Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s (HIOWC) response to the Criminal Justice Alliance’s super Complaint

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s (HIOWC) response to the Criminal Justice Alliance’s super Complaint

Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s (HIOWC) response to the Criminal Justice Alliance’s super Complaint: Report on the Criminal Justice Alliance’s – Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and independent scrutiny of stop and search.

In May 2021, the Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA) submitted a super-complaint entitled ‘More harm than good’ raising concerns about the potential harms caused by ‘suspicion-less stop and searches’.

The ‘suspicion-less’ stop and searches to which the CJA refers are those the police carry out using their powers under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (which is subsequently referred to in this update as ‘section 60’).

A section 60 authorisation gives the police powers to stop and search people and vehicles, without suspicion, for “offensive weapons or dangerous instruments”. These powers only apply to a designated locality in a police force area for a set period.

Following the final report being published in December 2023 by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found that police forces should improve how they explain and evaluate their use of section 60.

HIOWC has been considering the findings of the publication against our three force priorities of; putting victims first, the relentless pursuit of criminals and exceptional local policing and we can provide the following progress update against the following relevant recommendations.

HMICFRS Recommendation 1:
By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure their forces review the content of training on section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and how they provide it. The review should consider current national police curriculum requirements and the adequacy of force training for:

Officers who may be required to authorise section 60s; and

Officers who may be required to conduct section 60 stop and searches
The review and any associated actions should be proportionate to each force’s use of section 60.

HIOWC Response:
During 2023 HIOWC reviewed the training provided to officers in relation to section 60 and an updated training pack has been produced and delivered to new and current frontline officers with additional training for supervisors, sergeants and inspectors as part of their Operational Leadership Course which is ongoing throughout 2024. This has been completed by the force strategic lead and content aligns with the national police curriculum.

Bespoke training has also been delivered to the district commanders to ensure they continue to lead by example with their decision making and have clear rationalisation of their use of section 60. The training refresh focuses on district commanders’ responsibilities including the application of this power, ensuring it aligns with the Code of Ethics and by providing robust oversight and scrutiny therefore enabling continuous quality assurance and learning from its application. This training is due for completion in spring 2024.

HMICFRS Recommendation 3:
By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure briefing and debriefing arrangements for their force’s activities under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 are thorough and in line with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code A and authorised professional practice content and guidance. Chief constables must make sure section 60 authorisation briefings are recorded. This may be as a written briefing, but formal verbal section 60 authorisation briefings should be given on audio-visual devices such as body-worn video or approved handheld communication devices. They should be capable of being recorded as part of the policing operation and be subject to scrutiny.

Section 60 briefings to officers who are required to use their stop and search powers should include information on:

the relevant law and guidance;
the particular grounds for authorising the use of Section 60 stop and search powers;
all relevant and current information and intelligence;
the geographical area covered and time limitations authorised;
all relevant community information (including policing history) and any community impact assessment;
how any debriefing and force learning will be conducted; and
the importance of recording all section 60 stop and search encounters on body-worn video in their entirety.
HIOWC Response:
Section 60 guidance available to officers has recently been updated alongside the delivery of the training highlighted above. The guidance stipulates that any section 60 authorisation briefing must be recorded on body-worn video, this is to enable subsequent scrutiny and quality assurance of its application. There is a dedicated intranet page with all the relevant information for officers including process flow charts and details of Force Policy and Procedure and College of Policing Approved Professional Practice.

As a part of our ongoing quality assurance, the force strategic lead conducts regular dip sampling of the briefings provided to officers to ensure compliance. As a part of this we review each specific section 60 for effectiveness, disproportionality and the application of Community Impact Assessments.

When considering the findings within this recommendation, an area of development to review is our section 60 debriefing process to ensure learning is captured and disseminated more broadly. The debrief process is led by our district commanders and HIOWC are exploring how this could be built into its current operational debriefing processes.

HMICFRS Recommendation 4:
By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure all officers who may exercise stop and search powers understand, and comply with, their responsibility to safeguard children who are stopped and searched.

In doing so, chief constables should make sure that:

in line with the national policing curriculum, officers undertaking searches are appropriately trained to take the necessary steps to minimise any emotional harm that may be caused through these encounters;

their force has processes in place to assist appropriate safeguarding referrals when children are stopped and searched; and

there is robust checking and assessment of all such searches that takes account of the safety and welfare needs of the child.
HIOW Response:
Since 2021 HIOW Constabulary has in place a Child Centred Policing Strategy, the ethos is putting the needs of children and young people at the heart of the services we deliver including when they are linked to a crime as a suspect or with regard to stop and search.

Within force policy and procedure and built into training it is clearly outlined that officers must always consider their safeguarding duties when undertaking a stop and search. This includes consideration of the submission of a PPN1 form (public protection form) to the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) identifying if the child is at risk of harm.

In order to quality assure our stop and searches, including appropriate actions undertaken when the person stopped is a child, supervisors must conduct monthly dip samples and evaluate the associated body worn video. If any issues arise or it is identified that safeguarding has not been considered, then these matters are documented with consideration given to appropriate next steps. This may be specific learning for the officer involved or with regard to wider systemic learning for the force.

