Succession Planning within the States of Jersey Police - Report - 19 May 2011

Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel

Succession Planning within the States of Jersey Police

Presented to the States on 19th May 2011

S.R.7/2011

Contents

Terms of Reference............................................................................................................ 2 Panel Membership.............................................................................................................. 2 Main Panel Membership..................................................................................................... 2 Explanation of terms........................................................................................................... 3

1. Chairman's Foreword................................................................................................ 4
2. Key Findings and Recommendations........................................................................ 6
3. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 9
4. Methodology............................................................................................................ 11
5. Structure of the States of Jersey Police .................................................................. 13
6. Current Skills Deficit in States of Jersey Police Force............................................. 15

8. Appointment of Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer........................................... 24
9. Talent Management and Development: Current Initiatives...................................... 30

10. Structural Factors contributing to the current skills deficit in the States of Jersey

 Police...................................................................................................................... 34

11. Political Accountability............................................................................................. 40
12. Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 41

Succession Planning: a definition:

A process by which one or more successors are identified for key posts (or groups of similar key posts), and career moves and/or development activities are planned for these successors. Successors may be fairly ready to do the job (short-term successors) or seen as having longer-term potential (long-term successors).[1]

Sir Cecil Clothier: Review of Police Services in Jersey,1996

We think it is natural and agreeable to appoint as Chief Officer someone who was born and lived in Jersey, provided that he or she is properly qualified for this important post. It is obviously desirable that the Chief Officer should be proud of and comfortable with the traditions of Jersey.[2]

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Is Succession Planning worth it?

There is no one model for succession planning and there are no hard-and-fast rules. Every organisation is different. [] But what is indisputable is that all organisations need leaders with a range of experience. Management training programmes cannot provide that hands- on experience which is crucial in making future leaders.

Although it is a complex and time-consuming process which, carried out properly, does not come cheap, succession planning is the only way of managing the delivery of that experience and aligning it with business needs. [3]

Terms of Reference

1. To review succession planning within the States of Jersey Police, to include consideration of the following:

1. The appointment of local and non-local staff;
2. The training and development policies;
3. The succession planning policies in place.

2. To examine any further issues relating to the topic that may arise in the course of the Scrutiny review and which the Panel considers relevant.

Panel Membership

For the purposes of this review, the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel established the following Sub-Panel:

Deputy R G Le Hérissier, Chairman Deputy T M Pitman, Vice-Chairman Deputy J M Maçon

Main Panel Membership

The Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel itself comprised the following members:

Deputy R G Le Hérissier, Chairman

Deputy T M Pitman, Vice-Chairman

Deputy M Tadier

Deputy J Maçon

Explanation of Terms

Abbreviations and explanation of terms used frequently in the report, in alphabetical order:

ACPO  Association of Chief Police Officers CSR   Comprehensive Spending Review HPDS  High Potential Development Scheme NPIA   National Police Improvement Agency PNAC  Police National Assessment Centre SCC   Strategic Command Course

The Force  States of Jersey Police Force

1. Chairman's Foreword

Why, after years of talking about the need for proper succession planning, are the States Police unable to find local candidates for senior positions?

We believe that there is a strong argument for a mix of local knowledge as well as highly skilled external appointments at the top of the management of the Force.

However, is there a realistic prospect of a Chief Officer emerging from within the local Force in the next ten years?

To broaden the debate, why are some States Departments more successful at succession planning than others?

Are there features of police work which mean local candidates are not sufficiently experienced if they stay on-Island? Are there aspects of police work which will always pose problems for local appointees?

Is it simply the case that an outside police chief appoints people around him or her who they have worked with elsewhere and with whom they are comfortable? Has there been a lack of political will?

Whatever, it is now time for the Minister to lay out a clear succession planning policy and ensure that there is a strong political will to see it through.

The new Police Authority should be a great help as it can set policy and monitor and report on its implementation. It is very noticeable how the evidence trail of action and implementation seemed to dry up when the move to ministerial government occurred.

A serious procedural matter arose in this Scrutiny insofar as the Panel thought it needed to obtain the views of officers of all ranks in order to see how the policy was working. Because of the Code governing Scrutiny and a very clear response from the Minister that such staff could not be interviewed in their own right, these views were not obtained. Presently, staff views have to be channelled through the Department's Chief Officer.

In our view, there exist some special circumstances where, in order to obtain a cross section of views and information, it is necessary to interview staff in confidence. Obviously, such an approach must be used sparingly.

In conclusion, we hope the result of this Scrutiny will be a Succession Planning policy which is committed to full development of local staff, backed up by the right resources and monitored rigorously.

Deputy Roy Le Hérissier

Education and Home Affairs Panel Chairman

2. Key Findings and Recommendations

1. The skills deficit throughout senior management of the Force as described in the Police submission is a matter of concern and must be addressed before there can be any realistic hope of finding sufficiently qualified and experienced local candidates ready to aspire to leadership of the Force.
2. Given the skills deficit identified in the Police submission, it is understandable that the Minister should seek, in the short term, to strengthen the management team of the Police Force with expertise recruited from outside the Island.
3. The Minister intends that the introduction of experienced specialist officers should be used to assist with the development of future Jersey leaders.

Recommendation

The Senior Management of the Police must be held accountable by the new Police Authority for the effective implementation of the Minister's intention.

4. We received evidence from the former Chief Officer that significant measures were taken, particularly during the early part of his period as leader of the Force (2001 - 2004). However, it seems to us that the momentum for succession planning was diminished. There is no record of political oversight after that time.
5. The establishment of the new Police Authority provides the Minister with an essential mechanism to oversee and monitor the development and ongoing implementation of effective succession planning.

Recommendation

It is essential that the new Police Authority regularly monitors the development of the planned secondment programme for officers with high potential and in particular examines the budget allocation and reports to the Minister.

6. The requirement for the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer to meet the UK benchmark for completion of the Strategic Command Course sets the barrier very high for local officers. A review of this requirement in respect of the Deputy Chief Officer may improve opportunities for local candidates to progress to the top positions of the Force.

7. If a local candidate were to achieve a place on the Strategic Command Course it would be necessary for that officer to be guaranteed a position within the senior management team. This may require a review of the principle of opening all Senior Appointments to external competition.

Recommendation

The Minister should consider whether the successful completion of the Strategic Command Course standard is entirely appropriate for both the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer in a small Island Force. He should seek advice from the National Police Improvement Agency on this question.

8. In order for local officers with high potential to broaden their experience extensive periods of secondment to command positions in other UK forces are required as part of an ongoing programme of professional development.

Recommendation

We believe that it is essential that the new Police Authority carefully monitors the development of the planned secondment programme for officers with high potential to ensure that they have adequate and extensive opportunities to develop their policing experience in challenging environments.

9. Significant investment will be required over a number of years to redress the skills, leadership and command shortages identified in the Police Submission. In a period of spending restraint, training budgets are often hard pressed. It may therefore be necessary to reorder training and development priorities.

Recommendation

The new Police Authority must carefully consider the need to enhance the Police budget for training and development.

10. There are a number of structural factors in the States of Jersey Police which in our opinion have important implications for succession planning and fundamentally influence the motivation and commitment which local officers bring to seeking senior management positions within the Force.

