Crime management framework

The aim of the crime management framework (CMF) is to provide:

• a standardised approach to investigations across the force
• frontline officers with clarity on their priorities and their role
• support for effective decision making

• Improved quality of and timeliness of investigations.
• Improved victim service and care.
• Improved public safety and public confidence.
• Improved wellbeing of officers through effective management of caseloads.

The problem

The force had undertaken several changes to improve investigation quality and timeliness in the past few years but these had not achieved the impact they had hoped for. Effective, timely decisions were not being made where there were clearly no lines of enquiry. This led to longer investigation times and longer worklists for officers which had an impact on wellbeing.

Over 70% of the frontline workforce currently have between 1-2 years of experience and similar inexperience was also seen in supervisory ranks and criminal investigation department officers. In addition, the force has 11 local policing areas which had each developed various templates to support investigations, but these were not consistent across the force.

The solution

The force has developed a crime management framework (CMF) to provide consistency and clarity of priorities to frontline investigators. The CMF details on the roles of the officer in command, sergeants, inspectors, chief inspectors and superintendents in investigating and managing investigations.

The CMF took 9 months to develop and involved conversations in a working group with key stakeholders. The key stakeholders came from a range of ranks and roles that involved investigation and crime management. This ranged from sergeant to detective chief superintendent. Stakeholders all had extensive policing experience. These meetings focused on good practice and guidance identified in other forces, the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) guidance.

The CMF document itself was designed by several members of the working group. The creation of the CMF document was led by a sergeant, this was supported by a detective superintendent, detective inspector, and detective sergeant who provided operational guidance during the creation. There was no specific cost to the CMF as it was developed internally and those involved in the working group incorporated the task into their current roles.

Content

The CMF focuses on the high harm (red box) offences of stalking, medium and high-risk domestic abuse, rape, knife crime and sexual offences. The timescales for action in setting an investigation plan and the initial supervisors review are clearly set out. There are also hyperlinks within the one page CMF to the templates for these. 

The CMF provides the force expectations for prioritising and managing crime. This is the general format of the framework:

1. an officer in command (OIC) is allocated
2. an initial investigation plan is completed by the OIC by the end of the day for red box offences and as soon as possible for all others
3. for red box offences, the sergeant completes an enhanced initial sergeant review within 24 hours. For others, the sergeant completes a standard initial sergeant review within 96 hours. For both instances, the OIC is directed to the victim codes of practice module
4. reviewing: an inspector must review every 30 days, a chief inspector reviews every 90 days and a superintendent reviews every 120 days
5. the document goes further by asking questions such as, 'does the victim support further action?'
6. further guidance to officers is provided, including what a reasonable line of enquiry is, the NPCC risk principles and information on safeguarding

The CMF provides additional support in the form of an aid to making effective decisions. It also links to supporting guidance such as College authorised professional practice (APP). For managers, it provides a direct link into the performance management system TEMPO. TEMPO is aligned to the CMF and enables supervisors and senior managers to explore the performance data around investigations and look at information such as whether all reviews that should have been completed within time frames have been.

The CMF is available on Knowzone (an internal communications and knowledge platform developed and managed by the Thames Valley Police media team). In Thames Valley Police posters are highly visible in all operational police stations and bases, which includes a QR code linking officers and staff to the online page.

To implement the CMF, the force developed a webinar that was delivered to frontline staff. The webinars focused on explaining the need for the CMF.  All frontline officers were encouraged to attend one of the webinars and if they were unable, they were encouraged to watch the recording. These were delivered about a month before implementation.

Approximately 2000 officers attended the webinars or accessed the recording. This equated to 42% of all Thames Valley officers. Officers and staff were also given sight of the CMF one page document and supporting templates to enable familiarisation. Initial feedback was considered.

Feedback suggested that the webinars were well received. Roughly one month after implementation, a further round of consultation was undergone to get feedback on how the CMF works in practice. Some further amendments to the templates are currently being considered because of this feedback.

It is too early to assess the impact on the quality and timeliness of investigations, but the initial feedback from officers using the CMF has been very positive. The force has developed a CMF data set (on data visualisation software Power BI) which tracks and manages compliance. This is reviewed at monthly force performance groups.

• Since implementation, there has been an increase in the numbers of reviews (volume and timeliness) being conducted by sergeants and inspectors – this is tracked via the CMF Power BI dataset.
• Sergeants’ compliance on completing reviews is currently 88%, with 65% being completed on time.
• Inspector compliance on completing reviews is currently 45%, with 40% being completed on time.

Feedback from users has been positive and initial performance data indicates good compliance from sergeants and inspectors, with development ongoing regarding chief inspectors and superintendents. It should be noted that there has not been a requirement for managers beyond inspector rank to review crime investigations in Thames Valley Police for several years, apart from those requiring a senior officer oversight, for example, threat to life or missing persons cases.

Thames Valley Police are still struggling with chief inspector and superintendent levels of compliance. 

• Chief inspector compliance is currently 8%, with 24% being completed on time.
• Superintendent compliance is currently 12%, with 47% being completed on time.

However, superintendents have reported that they are already more able to identify themes and issues impacting performance within their command.

• Focusing the webinars on reasons why the CMF is important has been most successful.
• Some officers in senior ranks felt inexperienced in reviewing investigations as they have not had to undertake such reviews throughout their careers. It was necessary to provide some additional support for these ranks.
• It is important that the CMF is appropriate for all crime investigations, including the more complex investigations undertaken by criminal investigation department. Using the same approach and templates will encourage force-wide compliance. However, the templates may need some adjustments to ensure they are equally appropriate for all investigations.
• Thames Valley Police is a large force undergoing significant force-wide change, so implementing process reform at the same time required effective communications and messaging. The launch of the CMF came in the same period as a new chief constable and deputy chief constable started in post. It also coincided with the launch of the annual strategic plan. Therefore, timing of the launch was carefully managed to ensure it didn’t get lost amongst other significant events.
• Thames Valley Police have the benefit of behavioural science expertise, and their guidance was sought in developing key messages.
• Direct engagement was conducted with each local policing authority commander and head of department to provide clarity and an opportunity for feedback.
• When Thames Valley Police delivered the webinars, the force recognised that officers and staff would be most interested in the CMF itself and the templates for the crime recording system Niche. The force made these documents available for access and review 3–4 weeks prior to launch so people could familiarise themselves with them. This also created a focused period for feedback prior to going live.