A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025 - VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER

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VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:

A VISION FOR VICTORIA
POLICE IN 2025
Published by Victoria Police, May 2014
© The State of Victoria, Victoria Police 2014
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This document is available online in PDF format at www.police.vic.gov.au
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which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication.
Foreword
                  Victoria Police constantly       A Vision for Victoria Police in 2025 sets
                  strives to meet the needs        out three proposed strategic directions to
                  and expectations of the          enhance public safety and increase value for
                  Victorian community.             money for the Victorian community through
                  As public demands for our        its investment in Victoria Police:
                  services grow and change,
                                                      • better matching of resources to
                  Victoria Police must consider
                                                        demand by rethinking the traditional
                  how it should adapt over the
                                                        operating model
                  medium to long term.
                                                      • improving capability through workforce
Although Victoria Police has a three year
                                                        reform and technology
corporate plan (2012-2015), there is no clearly
laid out, long-term strategy. The Rush Inquiry        • collaborating more closely through
criticised Victoria Police for a fragmented             partnerships.
approach to strategic planning, including a        Sir Robert Peel, the founder of modern
failure to set objectives for the short, medium    policing, said that “the police are the public
and long term.                                     and the public are the police”. That principle
                                                   remains of great importance today. Victoria
That’s why Victoria Police has produced this
                                                   Police and the whole community need to
Blue Paper, as a basis for the development of
                                                   work more closely together to make Victoria
a new, long-term strategic plan for the period
                                                   a safer place.
2015 to 2025.

In particular, it outlines the strategic choices
Victoria Police must make - including priorities   Ken Lay APM
- in a period when Victoria Police will need       Chief Commissioner of Police
to do more to enhance public safety with
relatively fewer resources.

The Blue Paper identifies the broader social,
economic and environmental trends, and
internal challenges, facing Victoria Police now
and in the coming years. Many of the internal
issues have developed over decades; some
have their orgins as far back as the nineteenth
century.

It is clear that the current operating model
for Victoria Police is struggling to cope with
the unprecedented demands upon it and
to meet public expectations. Without a real
transformation, it will not meet the expected
growth and changes in demand for policing.
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

Contents

Part 1                                                                     5

I The need for transformation                                              6

II Role and functions of Victoria Police                                   8

III Strategic context                                                     12

IV Organisational challenges                                              16

Part 2                                                                    22

V Strategic goals and directions                                          23

VI Better matching of resources to demand                                 25

VII Improving capability: people and technology                           40

VIII Collaborating more closely through partnerships: beyond engagement   52

IX The road to transformation                                             60

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PART 1
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

I
Introduction: the need
for transformation

The current operating model for Victoria               • changing social values and expectations
Police is struggling to cope with the increasing         - greater cultural diversity, changing
demands upon it and to meet public                       social connections based on
expectations. As it stands, the model will not           communities of interest and growing
meet expected growth and patterns of demand              expectations of public authorities
in the coming years:
                                                       • rapidly changing technology - enabling
    • demand for urgent responses (Triple Zero           new ways of committing crime as well as
      calls) is outpacing population growth              new types of crime; police are struggling
                                                         to keep pace with criminal networks
    • serious and organised crime is growing
      rapidly, as it becomes increasingly              • economics and government finances –
      national and international                         the past twenty years of high economic
                                                         growth (and associated revenue growth)
    • the true extent of some types of crime
                                                         have come to an end; significantly lower
      (especially family violence, sexual abuse
                                                         economic growth and tax revenue growth
      and fraud) is not reflected in reports to
                                                         over the coming decade is almost certain
      Victoria Police but as reporting increases,
      so too will demand.                              • a changing physical environment – the
                                                         scale, frequency and severity of extreme
Rapidly increasing demand is driven by major
                                                         weather events is increasing.
social, economic and environmental trends:
                                                    These pressures cannot be relieved by adding
    • increasing crime resulting from social        more resources according to traditional patterns
      problems – abuse of alcohol and illicit       of investment, for two reasons:
      drugs, family violence, child abuse,
      online sex offences, and mental illness          • tax revenue will be insufficient.
                                                         Lower revenue growth and substantially
    • changing demography – increasing
                                                         increased demands on public
      population diversity and density
                                                         expenditure are increasingly likely to
      concentrated on Melbourne’s urban
                                                         constrain government funding for
      fringe; population ageing and growing
                                                         particular public services;
      levels of disadvantage

