Recommendations - Essex Police, May 2025
Recommendations
3 totalThe IOPC recommends that Essex Police take steps to ensure newly appointed officers or staff members in the Adult Sexual Abuse Investigation Team (ASAIT) are fully equipped to perform their roles effectively. This should include considering pre-appointment training requirements and the potential allocation of a mentor or tutor to provide ongoing support.
Accepted Essex Police Policy does not exclude officers from joining the Adult Sexual Abuse Investigation team (ASAIT) prior to commencing posting. The policy allows for the posting of officers, including Investigate First officers without the completion of the Detective National Investigators exam, and of the completion of the appropriate course. However, Essex Police has recognised the need to ensure that detective accreditation for the ASAIT is prioritised, and as a result priority is now given to these officers attending the Detectives development course, following the completion of the NIE. In addition to this, there is no longer a requirement for ASAIT officers to complete their national detectives accreditation, before completing the Specialist Sexual Abuse Investigators Development Programme (SSAIDP), ensuring that there is no delay in officers receiving this training. All new ASAIT officers are assigned a tutor/mentor.
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police conduct a review of the Athena case management system to evaluate its functionality for supporting the management of non-crime investigations. In particular, the review should assess whether the system can facilitate automated reminders for supervisory reviews.
Accepted The Essex Police Athena lead has completed a paper outlying this issue and will put the matter before the Athena joint force Athena Governance group which is comprised of all police forces who use Athena. If changes will be made to Athena for non-crime investigations, it needs to be reviewed and authorised by that group as there will potentially be substantial cost implications.
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police refine their standard operating procedures (SOP) to include specific reference to the management and review of non-crime investigations. Once revised, the SOP should be effectively cascaded through targeted communications to all officers and staff.
Accepted Under the Op Soteria national framework and development plan, Essex Police has a strand of work that will be developing the implementation of a new SOP, which will include the review of ALL investigations, whether crime or non-crime, and will include the changing of review timescales to ensure there is supervision focus at the beginning of an investigation. This work is being developed through the OP Soteria programme, governed through the internal OP Soteria Board. As such, this recommendation already forms part of a much larger piece of on-going work under Op Soteria.