Essex Chief Constable tells why he’s looking long and hard at the way his officers work

Jim Barker-McCardle is so keen for his force to be one step ahead of the criminals he has made an internal review his top priority, after taking on the job in September.

A team of six experienced officers started work on the review today, going into the five divisions which cover the county, and working with their commanders.

Mr Barker-McCardle said: “We want to make sure our investigative processes are as efficient as possible.

“We want to see if our intelligence gathering and our analysis of crime patterns and criminality is as good as it could be and where we need to make changes to be sure we are battle-ready.

“The report will be looking at CID, but also at wider investigative capabilities, because officers outside CID also do a lot of investigative work.”

Alongside the review, commanders in each of the county’s five divisions will look at their teams and things they can do to catch more criminals.

Mr Barker-McCardle explain-ed: “There is a lot of really good thinking going on about how we can continue to improve performance in the detection of crime.”

He dismissed rumours circulating in the force about the review.

Detectives would not be asked to choose to specialise in dealing with a particular type of crime, he said, nor would detectives be centralised into a single, county-wide unit.

He added: “There are some types of crime which, by their very nature, are extremely specialised.

“The best, and probably most obvious example, is the investigation of serious sexual offences. We need officers with specialised training, because there are specific issues around victim care and forensics.

“But I’m not inclined – apart from serious sexual offences and the more serious end of hate crime – to split people into lots of different teams, each with their own specialism.

“It often looks very tidy on paper, but in reality, the key to success is well-trained investigators, well-trained supervisors and managers, very good analysis and excellent development and management of criminal intelligence.

“If we have all those building blocks in place, it follows we will continue to get better across a whole range of crimes.

“Sometimes, people look at criminality in the 21st century and say there are different crime types, so in an ideal world, we would have specialised teams dealing with each. But I don’t agree.

“I want us to develop training which goes significantly beyond the core national training requirements.”

On CID centralisation, he added: “Whether or not a CID department stays in Maldon, for example, it will be up to the divisional commander to decide how best to deploy resources to get the best results.”

The Chief Constable added: “Essex Police has a strong history of good crime-fighting.

“But the emphasis, for me, must be on wanting continually to improve and to ensure we stay very good at fighting crime.”

Training and motivating officers is a key part of the Chief Constable’s plans.

Jim Barker-McCardle would like to see sergeants getting more credit – and proudly wearing three bold stripes on their uniform sleeves again. On the present uniform, the stripes are tiny and tucked away on officers’ epaulettes.

He explained: “I would like to think everyone in Essex knows what the Chief Constable’s badge is, but I’m honest enough to admit most probably don’t. The three stripes of a sergeant are known the world over, though.

“It’s about really recognising sergeants – frontline staff and supervisors – carry very significant responsibilities.

“In Essex, I want to make sure we correctly train them, support them, mentor them and entrust them with significant decisions. Part of that is the morale of sergeants and supervisors. I need them to know I recognise the very difficult role they have.”