6
• patterns of investment over the past              The Rush Inquiry criticised Victoria Police for
     twenty years (an almost exclusive focus on        a ‘fragmented’ approach to strategic planning,
     numbers of police and police stations) will       including a failure to set objectives for the short,
     not meet the challenges faced by police           medium and long term.1
     and the community’s expectations.
                                                       To continue to meet the needs and expectations
A transformation is required to maximise the           of the community, Victoria Police must consider
effectiveness of Victoria Police with limited          how it should change over the medium to long
resources – a significant change to achieve            term. The history of Victoria Police shows the
better value for money.                                danger of being swept along by waves of social
                                                       and technological change, and responding only
Yet Victoria Police lacks the flexibility to use its
                                                       under external pressure. Instead Victoria Police
resources to respond in the best possible way to
                                                       should shape its own development, through
the increased demands on it:
                                                       engagement with the Victorian community about
   • There is a mismatch between patterns of           the strategic choices it must make – including
     demand and the allocation of resources:           setting priorities.
       o Historically, the geographic distribution     Based on an understanding of the role of Victoria
         of operational staff appears to have          Police, the principles of policing, and the external
         been matched to population size,              and internal challenges facing Victoria Police,
         rather than crime rates or the likely         A Vision for Victoria Police in 2025 lays out three
         need for policing activity.                   proposed strategic directions to enhance public
       o Rostering often does not reflect              safety, and increase value for money for the
         service demand, due to inadequate             Victorian community through its investment in
         forecasting, traditional practices and        Victoria Police:
         industrial arrangements.                            • better matching of resources to demand
       o Industrial arrangements limit the                     by rethinking the traditional operating
         capacity to move police efficiently                   model
         from one location to another.                       • improving capability through workforce
                                                               reform and technology
       o The location of current police stations
         often reflects a bygone era of horse-               • collaborating more closely through
         drawn transport, rather than a service                partnerships.
         delivery model that matches demand.           The Vision outlines the challenges facing Victoria
   • Inadequate investment in technology               Police now and over the years to 2025, and
     has left Victoria Police in the twentieth         how the organisation should respond to them.
     century, in a world in which the ‘virtual’        The Vision is not a strategic plan: such a plan will
     (for example digital information and              be developed after further analysis is undertaken
     electronic systems) is becoming more              on how best to deliver policing services to the
     important and the physical (for example           Victorian community.
     buildings) less important.                        For further information about the Blue
In the face of these strategic challenges, there is    Paper, please phone 9247 5825 or email
no clear, long-term strategy for Victoria Police,      VICTORIAPOLICEBLUEPAPER-OIC@police.vic.gov.au
even though it has a three year corporate plan
(2012-15).                                             1 State Services Authority (2011) Inquiry into the command, management and functions
                                                       of the senior structure of Victoria Police, Melbourne: State Government of Victoria, p.18.

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VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

II
Foundations: Role, functions
and principles

Role and functions of                                   Legislation reflecting changing social values
                                                        and attitudes has further increased demands
Victoria Police                                         on police in areas such as mental health, family
The Victoria Police Act 2013 defines the role of        violence, traffic offences and sex offenders.2
Victoria Police as being to serve the Victorian
                                                        Consequently the role of police has expanded,
community and uphold the law so as
                                                        and become more complex and time-consuming.
to promote a safe, secure and orderly society.
                                                        The Act provides no clear guidance on where
The Act provides that the functions of Victoria
                                                        police activities should stop: the list of statutory
Police include:
                                                        functions is both very broad and inclusive. When
    • preserving the peace                              coupled with a ‘solution-oriented’ mindset, a real
    • protecting life and property                      danger exists that Victoria Police will attempt to be
    • preventing the commission of offences             ‘all things to all people’ – an unsustainable position.
    • detecting and apprehending offenders              Victoria Police needs therefore to be clear on
    • helping those in need of assistance.              its core functions. It might be argued that those
In practice, the role of Victoria Police is far more    functions require the totality of the knowledge
complex. A safe, secure and orderly society             and skills acquired by sworn officers, or their
depends not only on the conduct of police,              unique legal powers. Functions that do not fit that
but on the activities of citizens, and many other       description could be performed by others.
organisations. Their behaviour is influenced by         Moreover, a substantial proportion of traditional,
many factors, including changing demographics           visible, public policing is increasingly carried
and general social and economic conditions.             out by private security firms. The rise of private,
Police increasingly deal with the consequences          plural and hybrid (mixed public and private)
of a variety of social ills, such as family violence,   policing poses both challenges and opportunities
abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs, mental illness       for Victoria Police. It is crucial to find the right
or underemployment. They depend on the                  relationship between public and private forms
effectiveness of other services to resolve a            of policing.
situation fully, and they are expected to work
with other agencies to find ways to deal with
the causes of harmful behaviours.                       2 It should be noted that, in some cases, Victoria Police has promoted new legislation
                                                        where it has perceived both a need and the necessary community support (for example,
                                                        in relation to family violence).

