Disclosure guidance has created a ‘crisis in policing’

19 May 2022

The Police Federation conference was told of a growing crisis in policing that is pushing officers to breaking point and delaying justice for victims.

Ben Hudson, secretary of Suffolk Police Federation and also the Federation’s National Detectives’ Forum, led the final session at the Manchester gathering to highlight the impact of DG6 – the guidance on charging that came into effect in January last year.

It has added obligations to the officer in charge of an investigation and front-loaded the disclosure process amounting to a “hidden tax on policing”, Ben said.

He played clips of investigating officers who spelled out the real impacts of the changes, both to their workloads and the ability to deliver a timely service to victims.

Isabelle Jenkins, speaking to camera, said rape allegations previously took an average of six to nine months from the start of an investigation to the point of charge. Since the advent of DG6 that has now doubled. 

She added: “My most recent rape investigation has taken me 12 months to secure a charge. I have two colleagues who are at the 18 months point. This isn’t our investigations that are taking this long, it is the consistent changes and action plans from the CPS. I’ve had victims whose mental health has taken a decline because they just want answers. It’s bad enough what they’ve been through as a rape victim, let alone waiting a year to find out if they are going to get any justice.”

PC Georgie Dodd said her workload had increased because of disclosure, and morale was very low. Louise Goddard from Wiltshire Police spoke on camera about how a colleague of 22 years quit due to “having had enough” of the workload, and Louise also wonders how long she can continue.

Sergeant Josh Ives added: “I feel like our hands are completely tied behind our back by the changes.”

Ben drew attention to the findings of the Federation’s 2021 pay and morale survey which found that 96 per cent of detectives who responded felt the changes had increased the number of hours spent on pre-charge file preparation. In addition, 87 per cent said the changes had increased their stress, and 86 per cent felt the changes had decreased the efficiency of the criminal justice system.

Ben added: “Perhaps the most alarming statistic was that 45 per cent – almost half, indicated the number of victims who had withdrawn from active participation with their investigation had increased due to the changes.”

Under the previous system, if officers submitted 1,000 cases to the CPS, around 75 would result in a charge and require the completion of a full file. Since DG6 all 100 now require a file, even though 25 will not result in a charge.

Ben pointed out that this represented a 33 per cent increase in workload and effort to no avail. New redaction requirements involve, on average, an additional four hours per case he added.

The Federation’s concerns were put directly to Max Hill QC, Director of Public Prosecutions, who insisted “I do get it,” before adding: “DG6 came into force on 31 December 2020 not because I chose that date but when the Attorney General decided after a long conversation that there had to be a step change.”

Mr Hill admitted that the CPS had too often got it wrong when it came to disclosure and cases were coming unstuck in court. He also conceded that the system is “front loaded” currently. However, he argued that police and the CPS were working much more effectively now as “one team” even if staff on both sides were more tired or carrying more cases than before.

He added: “I can assure you we are not attempting to apply any higher standard than what the law requires. We are simply saying ‘these are the challenges we are going to face as one team when this goes to court’ so as one team let’s see if we can meet those challenges. If we get it right first time, we won’t find our cases are torpedoed when it comes to court.”

Also on the panel was Nick Ephgrave, assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. His take on DG6 was there was now “increased rigour” around the application of disclosure law, along with an exponential increase in the volume of data. 

He said: “I say to my people you’ve got to start thinking of disclosure from the minute you read the crime report. If you do that some of this workload will get spread across the time period – it’s not the solution, but it’s the other side of the coin of investigation.”

The panel agreed that an impending review of the impact of the guidelines by the Attorney General’s Office offered the possibility of positive changes to reduce the burden on officers and speed up justice.

During the session, Ben also highlighted the pressures officers were facing due to redaction requirements under the Data Protection Act.

He said: “We would urge the Government to address this immediately. An amendment to the act to allow the CPS and the police service to be treated as one entity would make a huge difference and save considerable time.

“An expert review of nine files found that the new redaction requirements involve, on average, an additional four hours per case. And this will be considerably higher for more complex investigations.”