UK Prime Minister recently slammed Police HR for deploying too few police and using the wrong tactics during the recent riots and looting that scourged the country. But many in, and outside, the Force feel this could spell disaster for law and order in the UK.
Following the violent unrest which rapidly spread in the UK from London to other major cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Nottingham the Government recently pointed the finger at HR decisions in the Police Force as a possible root cause of the trouble. Announcing measures to try and curb the violence, David Cameron—the UK Prime Minister—told an emergency session of Parliament that police tactics had been ‘inadequate’ when the riots began in Tottenham, north London. Theresa May, the Minister in charge of policing, also revealed she had told the Police to cancel all officers’ leave so that the Force could ‘flood the streets with officers’ to try to bring an end to the riots.
Cancelling leave—wrong
Sir Hugh Orde, Head of the Association of Chief Police Officers was quick to rebut these damming comments and openly criticised the political leaders for finding fault with the police handling of the unrest. He pointed out that, in fact, the Police Force had been quick to learn from and react to the violence—which was some of the worst the country has ever witnessed.
Commenting on May’s decision to cancel police officers’ leave, Sir Orde was reported in the British press as saying, “Ms May had no power whatsoever to order the police leave cancelled.” He is also reported as having said that the decision of Ms May and the PM to return early from their holidays—to be seen taking charge—was ‘an irrelevance’ because experienced police officers had already devised a robust response—for which politicians later took the credit.
Cameron has since outlined a series of measures to expand police powers in emergencies including government authorisation for the police to use plastic bullets, water cannons and curfews. He also outlined contingency plans for drafting in the army to help with certain police functions such as guarding public buildings to help free up more police officers for riot duties. More controversially, he said that the Government may stop future rioters from using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and BlackBerry Messenger—to make it more difficult to coordinate ‘Flash mob’ incidents. This move seems a little ironic following the UK Government’s open criticism of similar measures introduced in China, Egypt and Libya. The UK Government feels that in the UK such impositions on freedom of expression and communication are justified as they feel, “It would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”
Get officers out of HR
Chris Bryant, Rhondda Labour MP warned Cameron that any more staff cuts to the Police Force would make it much more difficult for Force members from Wales to provide back up to the English Police Force in cases of future social unrest in England. Commenting on Cameron’s actions to date, Bryant warned, “The Prime Minister commends Welsh police forces for sending people down from Wales, but in the next four years we’re going to have 1,200 fewer officers in Wales and it’s going to be more difficult for us to help you out.”
Ignoring this plea for help from the Force, Cameron replied, “In Wales, as in England, there are opportunities to get officers out from desk jobs, and HR jobs and IT jobs.”
Last year, in a televised debate, David Cameron, as Leader of the Opposition also criticised HR in the Metropolitan Police. He commented, “The Metropolitan Police has 400 uniformed officers in its HR Department—when our police should be crime-fighters, not form-fillers.” At the time, Martin Tiplady the, then, Metropolitan Police Force’s HR Director questioned Cameron’s grasp of the figures pointing out that of the 400 officers mentioned, the vast majority—360—were in active training and assessing roles, rather than form-fillers stuck behind desks. The recent remarks by Sir Orde have now further widened this rift between politicians and senior police officers in the UK.
"There are around 7,000 officers in back office jobs such as IT and HR—that isn’t right."
More into the teeth…less into the tail
In order to achieve budget cuts in addition to strengthening frontline policing, Cameron recently reiterated his opinion concerning nationwide policing in the UK. He stated, “There are around 7,000 officers in back office jobs such as IT and HR—that isn’t right, so we do need to make changes so we can have the visible policing we all want to see.” He added, “There are police officers in back office jobs in IT, in HR, in other things that should be done by civilians, so we get the police on the frontline.” He then made clear the Government line-to-take, which would be to put more resources into the teeth of the Force and less into its tail.
Civilian HR vs Force HR
Many believe the proposed Government line to take, could spell disaster for policing in the UK and is likely to create huge problems when trying to replace those police officers currently working in HR roles with civilian equivalents. Tiplady was recently quoted by HR Magazine in the UK as saying, “The bottom line is: there will always be a significant requirement for cops in HR.” He believes that as a disciplinary service, police recruits should be trained and assessed by experienced police officers, rather than by civilians. He explained that the two-year probation period undergone by police recruits involves reaching milestones that only experienced officers are able to assess and ascertain and added, “When I was in the Met, cops in HR roles were there out of necessity.”
Some have criticised HR duties within the Force as ‘scratching posts’ for officers who cannot, or do not want to, get involved in frontline police duties and that, in reality, police officers could easily be assessed by tutor officers working as ‘line managers’ within their division. This view would mean that straightforward competency reviews would not necessarily need to be carried out by those within the HR Department—so why not get those officers currently in HR back on frontline duties? Well, the answer lies in what exact role HR actually plays within the organisation.
HR functions within the Force, as within any organisation, are not just concerned with staff assessment and training, but frequently involve multiple roles. HR leaders are responsible for maintaining sufficient staffing levels within the organisation, developing and maintaining talent pipelines to prepare the organisation for future eventualities and ensuring policies and procedures organisation-wide keep the HR system complaint with current employment laws.
Those in HR are also responsible for ensuring managers i.e. those in frontline policing posts are sufficiently skilled in ‘managing’ and, as such, it is preferable that those managers, rather than the HR department in the Force to train, performance manage and assess frontline police officers. So while it is important for officers to be ‘out and about’ in the community policing, as they gain hands-on experience and additional on-the-job training and climb up the career ladder, it is also preferable that their duties include managing other police officers.
Where does all this leave HR in the Force? While ‘police-related’ training duties might be better performed by in-house police officers rather than civilians, should strategic HR functions be handled by civilian HR experts instead? HR Magazine contacted the Human Resources Branch of the Hong Kong Police Force and asked them if they thought civilians could handle HR jobs within the Force, however, they declined to comment on the issue.
"The Metropolitan Police has 400 uniformed officers in its HR Department—when our police should be crime-fighters, not form-fillers."
‘Mixed HR’ approach
The HR function within any organisation plays a critical role in ensuring that the managers are supported by HR professionals where they need it most—in terms of skills and experience. In view of the very specific skill sets that are required by police officers, it may be difficult for a wholly civilian HR—with no practical policing experience—to understand exactly what is required by managers within the Force. A viable option may be outsourcing some non-police related back-end HR functions to civilians such as compensation and benefits, while assessment, training and development functions are better handled by frontline managers and coordinated by incumbent police-trained HR staff members. HR decisions concerning more strategic issues such as talent pipeline management and development may actually benefit from a mixed HR team which pools ideas and input from both Force-trained and civilian HR professionals to help arrive at better rounded HR strategies, that not only meet the internal demands of the Force, but also the needs of the community at large. This mixed approach might also help bridge the widening disconnect between the Force and the wider community in the UK. Hopefully, it will prove to be a robust step forward in avoiding a repeat of the recent riots, looting and civil unrest.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
