Annual Review Of Policing 2016/17 Improving policing for Scotland’s communities SCOTTISHSCOTTISH POLICE POLICE AUTHORITY AUTHORITY -– ANNUAL ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLICINGPOLICING 2016/17 2016/17 Contents Introduction .................................................................................. Page 4 Chair’s Foreword ........................................................................... Page 6 Chief Constable’s Comments ........................................................ Page 8 1. Executive Summary ...................................................................... Page 9 2. SPA Contribution to Policing ........................................................ Page 12 2.1 SPA Corporate Delivery in 2016/17 ...................................... Page 16 2.2 The Role of the Responsible Employer ................................. Page 17 2.3 Developing Our Scrutiny and Assurance .............................. Page 19 2.4 SPA Community Accountability ........................................... Page 21 3. SPA Forensic Services ................................................................... Page 27 4. Policing Delivery ........................................................................... Page 34 4.1 Public Confidence – A Key Measure for Policing ................. Page 36 4.2 Violence, Disorder and Antisocial Behaviour ....................... Page 39 4.3 Prevent First ......................................................................... Page 41 4.4 Reducing Offending .............................................................. Page 44 4.5 Case Studies ......................................................................... Page 48 4.6 Hate Crime and Community Cohesion................................. Page 50 4.7 Domestic Abuse .................................................................... Page 54 4.8 Serious Organised Crime ..................................................... Page 58 4.9 Counter Terrorism ................................................................ Page 67 4.10 Policing Major Events ............................................................ Page 70 4.11 Protecting People at Risk of Harm ....................................... Page 74 4.12 Road Safety and Road Crime ................................................ Page 81 4.13 Domestic Housebreaking ..................................................... Page 85 4.14 Corporate Delivery ............................................................... Page 89 4.15 Organisational Learning ....................................................... Page 94 5. Policing 2026 – The Future ........................................................... Page 101 2 SCOTTISH POLICE AUTHORITY – ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLICING 2016/17 Annual Review of Policing 2016-17 This Annual Review of Policing 2016/17 is available to members of the public electronically from the SPA website at: www.spa.police.uk A Gaelic language version will be made available following this publication. Laid before the Scottish Parliament by the Scottish Police Authority in pursuance of Section 39 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (19 June 2017) (SPA/2017/01) 3 SCOTTISH POLICE AUTHORITY – ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLICING 2016/17 Introduction Since the establishment of the Police Service Police Scotland also recognised the need of Scotland (Police Scotland) and the Scottish for a refreshed approach to performance Police Authority (SPA) at the beginning management and work was undertaken, in of 2013/14, the first three years of Police collaboration with the SPA, to develop an Scotland resulted in the consolidation of approach that focuses on delivering positive many of the benefits of reform, through outcomes for people and communities, the amalgamation of legacy structures and rather than emphasising outputs. The aim is a consistent focus on delivering a quality to increase public confidence in policing and policing service to Scotland’s communities. promote a positive performance culture that In the context of the longer term reform empowers officers and staff to make better journey, 2016/17 was a transitional year decisions. In 2016/17 there was a gradual that provided an opportunity for both the shift to this approach, which was evident SPA and Police Scotland to take stock and from improving quarterly public performance consider the next steps to full realisation reporting and this will be consolidated in of the benefits of the single service, the next few years in support of Policing within existing and anticipated financial 2026. Important areas for improvement constraints. It became evident that whilst the going forward include: demonstrating amalgamation associated with operational evidence of policing impact within multi- policing delivery was strong throughout the agency contexts; evidencing improvements first four years, with new national systems arising from partnership working for public and structures having been developed safety and wellbeing and public perceptions to support improved local and national/ and confidence; and the development of specialist policing, the amalgamation of stronger case study evidence and evaluations corporate support services functions and with respect to pilots and initiatives. associated national ICT systems was less advanced. In addition, a considerable amount of work was undertaken to address the findings from Throughout 2016/17, the SPA and Police the Employee Opinion Survey undertaken Scotland worked in collaboration to develop in October 2015. An interim, staff ‘Pulse’ a 10 year Strategy for Policing in Scotland Survey was undertaken in late 2016 to (Policing 2026). This would address both measure progress. The survey highlighted operational and corporate priorities as part a number of areas where additional focus is of a broader ‘whole organisation’ approach. required and where areas for improvement Policing 2026 aligns to the new strategic remain to be resolved. This work police priorities set by Scottish Government demonstrates the SPA and Police Scotland’s in the autumn of 2016, which provide new commitment to promoting staff wellbeing expectations of how future policing will be and enabling a positive organisational culture delivered in Scotland. that supports effective and efficient service delivery - a strategic objective of Policing 2026. Realistically, it is likely to take two or three years before there is significant evidence of improvement of staff responses as a result of implementation of Policing 2026 objectives. 4 SCOTTISH POLICE AUTHORITY – ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLICING 2016/17 The aim of this fourth Annual Review of Policing is to present an accurate picture of policing performance during 2016/17, with an assessment of Police Scotland’s performance as well as that of the SPA’s performance in carrying out its functions. Evidence relating to both operational and organisational delivery and an assessment of how far policing is delivering the aims of Police Reform as well as the benefits is included. 2016/17 was the final year of operation for Police Scotland under the SPA Strategic Police Plan. A richer performance story was able to be told, due in part to the developing Police Scotland qualitative evidence-base, building a local, national and corporate picture of ongoing engagement, collaboration and delivery of improvements in support of policing priorities. Where relevant this review also presents evidence and comment from key policing stakeholders and scrutiny partners – for example Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), the Scottish Institute of Policing Research (SIPR) and Local Authorities, as this is valuable external evidence that helps to validate the SPA’s overall assessment of policing performance across the year. 5 SCOTTISH POLICE AUTHORITY – ANNUAL REVIEW OF POLICING 2016/17 Chair’s Foreword This Annual Review of Policing marks the fourth year of the single police service in Scotland. With the structure no longer new, there is a body of past evidence available and it is therefore with greater confidence that the SPA can assess that in 2016-17 Police Scotland met its annual objectives and continued to deliver a service to a high quality and consistency. Whether the service in its entirety has improved in the last 12 months is more challenging to assess because of two factors. First, the considerable emerging challenges, threats, complexities and ambiguities in the environment in which Police Scotland operates. Second, the increasing realisation that the framework within which we assess policing performance is incomplete, and in particular does not allow us to fully capture the vital and often life-changing role our staff ANdreW FlaNAGAN, play in addressing vulnerability in our society. SPA Chair What existing performance demonstrates is that crime is reducing across most A strong continuing performance in solving categories, with the majority of crimes being crimes should not mask the expanding detected. Rises in some types of violent and territory across which the service requires sexual crimes are priorities, and are being to tackle offending. The concept of the blue addressed with initiative and vigour. More line protecting the law abiding from the needs to be done to encourage victims law breaking now stretches far beyond the of crimes to report all incidents to the streets to the private spaces of our homes police, with domestic and historical sexual and the often darker recesses of the online offending two areas where greater recording world. That requires new strategies,