Community Tension

We monitor whether there are any tensions within and between our communities. This will provide us feedback on whether we are doing enough and the right work to tackle community tensions.

Independent Advisory Group (“IAG”)

The area which this Force polices is divided into districts (sometimes referred to as Basic Command Units (“BCUs”). Each district has an IAG. IAGs provide local advice on any aspect of policing that may have an impact on diverse communities of the district area.

Each district IAG operates according to locally agreed terms of reference.

IAGs can engage in a critical dialogue about a range of issues including:

• The appropriate response to an incident involving diverse members of the community.
• The quality of police services provided to diverse members of the community.
• Police and community relations, particularly in respect of vulnerable groups.
• Alternative approaches to potential community tensions.
• Liaison with other consultative groups with regard to crime and disorder issues.

Feedback from the Professional Standards Department

The Professional Standards department deal with internal and external complaints involving police officers and the Force.

Internal complaints arise from officers taking out a complaint against the Force in some way.

External complaints occur if a member of the public takes out a complaint against the Force. External complaints can take two forms:

• organisational – complaints regarding corporate issues around policy or practice; and
• individual - complaints concerning individual police officers.

Complaints can be sent to the Professional Standards Department in writing or there is also a confidential internal hotline (66034) for complaints to be reported on.

Feedback from the public

The key way in which we obtain feedback from the public is through the Victim of Crime Survey and the Public Feedback Survey (a survey sent to members of the public who are not victims of crime). The feedback on both of these can be broken down by Equality Groups.

Hate crime/ incident

A hate incident is

• behaviour directed towards a victim;
• that is perceived to be because of their membership of an Equality Group.

Some hate incidents can be categorised as a hate crime.

Statistics in relation to hate crime and incidents are gathered and scrutinised by the Force. A low level of reporting could indicate to us that hate crime in that area is not being reported a much as it should be. A high level of reporting could indicate that more work would need to be done to tackle the causes of hate crime/ incidents.

Stop and Search

Stop and Search data is scrutinised by the Force and analysed. This can reveal disproportionate use of this police procedure on Equality Group/s. Where this might be the case, this will prompt investigation into whether any unjustified disproportionality is occurring, and action if and where it is. For more information visit the Stop and Search website.