 Some are simply facts which cannot be changed; for example, the size of the Force which is conditioned by the requirements for policing the population of a small Island.

Some factors are capable of being addressed: we note, for example, that the previous Chief Officer and the current Senior Management have made and are making concerted to improve recruitment and graduate training schemes.

Other factors, including the early retirement arrangements for police officers and the high differentials in pay scales, are complex and potentially contentious. However, an understanding of their implications is essential in developing an effective succession policy.

Recommendation

The Minister together with the Police Authority should examine the implications for effective succession planning of the structural issues identified in the report, including the impact of early retirement and pay scales.

3. Introduction

In July 2010 the States of Jersey began the process for recruiting a new Chief Officer for the States of Jersey Police Force. The Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel decided that this was a good opportunity to review the criteria to be applied to the selection and appointment of this important post.

Our objectives were

• to examine the reasons for the current situation whereby there appears to be no local officers with the qualifications and experience necessary to aspire to leadership of the States of Jersey Police Force;
• to identify what efforts have been made in recent years to provide suitable professional development to locally trained officers with leadership potential; and
• to ask what steps are being taken now to ensure that local officers can be in a better position in future to compete for the most senior management roles in the States Police.

The Force currently has no locally trained officers within its senior management team - a new Chief Officer has been appointed, the Acting Deputy Police Chief has been confirmed in post and, most recently, two new Superintendents have been engaged - all have been recruited from outside the Island.

The Minister for Home Affairs told us during our review that he was frustrated at the situation of having all the senior management positions within the Force occupied by persons recruited externally. He contrasted the situation of the States of Jersey Police with other organisations within the Home Affairs Department:

I have got within Home Affairs organisations like Customs and Immigration, which is virtually entirely 100 per cent home-grown. People develop up through the organisation. There is continuity and so on. My own personal experience is that home knowledge is valuable and outside experience is valuable as well, and you need that combination of two as part of the team. So I suppose if I was going to say what I am looking for ideally, I probably would want to have one of the top two who was locally and one of the top two who had lots of experience away. But I would want the one who was from Jersey also to have had experience away.[4]

The Minister's statement suggests that ideally there should be a balance between external experience and local knowledge at senior level in the Force. However, previous political leaders over the past decade have voiced similar aspirations without any improvement in outcome to date.

An Act of the Home Affairs Committee in 2004, for example, shows that the Committee at that time was deeply concerned about the legacy from the absence of succession planning which had resulted in the requirement to recruit the three most senior Officers from the UK'. The Committee agreed that it was necessary to effectively plan to prevent a future occurrence of this situation'. A Committee member at the time stated that:

it was essential that a strategic balance of UK expertise and local experience be achieved in the most senior ranks. In particular, it was recognised that it was important to illustrate to the junior ranks that opportunities for promotion to the very top of the service existed for locally trained Officers. The Committee emphasised its wish to see local Officers procuring the most senior positions in the future.'

The apparent continued lack of effective succession planning and consequent reliance on externally recruited senior management for the States Police Force is disappointing. We believe that it is a sign of a healthy organisation that it can foster the development of its own staff to enable them to aspire to reach highest levels of management.

The Chairman of the Jersey Appointments Commission made the point to us in a public hearing that the continued absence of any successful local candidates was very likely to be self- perpetuating. Unless local candidates feel that they have a real opportunity they will become demotivated:

If the top job is always off-Island then people will stop trying for it, so you have the balance, the motivation and desire so that people do have a chance to come up through. I think that is where the balance comes from and there is no point in putting lots of time and effort into developing people, but then them never being appointed, because that has a retrograde impact on the rest of the business; the rest of the organisation sees that very visibly and says: "Well, what is the point[5]

In our review we hope to test whether the Minister's aspirations to encourage local candidates have any chance of success where other previous attempts appear to have failed.

4. Methodology

We received a substantial submission from the States of Jersey Police[6]. This document confirmed a worrying deficit in command experience within the current Force and the lack of locally trained officers ready to step up into senior management positions (see section 6 of this report). We have attempted to identify factors which have contributed to this situation (see section 10)

The submission also indicated that interim measures had been initiated to address the situation for the future long term through training and professional development (see section 9 of this report).

In August 2010 we issued a public call for evidence but received only a limited response which comprised of one submission from a former Chief Officer of a States Department[7], one submission provided in confidence from a former civil servant and one anonymous submission from a retired former police officer.

The latter made a number of allegations about lack of opportunities afforded to local officers. We were not, however, in a position to substantiate these statements as we were unable to interview serving officers. While we were able to hear evidence from the President of the Police Association we believed that it was important, for a balanced view of the position within the Force and to fully understand the experience of serving officers, to hear from individual officers. Accordingly we requested the Minister for Home Affairs to allow Police officers to give evidence to us and suggested that this should be on a confidential basis and without the presence of their senior officers. We were aware that this was outside the normal protocols for Scrutiny hearings but believed that it would enable to have a free and open discussion. The Minister, however, responded that it would not be appropriate to depart from the normal rule, particularly in a disciplined service such as the States of Jersey Police. Our focus therefore had to remain on how the general policy has been implemented in the past and its suitability for the future needs of the Force. We consider that this was a serious limiting factor in our review.

In October 2010 we conducted a series of public hearings[8]. Witnesses with immediate relevance to the Police Force included the Minister for Home Affairs, the then Acting Deputy Chief Officer, Barry Taylor , and the then President of the Police Association.

We are grateful for the views of the newly appointed Chairman of the Jersey Appointments Commission, the Director of Human Resources and the Deputy Chief Executive of the Chief Minister's Department who provided a perspective on succession planning in general within the States of Jersey.

Following consideration of an initial draft report we decided in February 2011 to go back to the States Police to request further detailed information on the structure of the Police Force and its recruitment and leadership training policies (see Appendix Two).

We also decided to contact the former Chief Officer, Graham Power, who responded to suggestions in the Police submission that succession planning had been neglected over the last 6 or 7 years and provided a submission (see Appendix Three) giving insight into the initiatives undertaken during his period of office (see section 7).

Finally it is important to acknowledge the important development of the establishment of a Police Authority which was approved by the States in February 2011 (see section 11 of this report).

5. Structure of the States of Jersey Police

We set out here a brief summary of the structure of the States of Jersey Police Force (further information is available in the Police submissions - see Appendices to this report).

The States of Jersey Police Force (the Force) comprises 237 warranted police officers with approximately 90 civilian staff. There is a requirement for a core base of career police constables to respond to the broad range of policing needs in the Island, including public safety issues as well as criminal activities.

The resourcing model for the States of Jersey Police (see Police briefing document, Appendix One) demonstrates that that the Force relies predominantly on local recruitment and training for its core base of officers. Recent years have seen an average of between 12 and 15 candidates recruited into the Force each year.

Locally  recruited  police  officers  may  be  supplemented  by  a  small  number  of  experienced transferees from UK police forces (three police officers have transferred in the past two years). These must meet minimum local residency qualification requirements (Note: special permission has been granted to recruit Police Officers with only 3 years local residency, instead of the normal 5 years residency requirements).

