Recommendations - Sussex Police, November 2019

Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

​Email sent to staff reminding them of the need for adequate information to be placed on the CAD. Contact handler guidance updated re: use of Shift F8 Function in Current system (STORM MA) to ensure CAD is updated- Manual Shift F8 key stroke, to take a snapshot/timestamp of resource availability which is added to the CAD remarks, this can be carried out at any given point, until a resource is assigned to an incident. Use of F8 automatically populates the CAD.

During the 2 week Controllers course this is covered under the additional STORM commands that they are taught. The F8 function is trained and practised alongside a discussion about when to use it

Use of this function is included in current training Material and how use of code NRA (no resources available) is not appropriate

Resourcing Deployment document and it refers to point number one below (page 12)

An extract from the Core Storm MA (current System 2019-2020) use manual which shows how we filter remarks on Storm. (point 4)

Domestic abuse grading changed as of 16/12/2019 and as such will ensure correct grading for Grade 3 DA (previously all DA was graded 2 even if would fall as Grade 3) and effective management within FCCCD for Grade 2 incidents which require resourcing, or queue management by Supervision in FCCCD. This will be completed and reviewed by the Corporate development team and forms part of the on-going work

Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

November 2019 -Review completed of police calls regarding welfare checks and police attendance. This is based on identification at point of contact about most appropriate agency.

14/11/19 outcomes of report alongside work completed by Hampshire Constabulary on welfare checks taken to Local Policing and Accountability Board chaired by ACC Chapman.

Agreement was made to look at adopting this as a similar process to Hants in Sussex. This involved new decision making processes in FCCCD to ensure that the primary attending agency is the most suitable. This will now require a project to ensure relevant consultations with agencies involved to roll out changes to process, policy and guidance to staff around how welfare calls are managed.

Best Practice has been sought from other forces e.g. Hampshire and Staffordshire, who currently use this system

There is currently no policy in relation to welfare calls for concern and as part of this work there will be a recommendation for a policy in relation to this. This work utilises the following recommendations from:

- Home Office Best Practice – supporting vulnerable people who encounter the police 2015
- HMIC – An inspection into crime prevention and police attendance and the use of police time 2014
- NPIA – Guidance on responding to people with mental health or learning disabilities 2010
- College of Policing – Risk management 2013
- NPIA & ACPO National Contact Management Principles & Practice 2012
- College of Policing – Mental Health APP
- Advice from Sarah Winfield, Directorate of Legal Services, New Scotland Yard

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Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

​Action Taken

Current Systems and IT mean that adding resourcing levels to any CAD on STORM cannot be automatic. Any such information would require a manual input from supervision.

Email sent to supervisors to oversee resourcing levels and utilise the shift F8 function record resourcing levels on the STORM CAD

Supervisors have access to Performance Monitor on STORM, which gives an overview of all current grade 1 & 2 Incidents for the Force and where they have not been assigned and once assigned, if the unit is at scene. There is a handover sheet between teams to ensure issues are identified

Meeting with Sussex IT 22/11/19 to look at future telephony and systems requirements. A function for automatic resourcing on future systems has been raised to ensure that this forms part of future commissioned systems. Smart Storm (Current use of Storm MA) is in testing and configuration for rollout May 2020.

From Sussex and Surrey Storm working group 11/12/2019

“In the 1st quarter 2020, we endeavour, subject to IT Resources, to configure further functionality that takes a timestamp in the CAD remarks of all the incidents they are currently managing, status, grade, assigned etc and will be applied by Controllers via a similar key stroke”

“There is also a recommendation going to the weekly Ops Meeting in the New Year, to also colourise text, to differentiate between Controller and Call Handler remarks”