November 2011

P O L I C E

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S T A F F

N E W S L E T T E R

COPPERPLATE www.tayside.police.uk

11

NOV

T A Y S I D E

PROPOSED CHANGES TO FORCE STRUCTURE

The shape of Scottish policing is changing. Whilst we have waited for some time for the direction of travel to be set nationally, we now know that at some point during 2013/14 the eight Scottish police forces will be merged with the SCDEA and SPSA to form a single Scottish force.

This is a massive project impacting on some 25,000 police staff and officers across Scotland.

A national Police Reform Team will make recommendations as to how this merger will take place, and how the resulting force will deliver policing, however we are committed here in Tayside to maintaining a high quality of front-line service delivery to the communities that we serve during this transitional period and beyond.

This change has to be managed against a backdrop of significant budget savings being required.

Although Tayside Police has not received a cut in its budget, inflationary pressures and other changes will mean in effect that Tayside Police has to save between £3 and £4 million from its budget over the next two years. These savings need to be identified within the context of the Scottish Government’s commitment to retain officer numbers.

It is proposed that to assist in making these savings and efficiencies, without reducing the service we provide, we move from our current three territorial divisions to a single territorial unit with the consequent de-layering of management and consolidation of support functions.

It is unlikely that the new Scottish Police Service would support our existing divisional management structures, and making these changes now will allow a phased move towards a national structure which puts local accountability at the forefront of middle management roles.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Whilst the restructuring plans are still out for consultation with members of Tayside Joint Police Board and key stakeholders, the model being considered is a territorial unit headed by one Chief Superintendent supported by three Superintendents.

Ultimately the proposal is that these Superintendents will assume functional areas of responsibility, namely local policing, partnership and engagement, and support functions. During the transitional period, however, they will retain existing geographical responsibility.

The new model will also have one Detective Chief Superintendent responsible for all crime based functions and a single Chief Superintendent responsible for all Headquarters functions.

Officers working at beat level should not notice any difference. The communities that we serve should not notice any difference. The re-structuring process will not impact on our policing style nor the high quality standard of service that we currently provide.

In fact, the new structure will enhance community policing with the introduction of a new performance framework focused on local service delivery. Local Inspectors will be expected and encouraged to build on existing links with locally elected members.

The new structure will also simplify management structures and ensure corporacy of service.

These changes will be planned and introduced in a structured, phased manner. Although there will be consolidation of some support function structures, I would emphasise that there is no intention of introducing compulsory redundancy. We will look at all options for minimising the impact of these changes on staff within the work areas concerned.

This proposal will generate some of the necessary savings for Tayside Police; however it will also be necessary to make further savings in our staffing costs. To assist in this, we will announce another early retirement and voluntary redundancy scheme later this month.

I understand the process of change creates uncertainty and people at all levels throughout the organisation want to know what it means for them and what their involvement in the process will be. I don’t underestimate how difficult and challenging change is, but similarly I don’t underestimate the professionalism of the officers and police staff within Tayside Police and you will all have a vital part to play

in ensuring the success of not only the new structure within the Force but also in ensuring that we are fit for transferring to the one Scottish Police Service.

We are working closely with staff associations, the Scottish Police Federation and the Association of Police Superintendents throughout this process. I will continue to provide you with regular up-dates and ensure that you are all kept informed about the changes ahead, and that you have the opportunity to engage and help shape the service of the future.

Justine Curran Chief Constable Don’t forget to watch the Chief Constable’s e-bulletin on the Force Intranet!

WORK WHICH WILL LAY THE FOUNDATIONS FOR THE NEW SINGLE FORCE IS UNDERWAY • QUAD FORCE COLLABORATION • SINGLE FORCE VAT CONCERNS • CHANGES TO MAIL ROOM PRACTICE • QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS • COP CHOIR BACKS THE CALEDONIA MAN • TURKISH DELEGATES VISIT TAYSIDE POLICE COMPUTER CRIME EXPERTS • TAYSIDE’S NEWEST RECRUIT IS BORN • WORLD POLICE AND FIRE GAMES 2013

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WORK WHICH WILL LAY THE FOUNDATIONS FOR THE NEW SINGLE FORCE IS UNDERWAY

QUAD FORCE COLLABORATION

The heads of training from Central Scotland Police, Fife Constabulary, Lothian and Borders Police and Tayside Police and a senior representative from the Scottish Police College met with Chief Constable Curran in September 2011 to progress the proposed collaboration on training.