The Force has also been supported in recent years through the engagement of external persons either on the basis of contract, support from other forces or on J-cat licences. This is due to variable demands and the diverse and complex nature of policing. The following are an example of some of the services that the Force has been required to buy in' on a case by case basis:

• Tactical firearms support;
• Civilian investigators and UK police officers for major investigations;
• Specialist child abuse investigators;
• Hi-Tech crime investigations and forensic computing;
• Specialist forensic investigators for financial crime.

The rank structure of the Force is broadly similar to other Forces in the UK, however, the number in ranks have been adjusted to recognise the operational requirements particular to Jersey

Due to the size of the Force and the limitations on staff numbers there tends to be a wider management responsibility for core policing functions as opposed to the UK where use is made of dedicated specialist units.

There is a small senior management team consisting of the Chief Officer, Deputy Chief Officer (ACPO ranks) and two Superintendents - there is no Assistant Chief Constable rank or Chief Superintendent as there would be in a larger UK force.

The middle management ranks of Sergeant, Inspector and Chief Inspector are filled through internal promotion based on merit and benchmarked against UK national standards.

Below the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer there are two recently appointed Superintendents, both of whom are external appointments. Until recently there was only one Superintendent post which effectively reduced the number of local officers eligible to apply for selection to the Strategic Command Course as only a Superintendent can apply. The Minister told us that this additional appointment has enlarged the potential pool of people who can aspire to the higher level of management training and development. In addition the number of Chief Inspectors will rise from three to four.

The executive and strategic/business management levels of leadership (Chief Officer, Deputy Chief Officer and Superintendent) are open to external competition whereas it is expected that the posts of Chief Inspector and below will be filled from within the local Force.

6. Current Skills Deficit in States of Jersey Police Force

The Police Submission bluntly states that there were no serving officers in the autumn of 2011 who met the criteria necessary for them to be considered as candidates for the new Chief Officer:

There are no local officers within the Force who possess the Strategic Command Course (SCC) qualification for appointment to ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) ranks (Assistant, Deputy or Chief Officer), nor are any currently working towards it.

Equally, there are no local officers who are seeking to broaden their experiences through secondment with other forces. [9]

We examine the criteria for the selection and appointment of the Chief Officer in more detail in section 8 of this report. In this section we look at the broader implications for management throughout the Force.

At a public hearing in October 2010 the then Acting Deputy Chief Officer of the Force stated that the Force had lacked any formal succession planning policies for some time

We inherited a position where for a number of years, probably 6 or 7 years, there had not been any significant development arrangements put in place, particularly for managerial leadership executive skills, talent management issues, that sort of thing, for quite a while. So, there was a big gap to fill.[10]

We have got some very good people here in Jersey. I think that, to an extent, they have been cheated. They have not had the opportunity to be developed or come through and be given the proper training and development opportunities to aspire to particular positions.[11]

The President of the Police Association confirmed that historically there had always been a problem with identifying local officers to fill senior management positions:

We seem to have put plans in place and then something comes along that changes those plans. We have obviously promotion processes that we run through, and those are regularly held, but I think it is not so much for the sergeants or the inspectors chief inspectors is actually the senior ranks where superintendent and above where the succession plan has gone a little bit wrong.[12]

The Police Submission states that police training in recent years had focussed on the development of technical operational policing skills but there had been a failure to invest in the development of managerial or leadership capability for first line and middle managers:

In the main recently promoted front-line supervisiors and managers have not received any structured leadership and management training.

There were serious consequences of this lack of investment at all levels of management within the Force:

 The lack of focused investment in officer development has created a significant gap between current capability and those required to manage, lead and command in the increasingly complex and litigious environment of policing and business leadership.

 The lack of investment in senior management skills means that there are not only technical (policing) short falls, for example commanding a major firearms incident, but also strategy, business and change management skills are significantly underdeveloped. First line and middle management training is equally underdeveloped.

At the time of the commencement of this review (Autumn 2010) two thirds of the senior management positions within the Force were filled by individuals in acting/temporary positions. The Police Submission indentifies the serious consequences of this situation:

At the present time there are no substantively appointed persons in the 8 person Command team. Further, there is a clear disparity in the existing skill portfolio and the level of experience required to reduce organisational exposure in an increasingly litigious and performance orientated environment. This skill deficit in command experience includes the management of critical incidents and business change programmes as well as general management and leadership expertise. A lack of familiarity and experience with the culture and management of performance is similarly evident across the senior levels, and there is no significant exposure to major Crime Investigation.[13]

It was not our purpose within this review to examine the circumstances which have brought about this situation. The recent upheavals within the Force over the last few years have been well publicised elsewhere. However, it is necessary to point out that this situation is symptomatic of the difficulties in establishing any clear succession planning.

Key Finding

The  skills  deficit  throughout  senior  management  of  the  Force  as  described  in  the  Police submission is a matter of concern and must be addressed before there can be any realistic hope of finding sufficiently qualified and experienced local candidates ready to aspire to leadership of the Force.

Appointment of Superintendents

The process of appointing officers to substantive posts within the organisation is now ongoing following the appointment of the Chief Officer and the confirmation in post of the Deputy Chief Officer. The appointment of two Superintendents is the most recent stage of this process.

The Minister for Home Affairs' comments that there were no suitable' local police officers to fill these positions[14] aroused considerable comment in the media. The Minister went on to explain that  two  local  candidates  had  been  interviewed  from  a  shortlist  of  nine  people  for  the superintendent jobs; however:

The gap between them and those from outside the Island during the interview was too great for the local knowledge and experience to outweigh it. For this particular post we could not have found somebody locally with the necessary skills. Why would I not want the best available person? I am not putting down local candidates, but the Force in recent years has lacked really senior experienced officers. We need someone who could be the number three in the police.[15]

The Minister told us that the report in the Jersey Evening Post had been inaccurate and he gave us the following clarification:

In relation to one of the appointments as a Superintendent, it was intended that this be filled by an experienced and specialist Senior Investigating Officer so that Jersey would have the necessary expertise in-house to deal with any future major investigations. I was saying that at the current time there is no locally trained officer who is at this moment in time able to fulfil this specialist role. That does not mean that there are not officers in Jersey who can properly act as Senior Investigating Officers in lesser cases but that nobody currently has the high level of specialist which was being sought.

In relation to the second appointment as a Superintendent I am not saying that there is currently no locally trained officer in Jersey who is capable of fulfilling this role. What I am saying is that there was an exceptionally strong group of applicants and that the gap between the strongest UK applicant and the strongest Jersey trained applicant was too wide for the Jersey trained applicant to be given priority. It remains my view that local knowledge is a major advantage to any candidate which needs to be given proper weight. However, with an appointment at the level of Superintendent I believe that the best available candidate should be appointed and I support the view of the Appointments Board that the gap in this case was too great to be compensated for by local knowledge.

I also spoke to the Jersey Evening Post about the advantage of bringing experienced specialist officers to the Island in order for them to assist with the training in Jersey of future senior officers and about the program of training of officers who are potential senior officers which has now been put in place.[16]

Recent high profile police investigations, notably the Haut de la Garenne enquiry, the Curtis Warr en drugs case and the subsequent reports into the handling of these cases by the Island's Police Force have demonstrated the complex nature of modern policing and the requirement for senior police officers to have extensive levels of professional policing, business and executive skills, together with the ability to maintain a high degree of independence and integrity in an environment of close political scrutiny.