HMICFRS Recommendation 5:
By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure forces effectively communicate with communities and interested parties on the police use of section 60 stop and search powers. This should include:

making sure communications reach the communities most likely to be affected by the section 60 authorisation and checking their communication strategies were effective;

publicising details to inform the public, give reassurance and maximise any deterrent effect; and

reporting back to communities and interested parties on operational outcomes.
HIOWC Response:
As section 60 authorisations are not required to be publicly communicated in advance, a decision whether to notify communities is made on a case by case basis dependent on operational requirements. If this is required, HIOWC will publicise details of a section 60 being authorised via a media release, on social media and via direct messaging channels. This will include a map of the area affected and an explanation of the reason for the power being granted, as well as prepared questions and answers to help with engagement and dialogue with the public to help explain the use of these powers.

Regardless of whether a decision has been taken to publicise on authorisation, once the section 60 has expired, HIOWC proactively provides an explanation of action taken, including details of the number of stop and searches, any arrests and details of any items found, via the same communications methods. At this time, there is limited evaluation to say whether this information is effectively reaching the specific community impacted, however there have been some queries from the public about publishing details in advance, as it is felt that this draws attention to the use of powers and risks displacing issues to other areas outside of the designated section 60 area.

In January 2024, HIOWC launched ‘Let's Talk’ which is an enhanced surveying capability which allows intelligent targeting of seldom heard communities to identify specific concerns and monitor trust and confidence with two way dialogue and updates to the community. As this system evolves, HIOWC will consider whether this technique will enable greater understanding of how and if we are reaching a range of communities in relation to section 60 authorisation and will be an additional way of seeking feedback from a more diverse range of individuals.

Through our Force Performance Framework we gather data pertaining to all of our stop search encounters (section 60 included) these are published on our force internet page by each district on a quarterly basis. For further information please click this link: Stop and Search Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary

HMICFRS Recommendation 7:
By 14 June 2024, Chief Constables should satisfy themselves that their force gives community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) all relevant information to help them scrutinise police stop and searches and other police actions arising from section 60 authorisations. This should include:

the grounds and underlying reasons for the authorisations;
any recordings of briefings;

written records of searches;

information about the outcomes of searches; and

body-worn video footage of entire encounters.
In addition, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force incorporates feedback from community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) when evaluating and improving the force’s use of section 60.

HIOWC Response:
HIOWC has in place district based Independent Advisory Groups. The members of these panels have access to stop and search data, BWV and the information to enable them to effectively scrutinise stop and searches. To date there has not been a separate section 60 panel as HIOWC only authorises a very small number of section 60 searches over a twelve month period.

HIOWC recognises there is further work to do with regard to the IAGs to ensure there is a consistent approach to the scrutiny process. It is essential to ensure that learning is identified within each district, assessed and built into the wider force operational learning. The Force Strategic Area Policing Hub Chief Inspector is currently commencing this work and will work alongside the Operational Learning and Inspection team to see how this learning can be translated into improved operational practice. Any review of IAGs will be done so in conjunction with the OPCC.

HMICFRS Recommendation 8:
By June 2024 chief constables and where applicable police and crime commissioners should make sure their forces work in partnership with community scrutiny panels to:

review panel membership and vetting arrangements to remove any unnecessary barriers to recruiting panel members

promote the recruitment of culturally diverse members with a particular focus on representing, involving and retaining those for under represented communities and young people

promote the representation, involvement and retention of those who have been stopped and searched

make sure the force gives community scrutiny panels information on the police use of force, including handcuffing relevant to the stop and search powers

make sure they support and help community scrutiny panels to review section 60 authorisations, searches, community impact assessments and associated complaints

give members appropriate training and support to help them effectively carry out this role, taking into account the effect that the role could have on them

provide the right level police representation at panel meetings to support and advise as required and to make user the panels feedback helps to improve both individual officer and organisational learning.
HIOWC Response:
Alongside the OPCC we recognise that there are still gaps with regard to a diverse representation of communities on the IAGs, outside of the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth the makeup of the IAGs are not as culturally diverse, with a low take up of volunteering opportunities for new panel members.

Due to the constraints of vetting there are also issues relating to having members with lived experience on the panels. Further work needs to be undertaken within the force and with partner agencies to identify pathways to enable a broader range of participants with different backgrounds and experiences of police encounters to provide us a with a sound cross section of learning.

As stated above, HIOWC has a number of district IAGs who are provided with training with regard to the relevant legislation when reviewing stop search and use of force incidents. Members will also have access to the training that is given to officers to enable effective benchmarking of officer decision making.

This work is undertaken in partnership with the OPCC, and is overseen by the Use of Police Powers Board. Collectively, we have identified there is further work that needs to be undertaken to continuously improve our scrutiny panels. The force in 2024 will start consideration of how learning from the panels can be effectively extrapolated and embedded within practice.