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Reducing Bureaucracy in Policing – final Jan Berry report is published
One third of effort is “either over-engineered, duplicated or adds no additional value”; technology should be exploited through adoption and convergence of national infrastructure; business-led common processes; mobile data; paperless case file; and digital recording of interviews.
Jan Berry’s fourth and final report has been published and is available here (pdf version also available below).
Jan has emphasized that with the coalition government’s clear mandate to reduce bureaucracy, the police service cannot “afford” to miss the opportunity this presents.
“With unnecessary bureaucracy being added at every tier of policing; from the local to the national, it is almost impossible to calculate the cumulative effect, but I would estimate one third of effort is either over-engineered, duplicated or adds no additional value. This is unaffordable in the current climate and consideration will need to be given to how savings in time and energy can be realized in hard cash terms.”
Two obstacles are identified to making progress.
Firstly, bringing clarity to the question at a national level who is responsible for what. “Who is responsible for policing? Who is in charge of the Criminal Justice system?”
Secondly, what does success in policing look like.
“Proposals for the introduction of locally elected Police & Crime Commissioners and the introduction of a new National Crime Agency may go some way to answering these questions, but what happens in the interim over the next 18 months to fill the vacuum?
“ACPO, supported by other key stakeholders (Government, Inspectorates, Police Authorities, IPCC) must take responsibility for delivering the necessary change and provide the climate and culture where these barriers can be systematically removed.”
Technology-themed solutions identified by Jan include:
- Reconfigure force structures to realise and maximise opportunity costs gained by removing, rationalising and streamlining systems and processes.
- Drive out unnecessary bureaucracy, create efficiencies and enable transformational
- change.
- Eliminate duplication of effort and waste.
- Develop POLKA (Police Online Knowledge Area) into the search engine of choice for police professionals.
- Removing unnecessary bureaucracy should be mainstreamed and part of normal business, adopting a proportionate response based on risk and harm, with an explicit requirement to reduce costs, add value and get it right first time.
- Robustly manage and fully embed streamlined process across all criminal justice partners to fully realise the benefits.
- Remove duplication and over working from key processes, assess which processes deliver the greatest efficiencies, reduce number of gatekeepers.
- Apply a more risk based and proportionate approach to Missing Person enquiries and
- record keeping. Re-use information where possible.
- Encourage email discipline.
- Re-focus Crime & Incident Recording:
- Provide accurate, proportionate records of all incidents as investigative and audit aids
- Refocus competitive element of crime statistics with improvement regime
- Cross refer related data bases to prevent duplication
- Record result (outcome) of less serious incidents and crimes on command & control
- system, ensure repeat victims, offenders and locations can be identified
- Simplify rules for amending crime records
- Align charging and recording standard
- Exploit technology through incremental adoption & convergence of
- national infrastructure
- business led common processes
- paperless case file
- mobile data
- digital recording of interviews
