New Post Incident Procedure document is ‘very impressive’

NEW ‘vital’ guidance documents around how to deal with death or serious injury incidents have been given the thumbs up by Essex Police Federation.

The College of Policing has set up a consultation on post incident procedures (PiP) to give more help to officers when dealing with deaths following police contact or custody.

The new DSI Authorised Professional Practice (APP) will provide guidance on post-incident procedures, management, welfare and legal issues and will also ensure accounts given by officers appear chronologically while setting out key roles and responsibilities.

Steve Taylor, Essex Police Federation Chairman, is backing the new APP, calling it a ‘very impressive document’.

He believes that the document and getting it properly trained in is vital for officers too.

“I hope the draft we’ve seen stays largely intact,” he said.

“It seems to be a very workable document and very sensible too. It’s based on the firearms APP which is where we’ve been striving to get to in Essex anyway.”

“I believe very strongly that the PiP is a fantastic process that really looks after officers as well as being an important document for the force.

“The risk comes in the moments before the need for a PiP is identified and it’s that window when accounts are provided that mistakes can happen which can leave officers vulnerable and in difficulties,” he added.

Using resources such as the Federation’s video training package is key he said.

“Getting education out there about PiPs helps to eradicate those early mistakes. Officers don’t necessarily need to know the ins and outs of it, although we can tell them that, but they do need to know what might be relevant for the PiP should the worst happen.”

Steve has fed back his thoughts on it as part of the College’s consultation request.

“My thoughts were that the firearms PiP is based on there being a well-established and experienced chain of command and, with the best will in the world, in general policing there may be new supervisors, acting supervisors, who are perhaps not as comfortable or established in those roles.

“When you place responsibility on some of those new shoulders for things like separations, for things like conferring advice, without training, without proper explanation or guidance, that could be challenging.

“We can work through it with education and a bit of work, but we need to be mindful of the small hiccups that could happen, people not being separated or being separated when they shouldn’t be, that type of thing.

“At the end of the day it’s there to protect officers and to protect the organisation.”