8
Principles of policing                                                              (7) Police, at all times, should maintain a
                                                                                        relationship with the public that gives reality
The role and functions of Victoria Police and                                           to the historic tradition that the police are
the principles that govern them are inextricably                                        the public and the public are the police; the
linked. The fundamental purpose of policing is                                          police being only members of the public who
the protection and vindication of the human                                             are paid to give full-time attention to duties
rights of every citizen.3                                                               which are incumbent upon every citizen in the
Equally, police must protect human rights in the                                        interests of community welfare and existence.
exercise of their duty; every interaction between                                   (8) Police should always direct their action
a sworn officer and a member of the public                                              strictly towards their functions, and never
conveys strong signals about whether that                                               appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
person is treated with respect and dignity.
                                                                                    (9) The test of police efficiency is the absence
The principles established by Sir Robert Peel in                                        of crime and disorder, not the visible
1829 when he created the London Metropolitan                                            evidence of police action in dealing with it.4
Police, remain relevant today and inform many
aspects of the Vision:                                                              These principles centre on the prevention of
                                                                                    crime and disorder. They do not consider some
(1) The basic mission for which the police exist                                    of the broader aspects of community safety for
    is to prevent crime and disorder.                                               which Victoria Police is responsible, such as road
(2) The ability of the police to perform their                                      safety (which was not a major concern for police
    duties is dependent upon the public                                             in the early nineteenth century) and emergency
    approval of police actions.                                                     management (for example, response to bushfires
                                                                                    and floods). Yet a number of the principles are
(3) Police must secure the willing co-operation
                                                                                    highly relevant to both of these activities, which
    of the public in voluntary observation of the
                                                                                    are of major importance for Victoria Police in the
    law to be able to secure and maintain the
                                                                                    twenty first century.
    respect of the public.
(4) The degree of co-operation of the public that
    can be secured diminishes proportionately to
    the necessity of the use of physical force.
(5) Police seek and preserve public favour
    not by catering to public opinion, but by
    constantly demonstrating absolute impartial
    service to the law.

(6) Police use physical force to the extent
    necessary to secure observance of the law
    or to restore order only when the exercise
    of persuasion, advice, and warning is found
    to be insufficient.

                                                                                    4 While these principles are generally attributed to Sir Robert Peel, it is likely they were
                                                                                    composed by Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, as the first and joint Commissioners
                                                                                    of the London Metropolitan Police: see http://www.civitas.org.uk/pubs/policeNine.
3 Patten, C. (1999) A New Beginning: Policing in Northern Ireland - Report of the   php, accessed 13 August 2013. The formulation of these principles varies slightly from
Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, Belfast: Independent       one source to another; this simpler version is from http://www.nwpolice.org/inside-
Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland, p.18.                                   new-westminster-police-department/history/, accessed 13 August 2013.

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VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

