No frills guide to Policing Excellence

A member of the Māngere East Neighbourhood Policing Team discusses crime issues with a retailer. Photo: Kathryn Fitzpatrick, Ten-One

The way police officers do their jobs is undergoing a radical transformation through a programme of work called Policing Excellence.

At its core, Policing Excellence is about prevention – stopping crime and crash before it happens – allowing Police to focus on highly visible, preventative activities.

For frontline police, the changes are significant – more focus on prevention and discretion, more appropriate deployment when and where staff are most needed and the use of new technology allowing staff to spend more time on the streets.

Policing Excellence Sponsor, Deputy Commissioner Mike Bush says focusing on ‘prevention first’ will result in fewer victims and offenders, and allow more resources to be concentrated on problem areas. “These initiatives are common sense. They have been trialled in districts and they are backed by the Government.

“Those that have rolled out are, as expected, providing better outcomes for Police, the justice sector and victims. Putting crime, crash prevention and victims at the heart of policing will fundamentally change the way staff do their jobs,” he says.

Work on three workstreams is already affecting staff:

Police Model
The ‘Prevention First’ Police Model puts prevention at the front of police business, balanced with response, investigations and resolution. It aims to allow everyone in New Zealand to “be safe and feel safe”.

The Police Model includes a number of sub-workstreams, most notably Prevention First and Victims Focus, but also Productivity, Performance Management, Reallocation, Continuous Improvement and Accountability.

Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs) are a tactic of the Police Model. Sixteen NPTs have been deployed so far in Counties Manukau, Waitematā and Eastern Districts. Sixteen teams in eight further districts will be trained at the conclusion of the Rugby World Cup.

“We’ve attended some meetings with community leaders and while they were initially stand-offish, they’re now really supportive and want to help.

“This is a very different type of policing – you have to tread carefully with people who think their area is being targeted because it’s the worst of the worst – but after it’s explained to them, they’re okay about it.”

- Sergeant Geoff Barnett, Starling Park NPT, Waitematā

Alternative Resolutions
Formalising the use of warnings and discretion is key to Policing Excellence and goes a long way towards reducing victimisation and offending.

Since pre-charge warnings were introduced in September last year more than 14,000 have been issued, allowing people who have often simply made a mistake to avoid a permanent conviction against their name.

Written traffic warnings have been piloted in Wellington District but another pilot – planned for the three Auckland districts – is needed before national implementation will be considered.

Community Justice Panels, a joint initiative with the Ministry of Justice and Community Law Canterbury, have resumed after going on hold following the Christchurch earthquake in February.

“When pre-charge warnings were introduced into the District, many officers didn’t believe they were a good idea. They thought when you arrested someone, you had to charge them to justify the arrest. Now, pre-charge warnings are becoming the rule rather than the exception for low level offending, and that’s how it should be.

“Discretion shows we’re not just automatons arresting and charging people for every offence, then pushing them into the court system.”

- Senior Sergeant Neil Phillips, District Custodial Unit, Counties Manukau

Case Management
File Management Centres are being set up as part of the national rollout of Case Management. This workstream aims to improve the way Police manages and resolves cases. It introduces a 10-stage process identifying the key responsibilities for managing a file from start to finish.

Already business as usual in Counties Manukau and Auckland Districts, Case Management is now being established in Canterbury and Eastern Districts.

After the Rugby World Cup, it will be rolled out in Northland, Waitematā, Waikato (November), Bay of Plenty, Central, Wellington (December), Tasman and Southern (February).

“I can now see all the child abuse cases in one report, who they are assigned to, where they are in the process, and if the supervisors are checking, reviewing and rating them, all in seconds.

“Two years ago I would have had to phone every station before I could report to my manager how busy we were.

“Now people throughout the organisation can tell you about any or all ‘active’ files in the country.”

- Detective Sergeant Mark Greene, Child Protection Coordinator, Waikato District