Response to Section 60 super complaint

In May 2021 the Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA) submitted a super complaint in relation to Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJPOA) stop and search powers.  The super complaint, entitled ‘More harm than good’, raised the CJA’s concerns about “harms caused by ‘suspicion-less’ stop and searches and inadequate scrutiny of stop and search powers.”

In December 2023 His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) published a report in response to this super complaint.  This report found that police forces should improve how they explain and evaluate their use of section 60 and made 10 recommendations, six of which require a response from Chief Constables. Below are the six recommendations put to Chief Constables and our response for each.

Recommendation

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure their forces review the content of training on section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and how they provide it. The review should consider current national police curriculum requirements and the adequacy of force training for:

• officers who may be required to authorise section 60s; and
• officers who may be required to conduct section 60 stop and searches

The review and any associated actions should be proportionate to each force's use of section 60.

TVP response

We will complete a full review of our training products to ensure our current processes are in line with the recommendation and to identify any opportunities to enhance the knowledge and understanding of our officers and improve processes to engender trust and confidence in our communities. New recruits are provided with classroom and scenario-based training on stop and search, with learning objectives set by the College of Policing, that include Section 60 powers and authority levels.

Specific training on section 60 is also included within all our public order courses and leadership courses at an operational and strategic level for officers at the level of Sergeant and above.

This training is complemented by operational guidance and internal processes to support the decision making and implementation of section 60 legislation for front line officers and those giving the authorisation.

As a signatory to the Home Office Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme, TVP previously agreed to abide by a number of additional non-statutory limitations when using Section 60 of the CJPO Act 1994.  These conditions were removed in August 2019 and we returned the legislative authorisation for a section 60 to the rank of Inspector.
We stipulate that the duty Superintendent must be advised of a Section 60 authorisation so the authorisation can be reviewed and ratified. 

Recommendation

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure briefing and debriefing arrangements for their force's activities under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 are thorough and in line with Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code A and authorised professional practice content and guidance. Chief constables must make sure section 60 authorisation briefings are recorded. This may be as a written briefing. But formal verbal section 60 authorisation briefings should be given on audio-visual devices such as body-worn video or approved handheld communication devices. They should be capable of being recorded as part of the policing operation and be subject to scrutiny.

Section 60 briefings to officers who are required to use their stop and search powers should include information on:

• the relevant law and guidance
• the particular grounds for authorising the use of section 60 stop and search powers
• all relevant and current information and intelligence
• the geographical area covered and time limitations authorised
• all relevant community information (including policing history) and any community impact assessment
• how any debriefing and force learning will be conducted
• the importance of recording all section 60 stop and search encounters on body-worn video in their entirety

TVP response

We will complete a full review of our current processes and procedures for briefing and debriefing arrangements for section 60 orders with support from community members to understand how we can better communicate and review the use of these orders.

Thames Valley Police have existing policies and processes in place to support authorising, briefing and frontline officers when considering the use of Section 60 powers.  This includes legislative guidance and defined processes around authorisation, implementation, recording and pre and post-implementation review. There is a clear expectation of frontline officers that all stop and search encounters should be recorded on their body worn cameras.

Local senior officers and supervisors have a duty to ensure that those under their command who exercise stop and search powers are fully briefed on the intelligence that supports the specific section 60 order and are provided with a map of the defined area as well as the times of commencement and expiry of the authorisation.

Force and local management meetings ensure that appropriate communication and community engagement strategies are set and community impact is monitored. The expectation is that communities are informed of the purpose and outcomes of the Section 60.

Recommendation

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure all officers who may exercise stop and search powers understand, and comply with, their responsibility to safeguard children who are stopped and searched.

In doing so, chief constables should make sure that:

• in line with the national policing curriculum, officers undertaking searches are appropriately trained to take the necessary steps to minimise any emotional harm that may be caused through these encounters
• their force has processes in place to assist appropriate safeguarding referrals when children are stopped and searched
• there is robust checking and assessment of all such searches that takes account of the safety and welfare needs of the child     

TVP response

We will complete a full review of our training products and scrutiny procedures for stop and search encounters with children and young people to identify opportunities to enhance the knowledge and understanding of our officers and safeguarding processes.

All frontline officers receive training on the voice of the child and trauma informed policing as standard. 

In all stop and search encounters with children and young people under 18, a child-centred approach must be taken, with consideration given to the safety and welfare of any child stopped, in accordance with section 11 of the Children Act 2004. We have overarching force safeguarding policies that should be followed and guidance should be sought from a supervisor where required.

Supervising officers are responsible for checking every stop search record conducted by their officers, providing an additional layer of governance and scrutiny around the use of stop and search powers.