Public support for police -                                                                   These values include upholding the rule of
                                                                                              law, but go beyond it to the social obligations
producing public value and                                                                    that underpin a civilised society. Police must
upholding community values                                                                    treat every citizen – whether victim, offender
                                                                                              or otherwise - with dignity and respect. Police
The principle of policing by consent of the public
                                                                                              must convey trustworthy motives, allow
remains at the heart of a modern Victoria Police.
                                                                                              citizens to speak up and express their views
What does public approval depend upon?                                                        during encounters, and not profile people
                                                                                              based on race, gender or any other inherent
Police must produce public value – that is, they
                                                                                              characteristic.
must understand and respond to the community’s
concerns about public safety, at the lowest                                                   Peel emphasised not only that “the police are
possible cost in terms of money and authority –                                               the public”, but also that police should not cater
and, in doing so, uphold community values.                                                    to public opinion. Thus the police need to be
                                                                                              recognisable to the diverse ethnic, religious
At least seven dimensions of the public value of
                                                                                              and other groups within the community, but
policing are important:
                                                                                              at the same time held to ethical standards in
      • reducing crime and victimisation                                                      performing their duties that are higher than
                                                                                              those in the community at large.
      • calling offenders to account
      • reducing fear and enhancing personal                                                  Peel also stressed the importance of
        security                                                                              accountability to the public. Police are given
                                                                                              by the public the power to deprive individuals
      • ensuring civility in public spaces                                                    of their liberty and to use force in the cause of
        (ordered liberty)                                                                     upholding the law.
      • using force and authority fairly, efficiently
                                                                                              Public accountability requires transparent
        and effectively
                                                                                              measurement of all aspects of performance.
      • using financial resources fairly, efficiently                                         Victoria Police could establish a new
        and effectively                                                                       performance management system that
      • quality services/customer satisfaction.5                                              measures the effectiveness of its activities,
                                                                                              based on the seven dimensions of public value
Public value is therefore in part created by
                                                                                              described above.
upholding shared community values. In a
diverse society, the values to be reflected by                                                All measures should be reported on publicly, so
Victoria Police ought to be those that can be                                                 that the Victorian community has a full picture
defended as right, or just, in the mind of the                                                of the value provided by Victoria Police.
community.

5 Moore, M. (2013) Recognizing Public Value, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, p.65. Note also that the broader economic value of public safety is considerable,
as it is a major factor for potential visitors, investors, students and migrants from other
jurisdictions.

10
The nature of the                                    The new Act resolves this tension by providing
                                                     that the minister can give written directions to
relationship between                                 the chief commissioner in relation to the policy
government and police                                and priorities of Victoria Police, except in relation
                                                     to specified matters. Those matters include
Victorians express their views about what they
                                                     decisions about law enforcement, investigation
value through the political process, as well as in
                                                     and prosecution in relation to a particular person
more direct ways. Accordingly, Victoria Police
                                                     or group, and the organisational management of
is also accountable to the relevant minister.
                                                     Victoria Police (such as deployment of officers to
The police are, and always have been, part
                                                     particular locations).
of the executive branch of government.
There is no constitutional separation of powers      Thus the government of the day remains
between police and the elected government            responsible for ensuring that community
of the day.                                          priorities are met by Victoria Police, but in a
                                                     general way that does not prescribe (among
At the same time, the common law has
                                                     other things) the allocation or deployment of
recognised that a sworn police officer has
                                                     members of Victoria Police.
an independent discretion, immune from
ministerial direction, in the performance of their
duties as a constable and the exercise of their
coercive powers.

                                                                                                       11
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

III
Strategic context

Demand for Victoria Police services,                  larger briefs of evidence and experiencing more
including key crime trends                            extensive court commitments. In addition,
Demand for Victoria Police services, driven           because organised crime usually crosses
both by calls for assistance to Triple Zero (000)     borders, there is a greater need to contribute to
and growth in serious and organised crime, is         joint taskforces aimed at tackling national and
outstripping the capacity of the organisation         international crime issues, as well as counter
to respond effectively. This is demonstrated          terrorism investigations.
in a number of ways.
                                                      Victoria Police must also continue to manage
The number of incidents to which Victoria             traditional types of crime, both ‘volume
Police has responded, measured by calls to            crime’ (such as theft of motor vehicles) and
Triple Zero (000), has increased by an average        ‘signal crimes’ (particular types of criminal and
annual rate of 4.2 per cent over the past             disorderly conduct that have a major impact
five years, compared to an average annual             on the community’s fear of crime, including rare
population growth rate of 1.7 per cent. The           but catastrophic and high profile crimes).
reasons for this growth are unclear.                  The reported rate of some serious crimes
                                                      against the person has increased substantially
There is a strong argument that the harm caused       over the past decade (rape, abduction/kidnap);
by serious and organised crime is growing.            on the other hand, the reported rate of other
Victoria Police Crime Command is dealing              serious crimes has decreased significantly over
with an increase in the most serious matters.         the same period (murder, robbery and armed
Between 2009-10 and 2011-12 there was an              robbery, assault with weapon).
overall increase of 54 per cent in the most           A great deal of crime is not revealed in crime
serious (category 1) investigations undertaken        statistics collected by police, commonly called
by the Organised Crime Portfolio of Crime             the ‘dark figure’. The dramatic increase in the
Command. For example, in the three years              recorded incidence of assaults and property
to 2011, there was a 300 per cent increase in         damage caused by family violence in Victoria
detected illicit drug laboratories.                   over the last ten years, noted below, reveals
At the same time, Crime Command is dealing            the extent of the dark figure for family violence,
with increasingly complex investigations              caused by changes in legislation and the
requiring specialist skill and resources, preparing   approach of Victoria Police to such crimes.

