Duty of care by the police officer regarding conflict management
Policing is a regulation applicable in the United Kingdom (Grubb, Brown and Hall 2015 page 360). It contains certain guidelines for the police who deal with the violent and aggressive people. Therefore, there is a chance to be inflicted physically during the operation. The regulations of the policing help the police to get protection from the harms. Protection is needed not only to the police officers but also to the public in general as the acts of the police officers, to certain extent, cause serious impacts on the public. Therefore, the officers are required to adopt certain care for protecting the interest of the public at large (Johnson and Hampson 2015 page 250).
A Code of Ethics has been enacted for maintaining an ethical behaviour among the police and it applies on the continents of the England and Wales. The Code contains certain rules where it has been stated that the police are playing an important role regarding the protection of public safety and therefore they should have to maintain certain ethical principles. The police officers have to make important decisions during their job and they have a responsibility regarding the choices they have made (Iliya 2016). Certain principles are included in the Code regarding the ethical behaviour of the police officers. The principles are accountability, fairness, honesty, integrity, leadership, objectivity, openness, respect and selflessness. These principles help to strengthen the base of the duty of care by the police officers.
It is the primary duty of the police to protect the interest of the public by prevents crimes. This duty should be done with fair and impartial way. The doctrine of honesty and integrity has been promoted through this Code and prevent the officers to act in an unprofessional way. The officers should have to give answer to the public for any decision or action regarding the policies and the base of the police service should be transparent (Randol and Gaffney 2014 page 238). The officers should make attempt to maintain the human rights and treat the people impartially.
Personal safety is also important, as the officers have to take part in certain endangered works. The equipments should be modern and they have the authority to use force for their personal security. An effective communication with each other is important regarding personal security (Randol and Gaffney 2014 page 242).
The policing service is based on tactics and intends to solve certain conflicting situations like agitation and aggressive violence. The officers, who are engaged with the operation, must make certain decisions and the outcome of the decision must not hamper the interest of the public at large. The operational matter follows certain legislations that can be categorised as follows:
Provisions regarding the Criminal Law Act 1967, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and Common Law Act 1967 are applied in the policing matters. The provision regarding rights and freedom is included in the European Convention on Human Rights. According to Article 3 of the European Convention, the police force has to be engaged in operation when it is necessary. If any unnecessary force is being engaged, it will be regarded as the infringement of the rules mention in the Article and the officer has to face trial regarding misconduct (Eick and Briken 2014 page 120). Certain provision has also been mentioned for regulating the health and safety work. The main objective of the health and safety provision is to protect the officers from any physical harm and secure the interest of the common people. Safety provision of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is considered as relevant in this case.
Legislation, organizational requirements and personal responsibilities
Criminal Law Act 1967 is a parliamentary Act and applies to the England and Wales. It has three parts- first part deals with the distinction between felony and misdemeanour, second part deals with the abolition of obsolete crimes and the third part deals with the supplementary provisions. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 is also a parliamentary enactment that framed the powers of the police officers so that they can combat with the crimes in a more effective way. The main objective of the Act is to make a balance in between the power of the police and the freedom of the public at large. European Convention on Human Rights 1953 is an international treaty and its objective is to promote the base of human right by protecting the interest of the people. It concentrates on the fundamental freedom of the citizen. Therefore, it can be stated that the police has certain duty of care to the public. The proper application of these Acts help to bind the police to work in a systematic way.
Considering the importance of the job, it is the duty of the police officers to take certain responsibilities to maintain discipline and establish the principle of human rights. Every officer has to perform certain reciprocal duties as against other officers and therefore, it is necessary to meet the organisational requirements in a proper way (Krüsi et al. 2016 page 1140). Organisational requirements are a structural approach that leads towards an overall development regarding the responsibilities and decision-making criteria of the police force. It helps to design the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of the police force. It must be said that the designs will lead to an open and proactive working methods and promotes the productivity and responsiveness of the force.