Given the skills deficit identified in the Police submission, it is understandable that the Minister should seek, in the short term, to strengthen the management team of the Police Force with expertise recruited from outside the Island.

At the same time it is important to highlight the Minister's statement that the introduction of experienced specialist officers will be used to assist with the development of future Jersey leaders.

The history of the Force in the past few years, however, warns that it is extremely difficult to follow this worthy intention through to the actual promotion of a local officer to senior management. There is no simple solution beyond the dogged persistence with a variety of incremental initiatives and ongoing support for individuals with high potential.

We believe therefore that it is essential that progress with the implementation of the Minister's expressed intentions is carefully monitored and that the Senior Management of the Police is held accountable on a regular basis for effective succession planning.

Fortunately a mechanism now exists to exert the required oversight in the newly established Police Authority (we shall return to this in section 11 of this report).

In the next sections of this report we look at the steps introduced by the former Chief Officer as well as those planned under the current administration.

Key Findings

Given the skills deficit identified in the Police submission, it is understandable that the Minister should seek, in the short term, to strengthen the management team of the Police Force with expertise recruited from outside the Island.

The Minister intends that the introduction of experienced specialist officers should be used to assist with the development of future Jersey leaders.

Recommendation

The Senior Management of the Police must be held accountable by the new Police Authority for the effective implementation of the Minister's intention.

7. Succession Planning initiatives taken by previous administration

Before examining the issues facing succession planning in the Police Force today we believe that it is important to look back at how the previous administration had approached this issue.

As previously noted the Police Submission points to a lack of succession planning in recent years. Accordingly we asked the former Chief Officer to comment on succession planning policies during his term of office which commenced in November 2000 and lasted until November 2008. He provided a comprehensive submission on 9th March 2011 based on his recollection of events as he did not have access to relevant files and records.[17]

Mr. Power maintains that the professional development of police officers and the selection and progression of those with leadership potential were high priorities. In his submission he identifies the following issues which were apparent when he assumed command in 2000 including:

• A political wish to make the completion of the Strategic Command Course a formal requirement for candidates for the post of Chief Officer.
• A requirement for guidelines for the implementation of the recommendations of the Clothier Report on Police Services in Jersey
• The perception that the effectiveness of the Force was hampered by gender discrimination and lack of diversity
• The Force was not a member of the Home Office Graduate Entry or High Potential Development Programmes as they were restricted to UK forces only
• Insufficient leadership talent being attracted into the Force as evidenced by the low number of graduates.

Mr. Power identified a certain resistance among serving officers with potential at that time to accept the need to face external challenges. He commented:

The Force culture was not receptive to an agenda which required ambitious police officers to move between forces, and to prove their worth in testing environments. In the UK it was effectively the rule that future Chief Officers should move between police forces and develop their skills in contrasting situations. In Jersey there was a culture of waiting your turn'. Serving officers with command potential were not convinced that the requirement for

Strategic Command Course qualifications would survive changes in political leadership. They were in any event suspicious and distrustful of the process.[18]

Mr. Power described a number of initiatives taken during his term of office to implement improvements to succession planning (a detailed description of these can be found in his submission[19]). These include:

• The establishment of the Leadership Development Programme
• Targeted mentoring and training of selected female officers
• A substantial increase in graduate recruitment
• Successful acceptance of Jersey Force as Members of the UK Graduate Entry and Accelerated Promotion Scheme
• The encouragement of Officers with command potential to apply for secondments with UK and international agencies
• Familiarisation training in Senior Command selection processes
• Full participation in the States Future Leaders programme

Mr. Power's submission makes it clear that the succession planning is a complex and time consuming process requiring patience and persistence in the hope of achieving long term results. : It is evident that a number of initiatives to support succession planning were put in place by Mr. Power, certainly in the early years of his period of office.

A crucial development during Mr. Power's period of office was the opening up of the participation of Jersey officers of exceptional talent in the Police High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS). Such participation, as he advised the Home Affairs Committee in April 2004, would commit the force to the fast track promotion of a successful candidate to the rank of Superintendent.

In his submission, he described how he worked actively to identify and encourage suitable local candidates to apply for the HPDS Scheme and provided support during the initial assessment processes[20]. Later that year six local candidates were put forward for the scheme. In the event, however, none of these applicants were ultimately successful in securing a placement on the scheme.

The Submission by the current Police management suggests that the failure of Jersey officers to progress beyond the initial application stage indicates a lack of structured mentoring support'. Mr. Power maintained that the lack of initial progress by the candidates whose potential he had identified does not of itself constitute a failure of commitment to the scheme on his part. He argues that the rigours of the selection process and the small number of local candidates should also be considered as factors.

Mr. Power suggested to us in his submission certain further lines of enquiry, particularly of a statistical nature to support his assertions about progress made towards sucession planning. The Deputy Chief Officer was able to provide some of this detail, however he informed us that States HR records system was not designed to provide the sort of information requested and it was considered that a manual search would take a disproportionate amount of time to collate[21].

We noted that between November 2001 and July 2004 the Home Affairs Committee was briefed on a regular basis on a number of officers who had completed various short term secondments. They reported in person to the Committee on their experience which included working with the Metropolitan Police Head of Homicide teams, operational policing with the Newcastle Central Command, the specialist Police Drugs Unit in Strathclyde and the opportunity for a female officer to shadow a woman Superintendent in command of a busy area of London.

We subsequently enquired about the career development of these officers. We were informed that of the six officers who participated in this scheme, one has since retired from the Service, one has been promoted to the rank of Inspector, one continues to serve as an Inspector - Duty Officer, three others have performed acting duties at senior rank.

Whatever the benefit of these secondments to the particular officers in terms of operational and command experiences, none of these officers have been able to take this forward to the stage of being ready to apply for ACPO positions within the Force. It appears to us that further and more extensive periods with external Forces would have been required in order to continue this programme of professional development. We have made this point elsewhere in this report and we have recommended to the new Police Authority that they scrupulously monitor the programme of future secondments for local officers (see section 9).

As we indicate in a later section of this report (see section 11) after that period there are no clear public records available of the ongoing progress of these initiatives nor of continued political oversight. It seems to us that the momentum for succession planning was diminished possibly due to the busy and turbulent events surrounding the Haut de la Garenne investigations. It is not our intention to go over these circumstances which have been examined in other investigations; however, we believe that an important lesson must be learned for the future. It is essential that, whatever plans are put in place to ensure future succession planning, they are rigorously monitored by an independent body. The Senior Management team must be held accountable for their ongoing implementation. We return to this issue in section 11 when dealing with the new Police Authority.

Key Findings

We  received  evidence  from  the  former  Chief  Officer  that  significant  measures  were  taken, particularly during the early part of his period as leader of the Force (2001 - 2004). However, it seems to us that the momentum for succession planning was diminished and there is no record of political oversight after that time.

The establishment of the new Police Authority provides the Minister with an essential mechanism to oversee and monitor the development and ongoing implementation of effective succession planning.

