Response to the Criminal Justice Alliance Stop and Search Section 60 Super-complaint report

Recommendation 1: Chief Constables

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 forces use of section 60.

Bedfordshire Police returned to the legislative authorisation for S60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA)
1994 in May 2023, moving away from
the ‘best use of stop and search scheme’(BUSS)  as recommended by
the Home Office.  This returned authorisation to the rank of Inspector.

All Inspectors within Bedfordshire received a training input on S60 CJOPA covering the legislation, and the elements from BUSS that Bedfordshire has chosen to retain, including:

• ensuring community impact assessments
  are completed
• a communications plan is developed
• the community scrutiny panel is advised, and requested to provide public scrutiny
  of the authorisation
• officers are fully briefed in terms of the authority
• the duration, and how it should be utilised
  to best effect.

All Superintendents have received a training input on S60.

In Bedfordshire the ‘on-call Superintendent’
must be advised of a Section 60 authorisation which enables the authorisation to be reviewed and ratified. 

The stop and search training package for new recruits is currently being amended by Initial recruit training, which will include S60 training moving forwards.

In addition a training presentation is being developed for delivery to all officers across Bedfordshire, which details key considerations, and steps to ensure staff utilise S60 fairly and effectively.

Use of S60 in Bedfordshire remains low, with
only two x S60 authorised in the past five years.

Recommendation 3: Chief Constables

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure briefing and debriefing arrangements for their forces 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 audiovisual 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; and
• the importance of recording all section 60 stop and search encounters on body-worn video in their entirety.

The S60 authorisation form includes a section
that details how staff have been briefed on the authorisation, this requires the authorising officer to detail how officers have been briefed. 

All S60 authorisations forms are emailed to the Community Cohesion Department for retention. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) are also notified enabling the community scrutiny panel to be made aware. The panel is invited to provide independent scrutiny of the authorisation and any subsequent use.

The force internal information page relating to
S60 authorisations is also being fully updated to reflect that briefings to staff should be visually
or audio recorded as best practice.  These visual
and audio recordings will also be made available
to the community scrutiny panel for the purpose of independent scrutiny.

All Inspectors are receiving a briefing to remind them of the importance of clear and detailed briefing to staff once a S60 authorisation has
been issued.  This forms part of the  2024 Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme, and follows the training delivered
in 2023.

Recommendation 4. Chief Constables

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; and
• there is robust checking and assessment of all such searches that takes account of the safety and welfare needs of the child.

Officers utilise the ‘Tu-Serv digital platform’ to record any stop and search encounters.  An upgrade to the Tu-Serv platform was submitted
in 2023, and is due for launch in February 2024.  The upgrade includes mandated fields in relation to the submission of child referral forms for children subjected to stop and searches, including a field to record rationale where this has not been completed.

Stop and search CPD training delivered to officers during 2023 included a specific input on child criminal exploitation, and responsibilities of safeguarding of children encountered.

The force Public Protection Unit (PPU), are now actively involved in reviewing stop and search encounters involving children, assessing if safeguarding has been delivered, and referrals have been submitted.

These referrals are taken to existing partnership meetings seeking to deliver sustained safeguarding and support for children impacted.

Recommendation 5. Chief Constables

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; and
• reporting back to communities and interested parties on operational outcomes.

The section 60 authority form sets clear expectations in terms of the requirement for engagement to take place with impacted communities through the Community Cohesion Team, and Local Community Policing Teams. 

The requirement for a ‘community impact assessment’ to be completed is also clearly articulated, this will subsequently be reviewed by the community cohesion team to understand ongoing impact post the authority expiring.

The authority form also outlines the requirement to develop a communication strategy to inform
the wider community in relation to a Section 60 authority. 

This would be achieved by contacting the on-call corporate communications officer who would
have responsibility for developing the communication strategy.  The communication strategy would include providing updates to the wider public on the outcome of the authority.

The S60 internal information page has all of this information, to ensure authorising officers are aware of their responsibilities. 

All Inspectors received training during 2023 in relation to the requirements to ensure effective public communication, with further training due
in 2024.

Recommendation 7. Chief Constables

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; and
• 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 forces use of section 60.

Bedfordshire Police has a well-established community scrutiny panel, with an independently elected chair, and vice chair.  The community scrutiny panel includes a dedicated panel that reviews all stop and search data. The panel
meet on a monthly basis to review BWV footage of stop and searches scrutinising the forces use, providing feedback to individual officers, and the organisation.

The S60 policy stipulates that the community scrutiny panel must be informed of any S60 authorisation, enabling the authority to be evaluated, and any subsequent searches to be independently scrutinised by the panel. 

All feedback is then collated through the OPCC
and delivered to the force for continued development. 

The OPCC produces a police powers newsletter which is circulated to the wider public, this
would include the scrutiny of any S60 authorities and searches, ensuring the public can have confidence that any use of S60 is subject of independent, community led scrutiny.

Recommendation 8. Chief Constables

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; and
• provide the right level of police representation at panel meetings to support and advise as required and to make sure the panel feedback helps to improve both individual officer and organisational learning.

The Bedfordshire community scrutiny panel is provided administrative support through the OPCC.  A decision was made by Bedfordshire Police in 2021 to remove vetting requirements
to become a member of the community scrutiny panel.  Members are instead asked to sign a confidentiality agreement ensuring that personal information is not disclosed outside of formal meeting structures.  The removal of vetting was
as a result of direct feedback from panel members, who felt that this would encourage wider participation from the communities of Bedfordshire.

The OPCC oversees and supports the panel with ongoing recruitment of new panel members , seeking to ensure that all communities across Bedfordshire are represented through the
panels, seeking to increase police legitimacy in relation to this power. 

The community scrutiny panel is diverse, and
has good representation from under represented communities.  The focus during 2023 was to increase the representation of young people,
and an increase in young people joining the
panel has been achieved.

The data set shared with the community
scrutiny panel on a monthly basis, includes all data relating to use of force during stop and search encounters including handcuffing.  The extensive data product shared with the
community scrutiny panel enables the panel to focus their dip sampling and review of Body
Worn Video (BWV) in areas that they wish to explore.  This ensures that the scrutiny provided by the panel is targeted, as opposed to being random.

All members of the community scrutiny panel
are provided dedicated training upon joining the panel.  An annual CPD programme is currently being developed to ensure the panel receive training on an ongoing basis.

The monthly community scrutiny panel meetings are supported through the community cohesion team, who provide access to all BWV footage.

The quarterly full panel meeting is attended by
the force lead for stop and search.

Recommendation 10. All

'Within 56 days of the publication date of this report, forces should publish on their websites an explanation of how they have responded or will respond to the recommendations. Forces should send the National Police Chiefs’ Council links to where this information can be found'.

By, 7 March 2024, please send the NPCC a link to where your force response has been published. You should send this to [email protected] and title it ‘CJA Section 60 Stop and Search Super complaint - Force Link’.

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