Detectives

“A detective is a holder of the office of constable, fully sworn and attested. They have achieved a nationally recognised standard and are accredited to investigate and provide a professional and effective response to serious and series crime.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) are the experts in detection. It is only right that the public are provided with a first class service where the quality, not the quantity of investigations is the priority and criminals not the tick boxes are the target in this very important area of policing.”
Police Federation of England and Wales

“CID is the life blood of the investigation role within the service. Sadly today there is often a lack of respect and value given to the role of detective which needs to be addressed urgently if we want to maintain the proud status synonymous with CID in the hearts of the British public. There needs to be a better standardisation of training and an urgent recognition of the skills gap emerging. If this isn’t addressed our concern is the excellent work of the detective will be eroded.”
Steve Williams, national detective lead, Joint Central Committee (JCC);

Where we stand;

• Being a detective is a vocation.

• The Federation is concerned that officers are being put off a career in CID because of the long hours, complicated court cases and their work not being given the right value. Potential CID officers are instead choosing careers where they can have a better work life balance.

• Unless there is greater recognition and support for the role of CID, the service is likely to suffer a recruitment and retention crisis –this is already happening in some parts of the country.

• We believe fully warranted police officers are essential to perform the role as their warranted status affords them the discretion needed to see investigations often through to a sound or satisfactory conclusion.

• Whilst we support the role and provision of civilian support investigators, we believe the integral role played by CID officers is being undermined by the current drive to recruit civilian investigators (CI’s) on the pretext of cost saving.

Civilian Investigators

• The current drive to recruit CI’s is part of the workforce modernisation programme, and is aimed at saving forces money, not necessarily at improving performance.

• CI’s can only do certain roles (though currently they seem to be performing nearly all aspects of investigation across the country including low category murder) and the public must be clear on their limitations to avoid a failure in expectation.

• Whilst CI’s may be being sold as a cost saving, in some forces they are in fact more expensive than a fully warranted officer.

• It should be borne in mind that many CI’s are in fact retired or former officers and whilst these skills are useful, this resource is not sustainable in the long term as there will be a skills gap between new joiners when these officers and CI’s retire. Young in service officers often lack the experience and skills needed to deal with rape and serious crime.

• There must be a clear role definition across the 43 forces with no ambiguous divide between detectives and civilian investigators.

• There must be a standardisation of training for CI’s and CID officers to ensure consistency and clarity on what they can and can not do and this must be effectively communicated to the public.

• The Federation believe that civilian investigators must not be financially recompensed more than warranted CID officers. In some forces CI’s receive more than their CID counterparts. The civilian role must not be more financially attractive as this will leave 24/7 warranted policing with a huge recruitment and retention crisis.

• It must be borne in mind that whilst CI’ provide an important support function they are not as flexible in the hours and call to duty as that of a warranted officer who is bound to duty 24/7.

What we want;

Targets - must be abandoned where a serious crime such as murder, rates the same target tick as litter.

National standards – this means being a fully qualified constable by whatever national standards exists. For the Federation this includes having done the full sting of independent patrol before being confirmed as a qualified constable.

Accredited – the Federation has been fully supportive of the development of PIP (professionalising investigation programme) level 2 aligns fully with the role of detective but importantly that not other factor can fulfil the criteria for that level of accreditation which interlinks with the office of constable and full use of powers.

Forces must not focus too much on cost cutting solutions, certainly where the impact is skill depletion around the specialist roles to the detriment of a loss of quality in service and delivery. The police are an expensive commodity and it is only right that the public expect and receive a first class service.

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