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Our WeCops chat on Wednesday 19 October was all about Response Policing. The chat was hosted by Rob Carden, Deputy Chief Constable of Cumbria Constabulary, NPCC Response Policing Lead @CumbriaDCC. The event was also supported by ACC Jonny Blackwell (Cumbria),Con Ian Stephenson (Cumbria), Chief Superintendent Chris Gibson (GMP) @Chrismgibs, Chief Superintendent Jenny Barnett(Essex) @JennyBarnett21, Chief Superintendent Matt Kennerley (Cumbria) @Suptvision25, Response Inspector Suzy McDonnell (Kent) @suzymcdonnell2, Chief Superintendent Mark Wiggins (Merseyside) and Superintendent Karl Baldwin (Merseyside).

The event was an opportunity for colleagues to debate some of the issues facing response policing. The discussion centred around three main questions, namely:

It was a very well attended event, which surpassed expectations (total reach 973,520)

The main themes that featured throughout the evening included increasing demand, resourcing issues, reward and recognition, the profile of response, welfare and trauma, leadership visibility and lack of experience on the front line.

In terms of the first question, the main challenges that continue to face response officers are non-crime demand, for example @davpaul80 said, ‘I recently went out with the ACC from my force which was great of her to come out with response, one of her last comments to me was “Of all the jobs we have been to, we haven’t been to 1 crime” I replied I have done that for a full set of shifts before’. This was a common theme amongst participants with DCC Carden recognising the importance of working with partners to ensure that the most appropriate agency deals, which is currently being challenged by Chief Constables across the country,

Another key theme was a lack of experience on the front line with @nickoli2238 saying, ‘When I joined my tutor had 10 years experience, as did their tutor, now you are looking at 2-3 years. Nothing against this but a lot of policing experience has been lost.’

The importance of strong, visible leadership was discussed by many, with an excellent point made by @AC91 who said, ‘Tutors, Sgts & Insp less experienced than historically. Frequent changes so less understanding of team. Incident types, mission creep, increased workload all been increasing for years. What hasn’t changed is they go to work do their best & need our support’.

It was recognised that there is some great work underway to address the challenges response officers face with @PeteA86 saying, ‘coming out of a pandemic, with op uplift challenges has presented difficult periods. But not all negative, more focus on response policing and it feels more of a priority’.

We then moved to question 2 where some interesting ideas were shared with @medwaymakem saying, ‘In the military for certain qualifications you get an arm patch or badge I believe it’s time response officers were recognised and rewarded with something similar not too big’. This is a great idea and one that the portfolio leads will be exploring,

A common theme was investing in staff, giving them the training and skills they need to do their role, with @kerrimonaghan1 saying, ‘Recognise the hard work they do, give them the courses they ask for (reasonably), make sure they have the right kit to do their jobs, decent car, etc. Don’t underestimate the moral boost having a “boss” come and work on the shop floor and see things for themselves.’ Development opportunities was a key theme as well as CPD for officers and tutors, the College of Policing continue to support with a range of CPD opportunities accessible on theknowledge hub, the link can be found in the pre-tweet blog.

Some great words to hear from @mickydoos who said, ‘To be fair, since my return to response from CID, my skippers have been very keen to get me thru courses. In the last year I’ve had initial car, taser and IPP+Stopstick (the latter I have to redo as I missed the assessment for personal reasons).’

The final question provided some insightful feedback with the clear message that visible leadership is crucial to recognising the role of response officers when the retention of officers on response remains a challenge.

Reward and recognition for response officers was a crucial topic throughout the discussion with participants vocalising that a small gesture goes a long way. Personal messages to officers, from senior leaders, as well other formal recognition ideas were shared. Wise words spoken by @AC91 who said, ‘A phone call after a great job has a huge impact. Handwritten card. Positive stories on display, daily bulletins, intranets, media. Remind them what they do is critical. They save lives every day, look after vulnerable people every day, arrest criminals every day’.

A great idea by @dadwithahat1 who shared a photo of a badge saying, ‘Yup. I created a unit design that wasn’t taken on but every officer on my team or who has been gets a pin badge version of the design. It ties them together now and going forward’. Other ideas which will be considered moving forward include ‘highlight more positive stories internally and externally using media and social media. Introduce bespoke award ceremonies for response policing, e.g response officer of the year etc’ which was shared by @PeteA86.

The message was clear throughout, response officers need to get the recognition they deserve for the role they carry out on a daily basis. @Brick_Cop articulated it perfectly with ‘For me, it’s identity and respect. We all like to belong and we all like to be treated like adults. We get those two things right, we retain people. It’s that simple. Response Cops are proud of what they do. Let’s show them the respect they deserve’.

There was much more discussed and some great feedback for consideration, take a look at the question threads on the @WeCops twitter feed if you were unable to join. The tweet which summed the event up nicely came from @kimbrown who said ‘Consistent leadership, who genuinely care about the people behind the collar number. Encourage them, mentor them, recognise their hard work at all hours & as we do here, we should never shy away from putting boots on the ground to do what they do’

DCC Carden is extremely grateful to everyonewho provided support on the night and to colleagues who took part in the debate and discussion. It is reassuring to know that the themes highlighted in this report are consistent with new portfolio objectives recently approved at the Local Policing Coordination Committee. The new objectives are as follows:

The portfolio has established close links with Chief Constable Chris Rowley who has recently started a National Wellbeing Board focussing on building resilience, working with staff associations to alleviate hinderance factors. This board also focusses on improving communication to raise awareness regarding the considerable development of wellbeing opportunities driven by Oscar Kilo under the leadership of Andy Rhodes.

Having considered the nature and volume of the responses, DCC Carden is now convinced of the need to introduce a new portfolio structure that will be communicated to all Chief Constables imminently. The involvement of senior representatives from all forces will ensure a consistent commitment to portfolio objectives that will ultimately help and support response policing at a national level.