8. Appointment of Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer

Appointment to the post of Chief Officer is made by the States following an independent selection process conducted through the Jersey Appointments Commission and recommendation by the Minister for Home Affairs.

The Minister appoints the Deputy Chief Officer and other senior management positions again through a process of selection guided by the Appointments Commission.

The current policy is for Jersey to benchmark standards for ACPO appointments ( Deputy and Chief Officer) against UK guidelines which stipulate that

1. candidates for must have completed the UK Strategic Command Course (SCC). The SCC is a statutory UK requirement for Superintendents who wish to progress to Assistant Chief Officer and above. The course is designed for officers who have demonstrated strong potential to further their career to the highest levels of command, is subject to strict selection criteria and provides opportunities to practice and develop skills as effective leaders; and
2. candidates for ACPO appointments must have worked for a period of at least two years in another Force at the rank of Assistant or Deputy Chief Officer immediately prior to their appointment as Chief Officer. Candidates are thus expected to have shown the ability to manage major crime investigations and lead diverse teams of officers in critical incidents and to have developed their experience of policing in a different force.

Strategic Command Course

The requirement for the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer to meet the SCC standards sets the barrier very high for local officers. Attaining this qualification is part of an extended process of training and development. Acceptance onto the SCC course is subject to intense competition and is only open to police officers who have already gained extensive policing experience and have passed through the Senior Police National Assessment process.

The Deputy Chief Officer told us:

The Strategic Command Course is open to applicants from the States of Jersey Police and it is our intention to develop staff to acquire the requisite skills and experience and encourage them to apply for the Course.[22]

It is clear that developing local officers to be ready for application to the SCC will require long term commitment and dedication on the part of both the senior management of the Force and individuals. The difficulty of achieving this objective must not be underestimated. To date, despite various previous initiatives to assist local officers with leadership potential to progress through the initial stages of application (see section 7) no locally trained Jersey officers have progressed beyond the initial stages.

Attaining the SCC qualification has been taken as a benchmark for both the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer; however, we feel it is right to question whether this standard is entirely appropriate for a small Island Force.

Mr. Power in his Submission drew attention to this issue. Whilst accepting that the completion of the SCC was necessary for Chief Officer, he questioned whether this qualification was appropriate for the post of Deputy Chief Officer. He said that this had not been the policy prior to 2008 and suggested that this change of policy would have a negative impact upon the succession prospects of locally qualified officers.

Given the small size of an Island Force it is appropriate to ask whether two senior officers trained and experienced at strategic level are actually needed, or whether there is greater value in the more junior of the two posts being occupied by a person with more recent front line operational experience. Value was seen in having the Force headed by a widely experienced and professionally qualified officer, supported by a Deputy with experience, skills and contacts with the Island's wider community.[23]

Fast tracking selected individual

Given the high standards expected of SCC candidates and the extensive experience considered necessary, it is unlikely that more than a single candidate from the Jersey Force could successfully advance to the SCC application stage at any one time.

The Police submission rejects any suggestion that it would be appropriate to pre-select officers with high potential as predestined Chief Officer appointments; nevertheless it is hard to see how this might be avoided, once the necessary time and investment had been committed to an individual and that person has passed the qualification.

Furthermore, it should be noted that for such a local candidate to achieve a place on the SCC course it would be necessary for that officer to be guaranteed a position within the senior management team (probably as one of the two Superintendents initially). This may be at odds with the principle of opening all Senior Appointments to external competition but it seems to us to be a appropriate step if the appointment of a local individual is to be a realistic option.

The Panel noted a submission from Captain B. Nibbs outlining a pragmatic programme based on the  early  identification  of  an  individual  which  may  provide  a  useful  template  for  the  future appointment of a local member of the Force:

• In essence, it is (or should be) incumbent on the Chief of Police in post to identify from within the senior position holders, an officer (or officers) thought to be of suitable calibre to succeed him: this to be done within say, at least eighteen months, preferably two years, prior to his proposed retirement.
• The  person  (or  persons)  should  then  be  formally  interviewed  by  the  States Employment  Board  and  if  their  views  support  those  of  the  Chief  of  Police,  the candidate should be offered the opportunity of a secondment to a UK force for say a 9 month (minimum) or 12 month (maximum) period.
• The reason for the secondment would be to gain all important experience of working away from Jersey and within another Police environment, thus gaining the candidate valuable experience for his role on return to Jersey. Time would also need to be allowed for the candidate to take the command course as is used to provide a statutory stepping stone' for UK officers aspiring to become Deputy Chief or Chief of Police.
• On return to Jersey, backed by a favourable report from the Chief of Police of the UK force, the candidate would be formally appointed as Chief of Police (Designate) for preferably a 12 month period, before taking over the position of Chief of Police on the retirement of the post holder.
• To achieve this, it is necessary for the decisions within this strategy to be commenced in ample time to allow the process to be undertaken.
• This  succession  planning  strategy  (which  has  integral  planning  and  development policies) could be expanded to embrace the Deputy Chief of Police and thus in time, the  person  on  secondment  would  on  return,  become   Deputy  Chief  of  Police (Designate), then Deputy Chief of Police and on retirement of the Chief of Police, be

promoted to that position.

Key Findings

The requirement for the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer to meet the UK benchmark for completion of the Strategic Command Course sets the barrier very high for local officers. A review of the requirement for the successful completion of the Strategic Command Course in respect of the Deputy Chief Officer may improve opportunities for local candidates to progress to the top positions of the Force.

If a local candidate were to achieve a place on the Strategic Command Course it would be necessary for that officer to be guaranteed a position within the senior management team. This may require a review of the principle of opening all Senior Appointments to external competition.

Recommendation

The Minister should carefully consider the benefits and implications of the Strategic Command Course requirement for the post of Deputy Chief Officer and confirm whether this qualification is entirely appropriate and necessary for the Force here in Jersey. We recommend that the Minister seeks advice from the National Police Improvement Agency on this question.

Experience of strategic command skills in other Forces

It should be noted that the national standard requirement for a candidate to an ACPO posts to apply to a different force has been modified in respect of the Jersey Force. Otherwise it would effectively undermine any succession planning to support local officers as it would mean that any Jersey police officers who spent their entire career within the Island would be prevented from aspiring to the post of Chief Officer or Deputy Chief Officer in the Jersey force. The policy has varied in recent years:

1. Sir Cecil Clothier, in his report on Police Services in Jersey in 1996 recommended that a local candidate should be able to demonstrate least five years experience in a different force immediately preceding appointment as Chief Officer for Jersey. It seems clear that this requirement, which exceeds the normal UK requirement, would present a significant disincentive to any ambitious local officers
2. In July 2002 the Home Affairs Committee modified the Clothier proposing instead a requirement to have one or more periods of experience in another police force or forces which taken together should be not less than two years'.
3. The  current  Minister,  however,  recognising  that  even  this  relaxation  of  the  policy represented a deterrent to local officers, has agreed tom relax the policy even further. The specific requirement for a period of not less than two years has been dropped. The current policy is that it would be sufficient for local candidates, to demonstrate the standard for ACPO qualification over the course of their police career through a breadth of exposure to relevant learning and experience strategic command skills by undertaking focussed periods of  secondment  in  other  police  forces,  much  of  which  should  be  at  the  rank  of Superintendent or above.