It is no doubt to state that the police officers must show certain responsibilities to each other and should have to maintain the ethics and values mentioned under the Code of Ethics. A good communication during work is necessary and immediate action must be taken on urgent basis. The personal responsibilities can be divided into two parts- positive and negative (James and Pearson 2015 page 462). The officers are required to handle the urgent situation in a proactive way and set out certain goals to monitor their performance. All the obstacles must be overcome with priorities and they have to extend their helping hand to the public. If the responsibilities are applied inappropriately, it will create negative implication and the objective of the policing will not be established.
Appropriate training is necessary for the police officers for better protection of the society. Certain levels have been identified regarding the training program for the development of personal safety skills and equipments. The program has two faces such as the initial stage and the refresher stage. Both the stages are based on the performance. The main objective of the stages is to manage the conflicts by maintaining the rules of National Occupational Standards (Ratcliffe 2014 page 2576).
The skills and competency of a police officer are developed in the refresher stage. It has been stated that the performance of a police officer is depending on the merit of training program and therefore, this level plays an important role regarding the personal skill development of the police officers. The training procedure is varied in different continents and the rules of it can apply to all the officers. It has been stated under the training mandate that if any officer fails to show his competence, he has to face another training course (Braga, Welsh and Schnell 2015 page 575). Fitness test is the mandatory version of the training program and it is no doubt to state that the fitness competency creates implication on the personality of the officer.
Training level for personal safety skills and equipment
It has been mentioned under the training regulation that the process should be based on certain legislations such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Police (Health and Safety) Act 1997. Skills are needful to resolve any agitation and tackle urgent situations. If the officers have no knowledge about the situation, they could not handle it. Therefore, officers of different ranks can participate in this program. The officers are required to participate in the training program per annum basis (Gau and Brunson 2015 page 139).
In England, there are certain institutions that provide training to the officers and Association of Chief Police Officers are one of them. It is a non-profit private company, develops the police practice, and shares ideas regarding the strategic operational responses. It also provides trained chief officers. It is important to provide necessary training to the officers who are using Taser stun gun. It has been reported that the chances of bodily injury regarding an officer is low when a taser gun is used. Firearm officers also need proper training to deal with the emergencies. There are certain other instruments that are being used by the police to manage the public conflicts and in the absence of proper care; these can be harmful for the police officers. One of such instrument is SDR or Software Defined Radio. It is used to detect the digital radio transmission. Certain rules have been prescribed in Self-Defence, Arrest & Restraint working group or SDAR regarding the use of sprays to drive away the mob. Officers of the Public Order and Riot Squad are playing important role to deal with the agitated mob and therefore, proper training is required to them to perform their duties properly.
After completing all the training levels, the officers will be assessed regarding their competency level and they should meet the standard in a proper manner. If any operational officer missed the program, they should have to undertake the matter at earliest possible opportunity. Personal safety training is delivered to the qualified staffs and the staffs are required to maintain possible risk assessments for smoothening the competency level (Bradford 2014 page 27). The officers have the option to refuse the training program due to urgency or ill health. However, proper communication regarding the same is needed in this case.
Public protection is the main objective of the police force and therefore, the officers are required to maintain certain criteria for managing the conflicts regarding public policy. The police officers are required to abide by the rules mentioned in the National Guidelines to deal with different subjects such as vulnerable problems, domestic abuse, child abuse, female genital mutilation or human trafficking. There are certain legislations applicable in these cases such as the Equality Act 2010, The Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and The Children Act 1989. It has been stated under the National Guidelines that the approaches have to be flexible in nature and there should be no controversy regarding the decision or operation. The officers are needed to take urgent decisions regarding certain situation like the missing persons or the vulnerable persons. A prompt enquiry regarding the missing person is to be taken and the role of the police officer regarding the case must be explained (Gostin and Wiley 2016 page 23). The police officers should have to identify the potential risks and use relevant techniques to resolve the disputes.