Chief Constable Kevin Smith will Direct the Police Reform Programme

Director of Corporate Services Doug Cross has the Finance portfolio

Deputy Chief Constable Gordon Scobbie will lead on Dealing with the Public

The executive portfolio leads met at the Scottish Police College on Friday 289 October to be briefed and discuss the way forward with the Reform Programme Director Chief Constable Kevin Smith and Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson.

Executive leads have been tasked with bringing forward reports on each of their allocated areas of business. These will focus upon developing work stream plans, data requirements, forming teams to take forward the work and proposals for Day 1 of the new single force structure.

These baseline reports will be completed on 25 November when they will be considered in detail by the Programme Director.

The executive leads will be supported in their work from a centralised reform team, based at the Scottish Police College, which will co-ordinate a range of activity involved in the reform project.

Mr Smith said, ‘’Since the announcement regarding a single force, there has been a lot of essential work taking place to establish the project mandate and lay the groundwork for how it is intended to move forward. ‘’This is a once-in-a-generation change in how we deliver policing to communities across the length and breadth of Scotland. The executive leads are taking forward significant pieces of work which will form the building blocks of the new police service. ‘’The executive leads clearly have important roles to play. As the wider police family in Scotland, everyone who works for the police service is also involved in this process of change and has a part to play. ‘’There are many inter-dependencies across the different work programmes, as you would expect. Modern policing is, after all, a complex service. At the same time as this work is ongoing to optimise our assets and resources, manage dependencies and interfaces and leverage the economies of scale from a single service, we must maintain business as usual service delivery fro the public. ‘’We must ensure that on Day 1 of a single police force the high standard of policing remains the same and the public still have confidence in their police service.’’

The Component Programmes and leads are; Local Policing Mike McCormick (D&G) Dealing with the Public Gordon Scobbie (Tayside Police) Crime George Hamilton (Strathclyde) Specialist Operations /Road Policing Steve Allen (L&B) Professional Standards John McNab (Grampian Police) Governance/Structure/Partnership Andy Cowie (Northern Constabulary) Criminal Justice Gordon Samson (CSP) ICT Derek Penman (CSP) Finance Doug Cross (Tayside Police) Physical Resource Management Gary Craig (Grampian Police) HR John Gillies (Strathclyde Police) Training John Geates (SPSA Corporate Support Cliff Anderson (ACPOS) DCC Steve Allen will provide the reform project with the strategic advice on equality and diversity issues.

Four areas of work – Communications, HR, ICT and Asset Management – are also the focus of considerable work as enabling activities.

DCC Richardson said, “The three basic underlying principles of the work of the reform team are – inclusivity, that the work is service led, and that the work is proportionate.

“Over the coming days and weeks, executive lead officers will be pulling information together from across the service with a view to returning their initial reports by the end of November.

“After a period spent putting structures for the reform project in place, the work in earnest begins here and I would expect the momentum to build as we move forward in a very positive way as a project team but also as a team in the widest sense, within the police service in Scotland.

“Our approach to communications will also be critical as we move on. Our aim will be to make sure everyone is informed and kept updated as the new shape of policing emerges.’’

www.tayside.police.uk

Following the Scottish Government announcement on Police Reform, the four Chief Constables agreed that there would be merit in progressing work on Training Collaboration, with the aim of delivering efficiency savings. The project will focus on standardisation of key areas of training, thereby reducing the number of training abstractions and allowing enhanced inter-operability.

The work streams agreed were: Officer Safety Training SPELS/First Aid Training Driver Training IT Training (specific courses to be selected) Probationer and Special Constable Training Leadership Training Each work stream will map out current training provision and a proposal for standardised design and delivery.

Initial Implementation Plans will be presented to the Programme Board (the four Deputy Chief Constables) for consideration in mid-December 2011.

SINGLE FORCE VAT CONCERNS A recent article in the media suggested that Scotland’s new single police force would be a public body liable to pay millions of pounds in VAT under preferred options being pushed by civil servants.

Suggestions were made that senior civil servants would like to make the country’s new single force a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB) meaning it would have to pay VAT. Chief Constable Kevin Smith, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland said, ‘‘We are aware of the proposal and we understand Scottish Government thinking on this. There are, however, a number of issues to be considered from our perspective. This obviously includes the payment of VAT but also the potential restriction on the new force to borrow and to hold financial reserves to ensure we can meet operational demands in a flexible way befitting an important dynamic service such as policing.