The current more relaxed policy does not obviate the necessity for any local candidate to be prepared to spend a considerable period of time gaining policing experience outside the Island. Local officers however have historically appeared reluctant to broaden their policing experience elsewhere.

The Policing Submission states that only one senior officer in the current Command team had sought to pursue secondment or development opportunities elsewhere.[24] This consisted of a brief two week secondment to the Surrey Police.

The Police Submission identifies the lack of policing experience outside the Island as a crucial factor in the lack of local candidates for the post of Chief Officer:

Whilst there is no obstacle to Jersey officers aspiring to completion of the Strategic Command Course and exposure to a wide range of operational command experience, most SOJP officers, either for domestic or personal reasons, choose to devote all their police service to Jersey. Without wider exposure to a greater volume and diversity of policing challenges, this may limit the possibilities of aspiring to the Chief Officer ranks.[25]

The Minister for Home Affairs explained the reluctance of local officers to seek external experience in the following way:

One of the structural difficulties with police officers [is that] if you are talking about developing particular people who have reached the rank of Inspector they will probably be at the age where they have young families. They are then less willing to go away and so on and so forth. That is why I think we have to develop a process where people are sent away for shorter periods of time rather than looking for lengthy secondments.[26]

Another reason given for the lack of officers undertaking secondments in the UK is the recent high level of acting/temporary appointees to senior management positions: in October 2010 two thirds of the senior management positions within the Force were filled by individuals in acting/temporary positions. This situation is now being addressed following the completion of the appointment of the senior management team. Further selection processes are in train within the Force which will result in further substantive appointments and the removing of all acting ranks. The Deputy Chief Officer informed us:

This will not only provide the essential stability the organisation has required over the last three - four years but enable individuals to be properly developed and to be replaced on career plans to help transform themselves and the organisation. Once these selections have been made a tailored programme of secondments can be designed and taken forward. This will not be a one-off' but form part of continuous professional development for our staff. [27]

The Deputy Chief Officer was very positive about the possibilities of encouraging local officers to broaden their experience beyond the narrow confines of the Island:

Thankfully we live in a very safe environment where we do not want nasty things to happen,  but  there  is  a  downside  to  that  from  developing  appropriate  policing  skills. Sometimes you have to be exposed to the nasty and horrible, but we can still do that; we can send people away to help them as part of their developmental programme who are now going through this process, they can go to a city or whatever in the U.K. for 3 months, whatever it might be, to gain those skills, to work alongside and bring it back and pass it on.[28]

It is important however to be realistic about the nature and length of secondments. The experience required of potential Chief Officers must be extensive in a range of challenging environments.

In a later section of this report (See section 7) we refer to a number of secondments which were organised for serving officers during the period 2001 - 2004. Unfortunately these officers did not eventually progress into senior management positions as might have been hoped originally.

Our conclusion is that further periods with external Forces would have been required in order to continue this programme of professional development. While it appears that initial encouragement was given to a number of officers there was insufficient follow up to enable them to fully build on these initial experiences.

In a later section we return to the question of costs for secondments (see in section 9).

Key Finding

In order for local officers with high potential to broaden their experience extensive periods of secondment  to  command  positions  in  other  UK  forces  are  required  as  part  of  an  ongoing programme of professional development.

Recommendation

We believe that it is essential that the new Police Authority carefully monitors the development of the planned secondment programme for officers with high potential to ensure that they have adequate  and  extensive  opportunities  to  develop  their  policing  experience  in  challenging environments.

9. Talent Management and Development: Current Initiatives

In this section of the report we examine what steps are being taken now to ensure that local officers can be in a better position in future to compete for the most senior management roles in the States Police.

The Police submission makes the following commitment to succession planning

The focus of career planning/talent management in the future must be to provide opportunities for individuals to attain their full potential; equally individuals need to seize these opportunities, recognising it may require periods off-island with other forces. [29]

The Deputy Chief Officer told us that, in his view, it is perfectly possible to address the current skills deficit and provide local officers with command potential with the opportunities to demonstrate over the course of their career that they have had exposure to relevant learning and experience.

I think over a period of time if we can get a proper developmental plan in place, during the course of an individual's career, particularly as they are getting nearer the top, as it were, we can, as part of their annual development programme, their day-to-day activities, we can put them into different bodies. Whether it be public commercial bodies here, a U.K. police force or somebody else where they can get this experiential learning from dealing with different situations, whether it be crime, homicide, public order, fraud, community police, planning, all sorts of different things.[30]

He told us that the aim would be to develop a group of people who could in time provide the basis for local leadership:

You cannot really develop a succession plan around an individual. It has to be built around cohorts. So you can develop a pool of people round a particular specialism or a particular level, grade or whatever, and so you then create a pool from which you can draw upon to maybe enhance to the next level.[31]

He provided an outline of managerial training courses that had been made available to staff over the last three years:

2008 Crime Supervisors Course – 3 staff 2008/9 States Modern Managers Course – 2 staff 2009/10 1st Line Supervisors Course – 8 staff

2009 Foundation for Senior Leadership – 1 x Chief Inspector

2010 Silver Command – Firearms Refresher – All Inspectors

2011 Critical Incident Training – All Sergeants and Inspectors An enhanced programme of development courses was planned for 2011

Leadership Course for Inspectors x 3

Technical Skills for Inspectors x 3

1st Line Supervision x 8

Core Leadership Development Programme – outline – planned for Force-wide introduction (Neighbourhood Policy module)

NPIA Senior Leadership Development Programme x 2 Superintendents NPIA Foundation for Senior Leadership Programme x 4 Chief Inspectors Critical Incident Training – for Sergeants and Inspectors[32]

The Deputy Chief Officer said that a requirement would be introduced for all members of the senior management team to develop their professional skills:

If people are in key positions, management positions, they hold a particular post, then we can quite legitimately require them to develop their professional skills. That would include leadership management at executive skills level.[33]

A number of secondments to other UK forces are currently being planned for local officers to develop major crime experience in response to the recommendations in the Wiltshire report.

 One Detective Inspector will be seconded for a two week period in May 2011 to the Metropolitan Police in Lewis ham to shadow a major crime investigation.

Further secondments for three detective Inspectors are currently being arranged through the South West Region Senior Detective Officers' network to take place later in 2011 to gain wider major crime experience.