12
• The number of offences for possession
                                                                                               or use of common illicit drugs (for
                                                                                               example cannabis, amphetamine-
                                                                                               type stimulants (ATS) such as ‘ice’) has
                                                                                               increased substantially over the past
                                                                                               ten years. Police and other community
                                                                                               members report that illicit drug use has
                                                                                               become more normalised in society
                                                                                               from a young age. It is common
                                                                                               for drug offenders to be involved in
                                                                                               other criminal activities, and ATS and
                                                                                               synthetic drug users are likely to prove
                                                                                               an increasing challenge because of their
                                                                                               tendency to violence and psychosis.
                                                                                             • Family violence incidents reported to
                                                                                               Victoria Police have doubled over the
To take another example, it is estimated that                                                  past 10 years and such violence remains
only 20 per cent of all sexual assaults are                                                    a growing problem.
reported to police, compared with around                                                     • Child abuse and online child sex
50 per cent of physical assaults, and nearly                                                   offences are of increasing concern.
100 per cent for motor vehicle thefts.6 As a                                                   Child pornography is said to be the
consequence of recent and ongoing public                                                       fastest-growing crime type in the
inquiries, it is expected that the reporting rate                                              world and recorded child pornography
of abuse against children, both historic and                                                   offences in Victoria have almost doubled
current, will increase significantly in coming                                                 over the last decade. Victoria Police and
years.                                                                                         other experts think that they are only
Thirdly, it is well known that fraud is seriously                                              detecting a fraction of the problem.
under-reported. Again, it is likely that many                                                  In addition, the prevalence of other
more incidents of fraud will be reported to                                                    forms of child abuse is growing rapidly
police in coming years.                                                                        and is expected to continue to do so.
                                                                                             • The use of firearms in offences reported
Trends in certain types and causes of crime
                                                                                               to Victoria Police has increased by
also indicate growing demand on Victoria
                                                                                               almost 50 per cent over the last five
Police services over the next decade:
                                                                                               years, driven by assault and robbery; it is
      • Over the past decade, alcohol-related                                                  also becoming more public and brazen.
        assaults have increased by almost
                                                                                             • Demands on Victoria Police caused
        50%,7 and there is evidence of an
                                                                                               by mental health incidents in the
        increasing culture of excessive alcohol
                                                                                               community are growing, as the visibility
        consumption among young people.
                                                                                               (but not prevalence) of mental illness has
                                                                                               increased in recent years; this is unlikely
6 Australian Bureau of Statistics (2013) Crime Victimisation Australia, 2011-12, at
                                                                                               to decline in the short-term, given the
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4530.0Chapter2032011-12; Australian
Institute of Criminology (2013) Australian Crime: Facts and Figures, 2012, Canberra, p.ix.
                                                                                               links to substance abuse and unmet
7 Victorian Auditor-General (June 2012) Effectiveness of Justice Strategies in Preventing
                                                                                               demand for mental health treatment.
and Reducing Alcohol-Related Harm, Melbourne: State of Victoria, p.x.

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VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

