The Policing Pledge

Earlier this month, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith congratulated Essex Police on being the first force in the country to publicly roll out the new Policing Pledge, a series of minimum standards and commitments to deliver set policing priorities for local communities.

But while the Government and senior officers such as Essex Chief Constable Roger Baker believe the new pledge is an essential part of the future of policing, other officers have voiced concerns about how realistic it will be for forces to meet the pledge, particularly without additional funding. And the initiative also has its critics outside of the police service. All 43 forces in England and Wales should have signed up to the pledge by the end of the year, but the TaxPayers Alliance group has described the move as a "costly charade", accusing the service of wasting money while "stating the blindingly obvious".

So where does the Policing Pledge come from, and why is it seen by some as an essential plank of modern policing? The recent origins of the initiative can be found in three key documents - the Flanagan Review of Policing, the Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime report by Louise Casey, and the Government's Policing Green Paper - although the roots of many of the principles of the pledge can be traced back much further.

In his report published earlier this year, Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Ronnie Flanagan called for police forces to adopt a much stronger "customer service" approach. He advocated building on the Quality of Service Commitment launched across the service in 2006, but recommended that the 'citizen focus' principle be extended much wider than the usual neighbourhood policing boundaries, to encompass all elements of policing: "A step change in this area will both inform and win public support for police resourcing to be dedicated to dealing with threat, harm and risk," said Sir Ronnie.

Following publication of the Flanagan Review in February, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced the introduction of a new Policing Pledge at the end of March, focusing on a national standard for what people could expect from their neighbourhood policing team.

Mr Brown described the introduction of the pledge as the start of "a new era of policing", adding: "I'm determined that every person has access to the same level of support and service when it comes to policing."

While details of the Policing Pledge were still somewhat sketchy at this stage, the publication of Louise Casey's report in June added further impetus to the initiative. Ms Casey, who has previously led government initiatives on homelessness, anti-social behaviour and respect, recommended that all forces across England and Wales should put in place "a local police commitment in every neighbourhood" based on the ten approaches identified by the public in her report. She also called for the commitments to be put in place by the beginning of 2009.

A month later, the Government's Policing Green Paper included an example of what the Policing Pledge could look like, and consultation began with forces to agree a final version. While still focusing on neighbourhood policing, the draft pledge included 12 main commitments which formed the basis of minimum standards to be adopted across the police service, along with information about local contact details, policing priorities and commitments for neighbourhood policing teams which will be specific to each team.

But since publication of the Green Paper, it's been clear that there are some serious concerns about how these commitments could be implemented. So it was no surprise that the Pledge eventually adopted by Essex Police this month includes some key changes, particularly on response times.

The initial commitment to respond to all 999 calls within 15 minutes has been replaced with the aim of "deploying to emergencies immediately, giving an estimated time of arrival, getting to you safely, and as quickly as possible. In urban areas, we will aim to get to you within 15 minutes and in rural areas within 20 minutes."

Similarly the commitment to answer all non-emergency calls within 30 seconds has been removed, and replaced with greater clarification of what the public can expect in terms of response to non-emergency situations.

But the Home Secretary is still as enthusiastic about the value of the pledge. Speaking at the launch in Essex, she said: "The public are our strongest weapon in tackling crime and I passionately believe that empowering them to get a good deal through the Policing Pledge will play a powerful role in driving up the quality of policing for our citizens and in our communities.

"I congratulate Essex police force for being the first force to fully implement the pledge for their public. For the first time the public will know the minimum standard of service they should receive and I look forward to all forces making the same, visible commitment to their local communities."

That enthusiasm was shared both by ACPO and by the Essex Chief Constable, Roger Baker. Cambridgeshire Chief Constable Julie Spence, ACPO's lead on citizen focus, said that chief officers were "unswervingly committed to a visible, accessible, responsive and familiar policing style, focused on the expectations and needs of local people," and added: "I hope the national Policing Pledge will help reassure the public that policing is responsive to their needs."

However, it's also clear that the current approach to policing in Essex has helped the force to adopt the pledge much sooner - and probably more effectively - than many other forces. Mr Baker described the force's policy of attending every crime as "vital in reassuring our communities that positive action is being taken", and the neighbourhood policing initiative and Policing Pledge run alongside a commitment to place an additional 600 officers on the frontline over the next three to five years. But for forces who don't operate a policy of attending every crime, or are seeing the number of frontline operation officers reducing, meeting the national standards - particularly the response targets - could be much more difficult.

The Home Secretary also said earlier this year that there were no plans to increase funding for rural forces which face specific difficulties in meeting some of the targets in the pledge. Speaking at the Superintendents' Association Conference, Ms Smith said that while she did "recognise the issues" facing forces with tight budgets and even tighter deadlines to get the pledge in place, it was important that communities had "national minimum standards" governing the level of service they should receive.

But the introduction of the Policing Pledge has already been criticised by opposition politicians. Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, said: "On the one hand, it includes policy proposals - such as crime-mapping - copied directly from the Conservatives.

"On the other hand, attempts to prescribe quotas and response times look like the return of discredited Whitehall targets under another name."

And the TaxPayers Alliance Chief Executive Matthew Elliott described the initiative as a "costly charade", adding: "There is a real danger that police time and resources are being spent on stating the blindingly obvious. The police should be generally answerable to the public rather than having to indulge in this costly charade of accountability."