In addition, one Detective Chief Inspector is actively participating in an Organised Crime Group Mapping Project in the South West Region.[34]

It is encouraging to note that one local candidate has recently been successful in progressing to the final selection process for the UK High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) and will compete for a place on the Scheme later this year. The Deputy Chief Officer informed us:

This has spawned an interest amongst a number of other young officers who have potential for advancement in the service. Mentoring and coaching arrangements are being put in place to support these individuals.[35]

Costs of training and development

The plans to provide local officers with secondment and other opportunities to broaden their experience will entail costs which have to be met from within limited budgets (approximately £300,000 per annum including travel costs to the UK). The base budget costs for training and development for 2010 and 2011 are set out below:

2010

(Bids = £373,132)

Approved = £217, 765

Travel = £78,065

Total costs = £295,830

Travel costs equate to 35.8% of training budget 2011

(Bids = £320,295)

Approved = £194,383

Travel = £101,400

Total costs = £295,783

Travel costs equate to 52.2% of training budget

The Minister acknowledged the cost to the Force in granting secondment opportunities in the UK were considerable but he told us that he wanted to make this a priority:

There will be a cost involved in this. If we are going to second officers away, they are not going to be with us. If we are going to send them on training courses that costs. We have got to build this into the overall costings of the States of Jersey Police at a time when we are trying to make considerable savings, but I think it is important.[36]

We were informed that the States of Jersey Police has been reviewing its training provision as part of the Comprehensive Review process in order to maximise the value of this budget provision:

SOJP  is  examining  new  methodologies  for  the  delivery  of  training,  leadership  and development. This will look at funding opportunities to enhance the provision of timely essential training needs ensuring that value for money is achieved from the existing budget allocation together with any scope for enhancement above and beyond the base budget which has remain fairly constant over several years.

Jersey is currently in dialogue with Guernsey Police to develop joint / reciprocal training arrangements to reduce costs.

Key Finding

Significant investment will be required over a number of years to redress the skills, leadership and command shortages identified in by the Police submission. In a period of spending restraint, training budgets are often hard pressed. It may therefore be necessary to reorder training and development priorities.

Recommendation

We recommend that the new Police Authority to carefully consider Police budget priorities for training and development.

10. Structural Factors contributing to the current skills deficit in the States of Jersey Police

In this section we wish to indicate a number of structural factors in the States of Jersey Police Force which in our opinion have important implications for succession planning and fundamentally influence the motivation and commitment which local officers bring to seeking senior management positions within the Force.

Size of the Force

The States of Jersey Police Force (the Force) with 237 warranted police officers and approximately 90 civilian staff, is a very small organisation compared to other UK Police Forces. By comparison, the City of London Police Force, the smallest in terms of police officer numbers in the UK employs around 1,200 people with 813 Police Officers, 85 Special Constables and 48 PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers)[37] whereas the Metropolitan Police force, the largest in the UK, employs 33,258 sworn police officers, 4,226 Special Constables, 14,332 civilian police staff, and 4,520 non-sworn Police Community Support Officers. (The States of Jersey Police Force has no Special Constables or PCSOs).

Furthermore, Jersey Police Officers tend to be long serving and the turnover of police officers is low resulting in varying opportunities for promotion which are largely dependant on the retirement of existing officers[38].

Competition for senior management positions within the Police Force nationally is intense. There is only a very small pool of officers within the Force from which to develop potential leaders. ACPO positions within the States Police are open to external competition and candidates must benchmark themselves against national standards[39]. The former Police Chief suggested  

With reference to the statistical norm it was unlikely that more than one officer would qualify in each ten year period.[40]

Given the small size of the Island's Police Force, the number of officers capable of achieving the standards required for ACPO positions will be very limited.

Recruitment: Difficulties in attracting suitable candidates

The Police submission draws attention to the difficulties which the States Force has traditionally encountered in attracting suitable candidates. Traditionally the number of graduates joining the Force has been very low. The Police state that this difficulty was due principally to prevailing market conditions and a limited number of applicants. They claim, however, that the current economic climate has allowed them to be more selective and that the latest recruitment process has attracted some high calibre applicants. The newest batch of recruits has been described as one of the most competent cohorts in recent times.[41]

The Police briefing paper describes a new approach being taken to recruitment processes and the introduction of a new selection standard based on integrated competency framework standards.

The importance of improving graduate recruitment was recognised by the former Chief Officer. In his submission Mr. Power describes efforts he had made to improve the composition of recruitment at entry level. He commented:

I believe time will show that many of the officers recruited during my period of office will form the basis of the Senior Management team in years ahead.[42]

We thought it would be useful to confirm the number of serving officers with degrees over the past ten years; however, the States HR system was unable to provide this information and a manual search of records would have taken a disproportionate amount of time to collate.[43]

We welcome these initiatives to improve recruitment and training which are clearly relevant to long-term succession planning. However detailed examination of them was beyond the scope of our current enquiry.

Age and experience profile - Loss of experienced officers to early retirement

The tables below provided in the Police briefing document demonstrate that a large number of experienced local officers (65) will be eligible to retire within the next five years. This represents 27% of the current workforce and 48% of the total policing experience. The Force will lose 2 Superintendents, 2 Chief Inspectors, 11 Inspectors, 12 Sergeants and 38 Constables.

Figure 1: Police Officer Age and Retirement Profile at October 2010

Figure 2: Police Officer length of service / experience profile at October 2010

A  confidential  written  submission  received  by  the  Sub  Panel  highlighted  the  loss  of  senior management in the Police Force to early retirement[44] and the attraction of well paid positions in other  sectors,  such  as  financial  services,  as  a  significant  obstacle  to  planned  management succession within the Police Force:

In the past I have seen very competent managers rise to Chief Inspector and above and then for whatever reason they leave as early 50 years of age. Probably with what has been going on within the Force over the last 15 or so years it has to be expected that officers at 50 would opt to leave on full pension and with their considerable skills begin a new career either within the public or private sector. Many at 50 have taken on civilian positions within the police Force receiving significant remuneration packages to complement their pensions."[45]

Furthermore, the flexibility officers have in choosing their retirement dates means there is no guarantee that an officer prepared for a senior post will actually be there when a vacancy arises.

To some extent this a Catch 22 situation-if officers felt that they had a reasonable prospect of promotion they could well work to their maximum retirement age.

The age and experience profile of the States of Jersey Police is currently seriously imbalanced for succession planning purposes. Rather than expecting to find leadership potential from the most senior personnel instead the Force will lose a large number of experienced locally trained officers to early retirement.

We suggest that the retirement policy of the Force is an important factor in reducing incentives for local officers to seek leadership positions.

Difficulty in transferring to other Police Forces

An obvious way for ambitious officers to enhance their career prospects would be to seek positions in larger UK Police Forces. However, there are no recent examples of local officers successfully applying for senior posts in other forces to broaden their experience.

We were informed that transferring to another Police Force is not a straightforward process for local officers who might wish to seek appointments to comparable positions in UK forces. The States of Jersey Police Force is not a Home Office Force and does not benefit from the policy and established protocols that are in place in the UK which allows for seamless transfers between Forces. Local Police Officers who wish to apply for transfer to other Forces for promotion must resign from the Force and apply to join under new terms and conditions.

Ambitious local officers cannot easily promotion to other UK Police Forces. We suggest that the Minister consider negotiating arrangements with individual UK forces and Ministry of Justice so that Jersey officers transfer with conditions of service intact.

Salary differentials

Salary levels in the States of Jersey Police are very high compared to other Police Forces in the UK. As a consequence there appears to be little incentive for local officers to broaden their career and seek opportunities for promotion outside the States of Jersey Force.