“The important thing is that we are working closely with the Scottish Government on this matter to explore the options available and ensure the status of the new organisation is appropriate and able to deliver on the objectives of reform and continue to provide the people of Scotland with high quality policing.’’

A Scottish Government spokesperson said, “The structure of the new service has been set out in a consultation paper published on 8 September 2011. It will not be an NDPB. The Scottish Police Service will be entirely independent of Government.

“We are exploring the VAT status of the new body with a view to eliminating any VAT liability. This was set out in an Outline Business Case also published on 8 September 2011.”

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CHANGES TO MAIL ROOM PRACTICE In order to assist with the transition to a single Operational Command Unit, the force will shortly be introducing Laserfiche. This system will greatly simplify the management of mail received by the force. All external mail received will be opened and scanned when it comes in. This process will allow mail to be electronically transmitted to the appropriate division for allocation, improving efficiency, creating an audit trail and reducing demands on administration staff.

This will, however, bring added pressure for members of staff at point of receipt, and we would ask that all members of staff take time to look at ways of reducing the amount of mail that goes through the mail room – internal and external. Could items be sent electronically instead? Can partner agencies be asked to correspond by email instead of mail? Even something as simple as not using the internal mail system for your personal mail will help. At Christmas there are 1000s of additional pieces of mail – please try to use alternative means or even make a donation to charity instead of sending Christmas cards?

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS COP CHOIR BACKS THE CALEDONIA MAN Your feedback is crucial in helping the Transforming Tayside team get the Force into the best shape possible for collaboration.

On a daily basis the team get questions and suggestions about how the service could be improved and savings made. To date, the team have received over 800 questions and whilst it may not always be possible to give a definitive answer, they always answer as honestly and accurately as possible, ensuring consultation with relevant departments when required.

Recently, there have been a number of questions received which have not come into the remit of Transforming Tayside – e.g. queries regarding an individual’s actions or questioning specific roles. Those questions have not been answered and as the majority of them have been from authors who prefer to remain anonymous, replies cannot be sent to explain why the question has not been answered. I would ask that if you have complaints or suggestions for improving the routine day to day running of business then the first point of contact should be the Supervisor or Head of that Department.

Any suggestions relating to individual members of staff or readily identifiable posts will not be publicly posted.

Please continue to send in your questions and suggestions using the feedback tool on the Force intranet. A large number of suggestions received have resulted in improvements being made to the way the organisation runs.

Useful Links The following links may be of use to staff; Trade Unions www.unison-scotland.org.uk/police www.unitetheunion.org Scottish Police Federation www.spf.org.uk ASPS www.scottishpolicesupers.co.uk/ Transforming Tayside Team Contact Details Superintendent Jim Leslie: Ext: 6704 Sergeant Alice Coventry: Ext 6586 Christine Dolan: Ext 6749

Tayside Police Choir, together with associate choirs, Lothian and Borders Police Choir and InChorus Community Choir from Peebles, once again performed with Perthshire minstrel, Dougie MacLean.

The choirs were asked by the popular singer/songwriter – renowned for his hit single Caledonia - to collaborate with him as part of his annual Perthshire Amber Festival at Perth’s Concert Hall.

The choirs, enriched by their New York experience at the 9/11 memorial event, backed Dougie in a number of his songs including Talking with my Father, Loving One, Ready for the Storm and, of course, the world famous and stirring Caledonia.

The choirs last shared the stage with Dougie in June at the ‘Take the High Note’ concert in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall.

Andrew Russel, the choirs’ Musical Director said, “Following our successful musical alliance at the Take the High Note concert, Dougie asked the choirs to join him at the Amber Festival and, as we are mutually appreciative of each others’ talents, we were more than happy to oblige.”

For more information about Tayside Police Choir, contact Fiona Wilson at taysidepolicechoir@ gmail.com or visit their Facebook Page.

TURKISH DELEGATES VISIT TAYSIDE POLICE COMPUTER CRIME EXPERTS A trio of computer forensic specialists from Turkey visited Police Headquarters in Dundee to see at first hand how Tayside Police tackles computer related crime.

The visitors – Mr Deniz Mehmet, General Directorate of Security; Mr Bali Yunus, General Directorate of Security; and Mr Arin Sadik, Ministry of Interior; from Golbasi in the Ankara Province, saw the work of staff at Tayside’s Computer Examination and Technical Support Unit (CETSU).

