‘Increase access to double crewing’ urges the Federation

4 July 2024

West Mercia Police Federation has appealed to the Force to increase access to double crewing.

Branch chair Steve Butler and secretary Pete Nightingale highlighted the positive impacts of double crewing on officers’ morale, their safety, and their productivity during a recent meeting with senior leaders of the Force.

The Police Federation for England and Wales’s (PFEW) Pay and Morale Survey found that only 11 per cent of West Mercia Police respondents had access to double crewing at all times, compared to 27 per cent nationally.

Reflecting on these results, Steve said: “The research shows that when officers have more access to double crewing, their morale increases and it has positive effects on their productivity.

“There is also a reduction in officers being assaulted or injured, which we know is a big issue, with 634 assaults on our officers in the past year.

Double crewing

“At the moment, West Mercia Police are an outlier against Most Similar Groups (MSGs), according to recent data, in that fewer of our officers are double crewing and we have higher levels of assaults.”

The issue was raised during a meeting with Rachel Hartland Lane, the Force’s Director of Business Services, and Chief Superintendent Beth Bridges of Operations Support, which centred around the results of the Pay and Morale Survey.

Steve said the survey found that frustrations for members were not all about pay, but also at ‘not being able to give the public a quality service’.

He said: “Pay and conditions are very much linked to national issues, which PFEW are challenging to ensure officers are rewarded accordingly.

“Locally, it’s dealing with things in bite-size chunks, starting with those areas that could have the greatest impact on a large proportion of our members.

“The areas we put forward to start with were patrol, closely followed with ideas for CID.”

Steve said that as well as double crewing, an issue facing patrol officers was that the levels of supervision were not adequate.

On patrol

He said: “The ratio of sergeants on patrol should be increased, and officers should be able to have regular and consistent contact and support.

“We need an increase so we can prioritise the welfare and support officers need.

“With our demographic shifting to a more inexperienced workforce, it’s essential we provide adequate supervision, instruction and training, in in-line with the Health and Safety at Work Act.”

He said that appropriately staffed interview teams help to reduce demands on officers and sergeants.

This includes not having officers dealing with night-time handovers who then get ‘stuck’ in custody for most of their shifts.

“More officers are able to deal with the immediate demand and respond to the public,” Steve said.

“The interview team then become experts and more productive and efficient in dealing with prisoners.

Bureaucracy

“It’s having the right people in the right place at the right time.”

Steve also called for a reduction in bureaucracy, something the Federation is campaigning on with its #SimplifyDG6 work.

He said efforts to reduce what was in the Manual of Guidance ‘created was a backdoor increase to officers with the introduction of booklets, checklists, and assessments’.

“This has now evolved with ever-increasing use of recording APPs, referrals, assessments,” he said.

“It’s the same with the introduction of IT or equipment where the perspective of the end user has been lacking. The drive should be to implement things that reduce officers’ workload.”

Steve suggested a review of what patrol officers are being asked to do, saying: “Would we be better to have experts in their fields rather than a jack of all trades who are run ragged trying to keep everyone happy?”

He also said there was a ‘massive perception’ of a north-south divide as he asked for ‘levelling up’ across the Force.

Facilities

“It’s not just with career development opportunities, but also relating to our estates and what facilities officers have at stations,” he said.

“The optics and difference between our Force HQ and our stations is massive. Ways to balance this with better working environments include canteens, gyms, and parking would be beneficial.”

Steve also met John Campion, the Police and Crime Commissioner for West Mercia, for the first time since he was re-elected for a third term last month.

Steve said: “It was refreshing to hear some similar observations to ours on the Force’s current position and the work to enhance this.

“Many of his observations came from his visits around the Force, with the most recent one to Market Drayton.”

Steve said regular catch-ups were planned, adding: “There was also a mutual agreement for greater communication and working relationships between us, which can only be of great benefit to our members.”