Doing a web search for something, I came upon something else; British Transport Police (BTP) board minutes, from less than one to more than three years old. As they were marked โofficialโ, I had a sniff around.
Usually, the subjects were at a national level, though sites did crop up; such as the air quality report for BTPโs base at Sunderland train station came back as โuninhabitableโ (they were moving to Sunderland University Technology Park, by the Metro station). The force was having to leave its Doncaster base (and be compensated) and moving into the Frenchgate shopping centre beside the townโs railway station instead.
Some scene setting, โthe rail industry, and to a lesser extent policing, are in a state of fluxโ โฆ. recovering from the covid pandemic. As for use of WhatsApp: โif decision making is being done via โunofficialโ messaging platforms by official bodies, there needs to be the appropriate security assurances and there must be the facility for an official audit trailโฆ. NPCC [national police] guidance is that WhatsApp should not be used for policing purposes and there is a lack of assurance as to security and transparency.โ After that, a year ago ten BTP officers got suspended for their WhatsApp group โฆ. In June 2023, โTikTok would be removed from Force devices due to concerns around information security and โChatGPT has been temporarily disabledโ. As for cyber, less than a year ago the leaders were saying that โthird-party suppliers are a primary vulnerabilityโ.
About London estates: BTP was โreducing our estate footprint within London to reflect smarter working principles and comply with government regulationsโ. To move out of London (to be precise, away from their 200 Buckingham Palace Road headquarters) would translate โinto minimal savingsโ. From the staff survey came โa low rate of confidence in senior leaders, employee wellbeingโ, and D Division (Scotland) was most dissatisfied, โa general feeling that Scotland is often neglectedโ. On the national police policy of โright person, right careโ โ in other words, police will leave someone not doing crime to the health professionals, โthose in mental health crisis may be drawn to the railway knowing they may get directed to support from BTP officersโ. Vehicle availability at 94 per cent at one point was a high, last year it was 95.9pc at one point โฆ.
As for crime. A year ago, โa large number of Crime finalisations [were] sitting at the supervisor level which need to be managedโ. Robbery, violence and crime were usually up; at one point, โ41pc of robbery offenders are aged between 11 and 15โ. The crimes solved rate was usually in the low teens (if that). In 2022, the forceโs โhand back trend for non-suspicious incidentsโ was 91 minutes (in years before, it was higher). In plainer English, โhand backโ means when BTP take control of part of the railway, trains canโt run โ every minute is a cost. At a meeting last year it was minuted that โtrespass and drunken disorder are the main drivers of incidents and lost minutesโ. One minute gave an arrival time on scene of 24 minutes.
In a 2023 discussion about vetting, โover vettingโ cropped up, something that โhas traditionally acted as a barrier to recruitment to those with protective characteristics, particularly race, and that vetting needs to be proportionateโ. In another 2023 item, about police staff entry to the force, the feeling was against taking apprentices โdue to the demand this would place on their teamsโ. As for โdress and appearanceโ, in 2023 there was talk of a โmove away from collared shirt, trousers, and shoes for work wearโ and โtrusting our people to present themselvesโ; even flip-flops might be โtolerableโ. As of October 2023, the force had a freeze on recruitment.
Generally speaking, the minutes open a window on the work of those at the top of police forces, all about projects, large and small, whether to do with the job or the back-office necessities (Corporate Library, data storage, finance). Itโs striking the sheer amount of topics that need a leader to keep on top of, large and small โ โestatesโ, tech, business continuity plans; performance and โcrime metricsโ (recording of ethnicity is for a point; how else to know what sort of crimes are happening to whom?) and operations (such as London Bridge, after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, whose body was carried by train from Scotland to London). Everything has a policy (including how you can read a policy in digital form). A tattoo on your face? Thereโs a tattoo policy, with a view to accepting them. Itโs a wonder that leaders have time to see officers and staff; in one, 2023, set of minutes after two โaccelerated misconduct hearingsโ, Chief Constable Lucy DโOrsi mused on the โpoor performance management of some of our leaders and asked the group to talk to all line managers to deal with underperforming people effectively, particularly when in probationary periodsโ.
Photo by Mark Rowe: Southend Central station underpass.