It was part of a visit to Scotland being hosted by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA).

Hosting the Tayside leg of the tour was Detective Chief Inspector Graham McMillan, Detective Inspector Carol Brown, and Alistair Blair, all of the Crime Intelligence Division.

Mr Blair, the Force’s Digital Evidence Co-ordinator, gave an overview of the CETSU to the delegates, who were also joined by Detective Chief Inspector Steve Wilson of the SCDEA who arranged the Scottish visit.

The delegation also meet with staff at the unit to gain insight into how examinations are undertaken and the tools and software at the Force’s disposal for investigations.

www.tayside.police.uk

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TAYSIDE’S NEWEST RECRUIT IS BORN Tayside Police is proud to announce the arrival of our second d litter of puppies as a result of the Force’s Dog Breeding programme.

Tayside Police dog Amstel successfully bred with Willow from Durham Constabulary and a litter of five German Shepherds - two boys and three girls arrived on 19 October.

One of these pups will be joining Tayside Police’s Dog Section and experienced handler Constable Steve Ritchie will be in charge of moulding the puppy into a crime fighting force.

Constable Ritchie said, “I am delighted that mum and her pups are doing well. We will be travelling down to Durham in a few weeks time to test the pups and decide which one we want to bring back to join the team.

“The ideal time to test the puppy is at 49 days of age when the puppy is neurologically complete and it has the brain of an adult dog. With each passing day after the 49th day the responses will be tainted by prior learning. Not only do we examine the pups physically, we test them in a number of key areas to see if they show the qualities needed to become a police dog including their willingness to follow a person, if they show restraint or dominance, retrieving, and their overall confidence. We also test their touch, sound and sight sensitivity as we need a dog that isn’t going to be startled or afraid of loud noises or by strange objects.

“The benefits of using German Shepherds are that they are generally very loyal and hard working, as well as being intelligent. From that point of view they are excellent to work with. Our breeding programme has introduced strong working blood lines to the pups being born so we are confident that whichever puppy we pick it will have the qualities that we are looking for.”

The chosen puppy will be trained to become a general purpose working police dog and whilst official training will not start straight away, Steve says conditioning the puppy from day one gives them the best opportunity to prepare them for the jobs they will do in the future.

Members of the public will be able to follow the fortunes of the newest recruit on Facebook, Twitter and the Force’s web-site.

Here is the winning caption thaat we received for the photographh that appeared in the last editioon of Copperplate.

“Constable Hunter and his faithful four legged friend were delighted to bust a major or international toast smuggling ring.” – Constable Dale Evans, Ryehill.

For the next edition we would like some suitable captions for the following photograph; E-Mail your caption suggestions to Sarah Craig in the Corporate Communications Department.

Department

WORLD POLICE AND FIRE GAMES 2013 The 2013 World Police and Fire Games are coming to Belfast in Northern Ireland.

From 1st to 10th August 2013 The Police Service of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and Northern Ireland Prison Service will host approximately 10 000 Law Enforcement Officers and Fire-fighters from around the world who will compete in a wide variety of sporting events.

The World Police & Fire Games Federation, a non-profit organisation, run by the Californian Police Athletics Federation, established the World Police & Fire Games in1985. Today, the World Police & Fire Games are a spectacular international sporting event, offering police officers, firefighters, customs and prison officers from around the world an opportunity to showcase their athletic excellence in over 65 sporting events.

In recent years the Games have attracted 10,000 – 14,000 competitors from over 71 countries, competing in 65 sports over a ten day period Held biennially, the size and scope of the Games continues to grow, with both the attendance and number of participating countries steadily increasing. The application process to hold the Games is keenly contested and attracts many bids to host what is a world renowned and prestigious event.

To find out about volunteering opportunities or how you can take part in the games please visit the official web-site at www.2013wpfg.com

www.tayside.police.uk

ae ar t fff magazine – whether youu ta Copperplate is a sta police staff, your a police officer or members of would like to hear opinions count. That is why we , or suggestions that from you with any news, views ed in Copperplate. you would like to see publish get in touch If you have a story idea please dia and with Sarah Craig, Digital Me r on Ext: 6730 or Communications Manage side.pnn.police.uk e-mail at; sarah.craig@tay of the Force news on; Remember you can follow all ePolice Facebook.com/Taysid olice Twitter @TaysideP epolice youtube.com/taysid DESIGNED & PRODUCED BY:

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