Demographic changes                                                                              • respect for public employees, including
Demographic changes will contribute to a number                                                    police, is declining.9
of the future challenges for Victoria Police:                                              A greater range of differing values makes
                                                                                           policing by consent more difficult.
      • a growing number and diversity of
        immigrants in new and emerging                                                     Technology
        communities, highly concentrated                                                   Technology is shaping the future of policing in
        in areas that already have the largest                                             both negative and positive ways.
        overseas-born populations
                                                                                           It is enabling new forms of criminal activity
      • a growing population, concentrated in
                                                                                           (e.g. cyber crime such as fraud and child
        the urban fringe of Melbourne and major
                                                                                           pornography), and facilitating the commission
        regional centres, with a higher likelihood of
                                                                                           of old crimes (e.g. drug trafficking, terrorism) in
        crime associated with higher density living
                                                                                           new ways. In addition, social media and citizen
      • significant overlap between areas with both                                        journalism are increasing scrutiny of police and
        high ethnic diversity and high population                                          shaping the community’s opinion of public
        growth (such as the municipalities of Casey,                                       safety.
        Hume, Whittlesea and Wyndham)
                                                                                           At the same time, social media and citizen
      • an ageing population that is often more                                            journalism offer substantial benefits in
        anxious and more vulnerable to certain                                             upholding public safety. Further, a range of
        types of crime, and a large and increasing                                         technological advances, including sensors
        group of disengaged young people                                                   (such as automatic number plate recognition),
      • growing levels of disadvantage, especially                                         predictive DNA testing and data analytics, are
        in new and emerging communities                                                    making public safety systems smarter.
        and areas of rapid urban growth, and
                                                                                           Economic and fiscal trends
        increasing job insecurity.8
                                                                                           The positive economic conditions and
Social values and expectations                                                             associated strong revenue growth over the
Community values are also changing and                                                     last ten years are unlikely to continue over
diverging:                                                                                 the coming decade. Productivity Commission
                                                                                           projections suggest that Australia will see
      • there is a loss of shared identity driven
                                                                                           slower growth in average incomes than in
        by increasing individualism and risk
                                                                                           the past 50 years.10 Victorian revenue growth
        avoidance (including withdrawal from
                                                                                           over the next four years is projected to be 3.6
        public places and civic engagement)
                                                                                           per cent, compared to more than 7 per cent
      • greater expectations are placed on                                                 in the decade to June 2010.11 These financial
        government (including police) to manage                                            pressures will be made worse by growing
        risk, and to respond to public demands                                             service demands and expectations, including
        for services and accountability and                                                on police.

                                                                                           9 This is evident in both hospitals and schools: see Parliament of Victoria Drugs and Crime
                                                                                           Prevention Committee (2011) Inquiry into violence and security arrangements in Victorian
                                                                                           hospitals and, in particular, emergency departments, Melbourne; and Herald-Sun, Class
                                                                                           War, 28 January 2014. More generally, see IPSOS Social Research Institute (2013) The
8 The labour force underutilisation rate (unemployment and underemployment combined)       Mind & Mood Report: Community Perspectives on social change (2003-2013), Report
in November 2013 was higher than at any time since 1999: Australian Bureau of Statistics   commissioned by Victoria Police (unpublished).Of course, some serious and well-publicised
(January 2014) Labour Force, Australia (ABS cat. no. 6202.0) Table 22: Labour Force        cases of police misconduct have also contributed to a decline in respect for police.
Underutilisation Rate: http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/meisubs.nsf/0/378F6A6FF-    10 Harris, P. (2013) Productivity and the National Income Outlook, Speech to the Trans-
C8BCF3CCA257C7D000C3BF5/$File/6202022.xls, accessed 28 February 2014; see also             Tasman Business Circle, Perth, 18 September 2013.
Brotherhood of St Laurence and Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social          11 Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance (2013) Building for Growth: 2013-14
Research (2013) Social Exclusion Monitor Bulletin, Melbourne.                              Budget Update, Melbourne: Victorian Government

14
Changes in the physical environment                                             In addition, the increasing importance of
The scale, frequency and severity of natural                                    policing as a political issue poses challenges
disasters (such as extreme bushfires and                                        to Victoria Police’s ability to build a workforce
flooding) and other extreme weather events                                      profile that delivers on its strategy.
(for example heatwaves) has increased over                                      Public scrutiny
the last ten years and, according to the CSIRO,
                                                                                Independent scrutiny of Victoria Police
this trend is likely to continue.12 These will
                                                                                activities has been strengthened significantly
create additional demands on Victoria Police,
                                                                                over the past decade, yet public concerns
especially in emergency management.
                                                                                about issues of transparency and accountability
Legislation and policy initiatives                                              persist. As a result, these issues will continue to
There appears to be a trend towards more                                        be significant for Victoria Police.
frequent changes in legislation and policy, and
a public preference for legislative responses to
the symptoms of complex social issues.
12 CSIRO (2013) Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Environment
and Communications Inquiry into Recent trends in and preparedness for extreme
weather events.

