Abuse of Position

12 January 2018

Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU)

The Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU) work under the umbrella of the Professional Standards Department (PSD). The ACU is responsible for assessing and investigating allegations of all types of police corruption involving Surrey Police employees or investigations into members of the public who are suspected of attempting to corrupt serving employees.

Our philosophy is 'prevention is better than cure'. We aim to address potential problems early to protect both our staff who find themselves in a vulnerable position and the organisation as a whole. Where this fails we will proactively investigate suspected individuals.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Abuse of Authority for Sexual Gain – The abuse of position for a sexual purpose is defined as: 'any behaviour by a police officer or police staff member*, whether on or off duty, that takes advantage of their position as a member of the police service to misuse their position, authority or powers in order to pursue a sexual or improper emotional relationship with any member of the public' – All concerns of this nature should be flagged to the ACU in the first instance.
2. Vulnerable Datasets / Computer Misuse – The ACU will safeguard the information contained within force and National Systems such as NICHE, ICAD Browser, PND, ANPR, PNC etc. working closely with the Information Security team. All instances of inappropriate access (not for a policing purpose) will be investigated by the ACU / PSD.
3. Inappropriate Disclosure Of Information – Information sharing is the bedrock of effective law enforcement and comprehensive record keeping by individual forces allows the police to be effective in their pursuit, protection and prevention of crime and disorder. When compromised, leaks and disclosure of information seriously undermine our ability to work effectively and endanger the lives of our public and assets. 
4. Undeclared Inappropriate / Notifiable Associations – Staff with criminal associates are potentially more likely to receive a corrupt approach and / or disclose information due to friendship and family ties.  Inappropriate associations include links to the media and all other relationships which could make the subject vulnerable to corruption. Staff have an obligation to declare notifiable associations to vetting so that any risks can be understood and mitigated safeguarding the staff member and to prevent adverse inference being drawn should the association otherwise come to the notice of the organisation.

Do you have a concern?

We operate on a 'prove or disprove' mentality – it is as important to us to clear employees of wrongdoing and exonerate as it is to deal with instances of proven corrupt behaviour.

If you have any concerns or misgivings then please consider the following guidelines (not exhaustive):

5. Be discreet – irrespective of your rank or position do you need to talk to anyone else? If there is no need to speak to your supervisor then don't. Speak to us in the first instance and we will advise on the appropriate course of action. Often allegations provided to the ACU have already been widely discussed preventing us to consider a number of tactics that would have otherwise been effective to get to the bottom of the issue (for better or for worse).
6. Debrief – Don't be afraid to ask questions and probe your concerns – if a member of the public has called the switchboard or approached you in the course of your duty to raise a concern then probe their information. This may be the only time they will discuss such matters remember Who, What, Where, When, How and Why?
7. Refer – Similar to the dedicated source handling unit (DSHU) if a third party has raised concerns then would they be willing to speak to us directly? If so please debrief them as above and refer them to the ACU. Following the DSHU referral process would be appropriate in this circumstance. If they do not wish to speak to us then please still submit their intelligence as explained below.
8. Inform - The ACU can be contacted as below. We understand that sometimes you will wish to remain anonymous and we cater for this but would request that this is a last resort and that you feel confident to speak to us directly. If you do decide that you wish to use the anonymous system then please see this as a conversation. Regularly login to see our responses as we will often have follow up questions or will use this to feedback where appropriate. 

The following is NPCC Guidance on Police officers and staff abusing their position for sexual / inappropriate relationships.