National guidelines for conflict management involving children, young or vulnerable people
Another conflicting matter is the problem regarding the domestic abuse. It has been observed that in United Kingdom, children and the teenagers is the soft target for domestic abuse. The rules of National Guidelines help to identify the violence and recover the affected children from such situation and provide necessary steps for the condition recovery of the children. A high quality care has been provided and certain standards are mentioned in urgent cases. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 could recognise the standard (MacManus et al. 2013 page 912).
Human trafficking and prostitution is a social crime and the police to curb this should adopt necessary process. Adult women and children are trafficking for flesh trade or slavery. Certain means are provided by the National Guidelines regarding the victimisation process including cross border movement, use of force, coercion, abduction, sexual exploitation and removal of organs etc. Similar guidelines have been given in case of the slaves and the child labours. According to the National Guidelines, all the peoples should be treated with equality and the officers are required to maintain the provision of the Equality Act 2010.
It is a fact that the National Decision Model guides the decision of the police regarding the violent criminal processes. In case of health care related matters, the trained professionals are to be engaged in lieu of the police personnel. If the police officers have to deal with the mentally ill persons or the vulnerable persons, they have to draw proper risk assessment to avoid any negative outcome (Remer and Perpcast 2017 page 447). Proper planning is also required in case of intoxication or neurone-disability. The National Decision Model does its work with certain techniques. It suggests the officers to gather proper information regarding the matter in dispute and obtain intelligence report on the missing links (Decker et al. 2015 page 192). It is the duty of the officers to assess the risks and make a working strategy to resolve the dispute in a systematic way. The powers of the officers and the policies implemented by them are needed to be considered and the relevant contingencies are to be identified. The last stage of the model provides certain action plans and review as against the actions (Cascetta et al. 2015 page 29).
National Decision model can be recognised as police framework that craft the decision making process of the officers in a more uniform way. However, the application of the model is not limited up to the decision-making process; it can be applied in case of the assessment and the judgment. The National Decision Model influences the decisions of the police authorities regarding subsequent events. It is important to identify the stages of the model in order to explain the same. The first stage is based on acquiring information for the proper assessment and judgment. The second stage deals with the determination of the threats. Third stage is dealing with the powers of the police in case of combating the problems (Mowbray 2015 page 323). Matter to develop a contingency plan is made in the fourth stage. Performance of necessary actions and application of the methods has been made in the last stage. This model represents a framework regarding the core values of policing.
National Decision Model (NDM)
It has observed that the rules and methods of the policing help the police officers to take reasonable decision for ensuring protection to the public at large. It has been observed that proper training is necessary so that the police officers can take immediate action as per the situations. It has been mentioned earlier that the base of the policing is protection. Protection should be given to the officers and the public. It is the duty of every police officer to take required steps for personal safety and necessary training should have to be generated regarding the topic. A personal safety training method is necessary to be maintained. It helps to identify any deficit in the training process or it can be used as an evaluation regarding the needs of development (Gooderham et al. 2015 page 728). There are certain procedures regarding the improvement of the training records and that can be divided into certain ways:
The training record can be made or written on any Microsoft word page. It is a fact that the process of training is different regarding different positions, but the introduction and general issues are common in respect of all the department (Tankebe 2013 page 120). The second process signifies certain methods regarding the applicability of the rules. It is required that the relevant authority will submit the same by maintaining proper style.
The record keeping system is different in respect of the different continents. In Manchester Police System, certain principles are being followed to maintain the competency of the officials. The data controller of the police station is from Chief Constable Rank. The data controller should have the knowledge on Data Protection Act. Personal information is taken for the proper identification of the person. Manual and electronic methods are adopted to record the information. Databases, CCTV footage, photographs are among the various methods of recording.
Reporting can be regarded as another process. After recording the training techniques, nature of the training and obtaining signs from the supervisors, the schedule should be submitted as a report form. However, it is not necessary to make report on the training program (Ellis 2014 page 13). Report can be made on the personal safety also. It is the duty of the officers to write down the safety measures chronologically and make report by maintaining proper format. The advantage of the record and the report is that it helps to manage the conflicts in a systematic way.
References:
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