Federation Detective Lead: More needs to be done to attract and retain officers to the role

19 January 2021

More needs to be done to address detective staffing and retention to attract officers to a role that offers “real job satisfaction”, Kent Police Federation’s Detective Lead has said.

DC Courtney Woodward, who has just moved from the CID to the rape investigation team, said that in Kent there were several initiatives to support detectives, but that departments were still suffering from understaffing, high pressure and high turnover.

She said: “We are seeing a high turnover of detectives, and a lot of spots are filled by probationers on attachment. That casts a picture that there are a lot of people in the office, but a lot of them are really junior and that puts pressure on the detectives who are there already because they’re essentially having to tutor the new ones through.

“It’s a huge responsibility on those really new officers, carrying some really serious investigations and some really high workloads.

 “There are also the delays – things like trying to balance the expectations of the CPS with what you’re realistically able to do. We have to build full case files before we even know if the CPS will authorise a charge, so there’s a lot of work that goes in at the beginning. It has had a knock-on effect in terms of detectives’ workload.”

She added that currently Kent’s police workforce are very young in service, and might be more attracted to uniformed roles.

She said: “I speak to a lot of them who have been down on attachment who say, ‘Yeah I really like this, but I’m not ready to give up pursuing criminals, the knocking down doors. I’ll come back to this in a bit once I’ve done all of that stuff’. People think once they become a detective that’s it, they’re stuck in a detective role.”

But Courtney said that detective work came with “real job satisfaction”. She said: “Knowing that you have helped a victim… there’s nothing more satisfying than knowing that you’ve investigated every alley and you’ve found out everything and you’ve put together a really good case and that you’ve got a result for your victim, whether that is a conviction or something else entirely. Ultimately, the job doesn’t stop at arrests. The whole aim is justice.”

She said that a lot of work was going into encouraging more officers along the detective route: “[The force is] creating the Detective Academy, so they’re really looking to invest in the ongoing training and development of detectives. They’ve recently introduced a detectives incentive, so we have a financial payment if you’ve hit a certain level.

“A lot of people were suggesting that they didn’t want to come to crime group because they’d lose out financially, because if you’re in uniform and work night shifts you get paid an antisocial allowance. Of course if you come to crime group, generally speaking you don’t work any nights. Maybe once or twice you’ll be on the night duty rota.

“But that was a bar for people wanting to come down and that is what the purpose of that payment is, to try and overcome that barrier, to encourage a few more people to come down. I think the steps are being made.”

Courtney added that a lot more was being done to support trainees.

She said: “There’s a lot of support now to get on the detective pathways. Particularly in Kent, they send you on one of the crammer courses, which are fantastic. They refund you the cost of your study manuals if you pass the NIE, which was never done before. But I think we need to look at why people are leaving in droves and maybe address the root causes as well.”

The Federation is keen to improve the situation, Courtney said, and she is asking detectives to discuss their issues with her and other Fed reps so that they can raise them with the senior leadership team (SLT). 

She said: “We have really healthy conversations with a lot of the SLT, including those from crime group. If there are issues the members aren’t entirely comfortable raising or they don’t feel that they’re being heard, complaining to your Sergeant’s one thing but I’m also more than happy to discuss those issues.

“Ultimately those with the power to change won’t do it unless they know what the issue is and understand it and have got some sort of evidence base to say, ‘This is happening all over the county’. Unless people are telling us, we don’t know. So I’d really encourage people if they’ve got any particular issues or if they think there’s something that is a real repeating issue – staff leaving or they haven’t got the numbers or whatever it is – then that’s something I can have a dialogue with them about.”

Courtney added that any detectives who were struggling with stress and other mental health issues should speak to their Federation Rep, who can signpost them to the help they need. She said: “There’s a lot of support out there and there’s a lot of emphasis at the moment on wellbeing.”