Norfolk PEEL 2015

The chief officer team shows strong leadership in developing and maintaining an ethical culture within Norfolk Constabulary. They have communicated a clear vision to staff through a variety of means, and are accessible to staff.

The constabulary has recently set up an integrity committee, with Suffolk Constabulary, chaired by a deputy chief constable. The committee has a broad range of representatives from across the organisation, and is intended as a forum for discussing ethical issues raised by officers and staff.

The constabulary recognises that it has not undertaken a staff survey for a number of years and is aware that surveying its staff would help it to understand better the concerns of staff.

The Code of Ethics is an integral part of the constabulary’s mission, vision and philosophy statement and has been communicated regularly to staff.

Health and wellbeing of officers and staff is important to Norfolk Constabulary, and it has a joint comprehensive occupational health unit.

There is consistency and fairness across the complaint and misconduct allegation case files examined.

This question has not been inspected or graded in 2015.

Norfolk Constabulary has a clear understanding at all levels of the organisation of how important it is to engage with the public to build confidence in the services provided. The constabulary carries out wide-ranging survey work to understand public requirements and concerns.

The constabulary uses a range of communication methods to reach different parts of the community and it engages with and updates the public by means including a community messaging system and social media, as well as traditional media releases. The constabulary engages effectively with a wide range of partner organisations.

The National Decision Model (the framework by which all policing decisions should be made, examined and challenged) is generally understood by officers and staff and applied, particularly for more complex or challenging situations.

Officers and staff clearly understand the importance of treating the public fairly and with respect and how this contributes to the maintenance of public support.

Officers in Norfolk Constabulary understand the importance of using stop and search powers legally and fairly. However, not all stop and search records include sufficient reasonable grounds to justify the lawful use of the power or demonstrate that officers and supervisors fully understand the grounds required to use this power.

A wide range of stop and search information is monitored and scrutinised at both a senior level and by the independent stop and search scrutiny panel. The constabulary is compliant with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme, and publishes comprehensive data on its use of stop and search.

All officers authorised to use Taser are appropriately trained and familiar with the National Decision Model. They clearly understand their responsibility to exercise good judgment when considering the use of Taser and the importance of recording detailed rationale to allow for public scrutiny of their actions, Norfolk Constabulary complies with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme and Taser is used fairly and appropriately.