At a forcewide level, stop and search data is reviewed and any themes or anomalies can be further scrutinised to understand any discrepancies or disproportionality, which may include reviewing body worn video footage.

The Thames Valley Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) are actively involved in reviewing stop and search encounters involving children, assessing whether safeguarding has been delivered and ensuring referrals have been submitted.

Recommendation

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure forces effectively communicate with communities and interested parties on the police use of section 60 stop and search powers. This should include:

• making sure communications reach the communities most likely to be affected by the section 60 authorisation and checking their communication strategies were effective
• publicising details to inform the public, give reassurance and maximise any deterrent effect
• reporting back to communities and interested parties on operational outcomes

TVP response

We will complete a full review of current communications messaging, channels and evaluation methods, in line with the recommendation, to identify opportunities to enhance our communication strategies to provide reassurance and maximise any deterrent effect.

Communications surrounding section 60 orders sits with the Corporate Communications department who work to ensure communication reaches our communities most likely to be affected by Section 60 authorisations.

When a section 60 is authorised, the on-call press officer is contacted to coordinate messaging to inform the public of the purpose and outcome of the Section 60, provide reassurance and maximise any deterrent effect.

They work with Community and Diversity Officers and neighbourhood teams who review the community impact and engage with Independent Advisory Groups and Key Individual Networks to support engagement with impacted communities. Together they also work on messaging and engagement to educate communities on section 60 orders as part of ‘business as usual’ engagement.

Recommendation

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force gives community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) all relevant information to help them scrutinise police stop and searches and other police actions arising from section 60 authorisations. This should include:

• the grounds and underlying reasons for the authorisations
• any recordings of briefings
• written records of searches
• information about the outcomes of searches
• body-worn video footage of entire encounters

In addition, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force incorporates feedback from community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) when evaluating and improving the force's use of section 60.

TVP response

We will continue to review our processes and procedures for community scrutiny of Section 60 in line with the recommendation and explore opportunities to incorporate community feedback to evaluate and improve our use of Section 60 to build trust and confidence within our communities.

We work closely with our force Stop & Search Independent Advisory Group (SSIAG) and network of local Independent Advisory Groups and Community Scrutiny Panels (CSP) to secure feedback and evaluation of stop and search and encounters involving use of force.   

A senior officer attends the SSIAG meeting to present independently selected Body Worn Video (BWV) footage showing use of police powers to capture feedback. Community Scrutiny Panels are supported by local police leads to review written grounds of stop and searches and BWV of interactions. Our Section 60 operational guidance stipulates that all uses of section 60 orders should be reported to the local IAG for their information and to the SSAIG for scrutiny and review. 

Feedback from panel members and organisational learning is shared via a quarterly Review, Reflect and Reform meeting, which is attended by force stop and search (S&S) managers. This then feeds into the bi-monthly Tactical Use of Policing Powers meeting to highlight learning themes, behaviours and good practice. We use a S&S review template to quality assure all activity and provide feedback to officers to promote continuous professional development. 

In 2023, the Office of the Thames Valley Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC) and our Chief Constable commissioned a governance review into the scrutiny and advisory groups sitting across the Thames Valley. This report details a new structure of internal and external scrutiny from a strategic force level through to neighbourhood, which will be implemented during 2024-25.

Recommendation

By 14 June 2024, chief constables and where applicable police and crime commissioners (or equivalents) should make sure their forces work in partnership with community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) to:

• review panel membership and vetting arrangements to remove any unnecessary barriers to recruiting panel members
• promote the recruitment of culturally diverse members, with a particular focus on representing, involving and retaining those from under-represented communities and young people
• promote the representation, involvement and retention of those who have been stopped and searched
• make sure the force gives community scrutiny panels information on the police use of force, including handcuffing, relevant to the police use of stop and search powers
• make sure they support and help community scrutiny panels to review section 60 authorisations, searches, community impact assessments and associated complaints
• give members appropriate training and support to help them effectively carry out their role scrutinising all stop and searches, taking account of the effect the role could have on them
• provide the right level of police representation at panel meetings to support and advise as required, and to make sure the panel's feedback helps to improve both individual officer and organisational learning

TVP response

In 2023, the Thames Valley Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC), together with TVP Chief Constable, commissioned a governance review into the scrutiny and advisory groups sitting across the Thames Valley.  

This review recognised that scrutiny of the police is essential in providing greater accountability to the public and in helping the force drive improvements in service and standards. It sought to deliver a more robust and transparent approach to the independent scrutiny of Thames Valley Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The report following the review details a new structure of internal and external scrutiny from a strategic force level through to neighbourhood and provides suitable governance to manage group membership, offer consistent support and to ensure the recruitment and retention of culturally diverse members. Work to implement the plans will be carried out during 2024-25.