confident and unemotional mask is an ordinary person who is probably struggling. Become trauma informed, outsource mental health support and focus on core issues.
Co-Founder of Elmihra Mundi Global Impact Community™
2yI live in Hertfordshire and see homebeat officers patrolling regularly. It reminds me of when as a kid,I lived in Edmonton, North London, and it always gave us comfort. It's the way forward and I wish you all the best in an incredibly difficult role as Commissioner these days. You're on the right track,people need to be patient. Keep going Sir Mark, change IS coming!
Head of Membership and Community Engagement at Neighbourhood Watch Network
2yConnecting with communities to help build that trust - through existing connections like Neighbourhood Watch and help build a stronger network. But listening to cimmunities, acting upon it and providing feedback is so important.