The following figures were supplied by the States of Jersey Police: Table 1   Salary differentials

Jersey  UK Probationer   £32,453  £23,259

Sgt  £56,820  £36,519 Chief Inspector  £88,136  £53,919

Supt  £94,295  £72,585 Source: Deputy Chief Officer

We have not the opportunity to test the extent to which these differentials may have affected the willingness of local officers to seek experience in other forces. However, we suggest that the significant salary differentials must have considerable impact on the motivation for local officers to seek  senior  positions, either  within  the  Force  or  in  other  UK  Forces,  with  all  the  attendant pressures of such positions. It is not within the remit of this review to examine the reasons for such significant variation between local salary levels and those in UK forces, nor to suggest any changes. However, we believe that the Minister and the Police Authority should carefully consider the implications of these differentials as part of their development of an effective succession planning policy.

Key Finding

We suggest that the above structural factors have important implications for succession planning and fundamentally influence the motivation and commitment which local officers bring to seeking senior management positions within the Force.

Some are simply facts which cannot be changed; for example, the size of the Force which is conditioned by the requirements for policing the population of a small Island.

Some factors are capable of being addressed: we note, for example, that the previous Chief Officer and the current Senior Management have made and are making concerted to improve recruitment and graduate training schemes.

Key Finding continued

Other  factors,  including  the  early  retirement  arrangements  for  police  officers  and  the  high differentials in pay scales, are complex and potentially contentious. However, an understanding of their implications is essential in developing an effective succession policy.

Recommendation

The Minister together with the Police Authority should examine the implications for effective succession planning of the structural issues identified in the report, including the impact of early retirement and pay scales.

11. Political Accountability

We have made a number of references in this report to the establishment of the new Police Authority which was approved by the States in February 2011 (P.192/2010). The Police Authority

has a duty to ensure that the States of Jersey Police Force (i) is an efficient and effective police force; (ii) delivers the key aims and objectives set by the Minister within the available resources; and (iii) acts in accordance with any management policies set by the Minister. The Police Authority also has a duty to refer back to the Minister any need for additional resources

In particular relevance to this review, the Chief Officer will now be accountable to the Police Authority for appropriate training to ensure effective succession planning' and will report on this matter on an annual basis.

We believe that this provision will fill an unfortunate gap in political oversight which appears to have occurred since the move from the Committee system to ministerial government.

Acts of the Home Affairs Committee between 2001 and 2004 record how Mr. Power's initiatives were reported politically. reported on a regular basis to the Home Affairs Committee on the various initiatives being undertaken to support succession planning and leadershiop development.

On this basis the Committee had the opportunity to hold the Chief Officer to account on a regular basis for whatever progress these initiatives were making. It is unfortunate that Committee Acts no longer existed after the change to ministerial government and this form of regular scrutiny by political leaders was lost. We have found no equivalent record of regular reporting on succession planning to the Minister.

Key Findings

The establishment of the new Police Authority provides the Minister with an essential mechanism to oversee and monitor the development and ongoing implementation of effective succession planning.

Recommendation

It is essential that the new Police Authority regularly monitors the development of the planned secondment programme for officers with high potential and in particular examines the budget allocation and reports to the Minister.

12. Conclusion

The Minister for Home Affairs told us that he was optimistic that future leaders would eventually emerge from within the ranks of the local Force: however he could only see this hope coming to fruition in the long term:

My understanding is that we have a number of excellent more junior officers who have major, major potential for the future. I am not writing off those more senior to them, but I am making a positive statement in relation to particularly at the inspector level, I understand that there are a lot of very, very capable people. We really have got to make sure if that is so that we are developing them upwards through chief inspector, superintendent, to then be candidates. But you are probably looking something like 10 years ahead in reality if that process is going to happen. That is realistic.[46]

We urge the Minister to lay firm foundations for an effective succession planning policy which will ensure that this hope is more than a pious dream.

The Minister and Police Authority must clarify how he sees the senior levels of the Force constituted, for example:

• Will the senior management team consist of outsiders or a mix of local and outside persons?
• What role, if any, should the Strategic Command Course play?

Monitoring and achievement of succession planning must be embedded in the role of managers throughout the Force with a clear understanding of where responsibility lies both ultimately and for relevant parts of the programmes.

The ultimate responsibility must lie with the Police Authority so we avoid this continual cycle of officially supporting such programmes but yet finding the Force without officers suitable for promotion to the top levels.

[1] HIRSH, W. (2000) Succession planning demystified. Brighton: Institute for Employment Studies

[2] Para 5.6.3 Report of the Independent Review Body on Police Services in Jersey, July 1996

[3] http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/hrpract/general/successplan.htm

[4] Transcript of public hearing with the Minister for Home Affairs, pg 31

[5] Transcript of Public Hearing with Chairman of Appointments Commission

[6] attached as Appendix One

[7] available on the Scrutiny website : see Submissions under Succession Planning in SOJP review section http://www.scrutiny.gov.je/review.asp?reviewid=171  Confidential and anonymous submissions however are not

uploaded

[8] transcripts are available on the Scrutiny website

[9] States of Jersey Police - Succession Planning Scrutiny Panel Briefing Document

[10] Transcript of Public Hearing with Acting Deputy Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police, p.3

[11] Ibid page 13

[12] Transcript of Public Hearing with President, Police Association, p.2

[13] Submission from the States of Jersey Police

[14] Jersey Evening Post: 15th April 2011

[15] Ibid

[16] Email dated 10th May 2011

[17] This submission is available on the Scrutiny website : follow the link to Submissions in the Succession Planning in SOJP review section http://www.scrutiny.gov.je/review.asp?reviewid=171

[18] Submission by Graham Power, para 28

[19] See Appendix 3

[20] Submission by Graham Power, retired Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police Force, paras 45 - 57

[21] Letter from Deputy Chief Officer dated 21st April 2011

[22] Letter dated 21 April 2011

[23] Submission from Mr. G. Power

[24] For details of external placements undertaken by Jersey Officers in the current senior management team (Chief Inspectors and Acting Superintendent) see Q33 in appendix 2.

[25] Additional questions for Police Succession Review Q32

[26] Transcript of Public Hearing with Minister for Home Affairs, p.6

[27] Letter from Deputy Chief Officer dated 21 April 2011

[28] Transcript of Public Hearing with Acting Deputy Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police, p.22

[29] Submission from the States of Jersey Police

[30] Transcript of Public Hearing with Acting Deputy Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police, p.28

[31] Transcript of Public Hearing with Acting Deputy Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police, p.25

[32] Letter from Acting Deputy Chief Officer of the States of Jersey Police, 15 November 2010

[33] Transcript of Public Hearing with Acting Deputy Chief Officer, States of Jersey Police, p.17

[34] Additional questions for Police Succession Review

[35] Deputy Chief Officer's letter to Panel Chairman, dated 24th March 2011

[36] Ibid

[37] Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_law_enforcement_agencies_in_the_United_Kingdom, accessed 26.04.11

[38] Additional questions for Police Succession Review Q4

[39] See section 8

[40] Act B7 of the Home Affairs Committee dated 30th April 2004

[41] Letter from Deputy Chief Officer dated 21 April 2011. See also submission from Mr. G. Power

[42] Letter from Mr. G. Power dated 12 May 2011

[43] Additional questions for Police Succession Review Q13 &14

[44] Police officers have the option to retire at the age of 50, with compulsory retirement at 55 for all officers (except the Chief Officer and Deputy Chief Officer).

[45] Confidential Submission

[46] Transcript of Public Hearing with Minister for Home affairs, p.30