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VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

IV
Organisational challenges

Financial constraints and the                       • There are indications of a cultural divide
productivity imperative                               between sworn (police and Protective
Victoria Police will be affected by more severe       Services Officers (PSO)) and Victorian Public
public funding constraints, both directly, and        Service (VPS) staff, caused in part by the
indirectly through changes to other areas of          differences in employment arrangements,
government activity, since Victoria Police is the     including disciplinary processes.
public agency of last resort for citizens, when a   • The cultural divide is reinforced by the
social problem requires intervention by public        inability of Victoria Police to choose
services. In the face of rising demand, Victoria      an optimal workforce mix: successive
Police must learn to deliver more with relatively     governments have for many years
less. If Victoria Police revenue growth reflects      required the force to employ a fixed
Department of Treasury and Finance projections        number of police. The result is a limited
indicating that it is likely to be less than the      capacity to employ VPS staff in functions
combination of population growth and inflation,       where they would be more suitable
and expenditure growth follows the trend over         and more financially viable than police,
the last few years, the organisation will face        limiting the organisation’s ability to
increasing budgetary pressure and more serious        plan its workforce properly. The ratio
constraints on its operations in future - unless      of ‘civilian’ to sworn staff in Victoria is
ways can be found to increase operational             lower than in New South Wales and
effectiveness and provide better value for            Queensland, and is almost a third of that
money.                                                in the United Kingdom.
The right people, with the right                    • Victoria Police still falls short of the
capability, in the right roles                        ideal that it reasonably reflect the
A number of issues concerning the Victoria            demographics of the community it serves:
Police workforce indicate the need for                 o Women account for about 25 per
transformational change:                                 cent of all police, and around 10 per
     • Despite improvements in recent years,             cent of more senior ranks (inspector
       there is not a truly systematic approach          and above); the rate of increase in the
       to reducing unethical conduct.                    overall proportion has slowed to be
                                                         almost negligible.

16
o Among current police recruits, the                 • Rostering arrangements generally are
         proportion born outside Australia                    based on an historic minimum service
         is about half of the figure for the                  requirement, and do not adequately reflect
         Victorian population as a whole.                     demand changes during the week and at
                                                              different times of the day.
       o Around 0.3 per cent of police are
         Indigenous (compared to around 0.7                 • Central co-ordination of the workforce is
         per cent for the population at large).               limited, as rostering is undertaken locally in
                                                              work units and based on a manual process.
   • With few exceptions, recruitment of police
                                                            • Mobility of police is limited by a number
     occurs through a single pathway centred
                                                              of aspects of the relevant enterprise
     on a career for life, creating a largely ‘sealed’
                                                              agreement, including requirements that:
     organisation; direct entry from outside a
     police organisation into a sworn officer’s                 o each position within the sworn profile
     role is virtually non-existent. Yet generational             is ‘owned’ by an officer and attached
     shifts have produced a sharp decline in the                  to a particular location;
     average tenure in any one job.
                                                                o other than on disciplinary grounds,
   • The physical, psychological, security and                    in practice an officer can only be
     language assessments of recruit applicants                   moved to another location within
     create risks for the organisation.                           24 kilometres (or, for a country
   • Continuing education and training for                        member asked to work outside the
     police does not sufficiently support                         metropolitan area, 50 kilometres) of
     psychological health and ethical standards,                  the member’s continuing position,
     and many middle-level managers                               before (unfunded) excess travel time
     have received inadequate professional                        and cost penalties must be paid.
     development for their roles; those
                                                         Physical infrastructure creates further
     in country areas can’t readily access
                                                         impediments to matching resources to demand.
     continuing professional development.
                                                         A growing number of Victoria Police buildings
   • Performance management within the                   and other fixed assets are degraded to at least
     organisation is yet to be fully accepted:           some extent, are not fit for purpose, and do
     there is a reluctance in some quarters              not meet modern operational policing needs.
     to give and receive honest feedback.
                                                         The location of police stations often reflects
   • The discipline system for sworn                     a bygone era of horse-drawn transport: they
     members remains complex, slow,                      tend to be clustered around older established
     overly formal and punitive.                         areas of Victoria, not necessarily in areas where
Matching people and infrastructure                       the demand is greatest or where they provide
to demand                                                an appropriate response capability. They serve
Currently, staff resources do not appropriately          specific geographic communities, rather than
match demand:                                            a service delivery model that matches demand,
                                                         focused on accessibility, visibility, mobility and
   • Historically they have been matched to              flexibility of police.
     population size, rather than crime rates
     or the likely need for police services:
     there is significant variation in the ratio
     of police to crime rates across Victoria;

                                                                                                          17
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

Information and knowledge                          For example, typically at the end of a shift a
management                                         police officer is required to return to a station to
Victoria Police has lacked a comprehensive,        enter data into systems, and complete and fax
long-term strategy to guide the governance and     hardcopy documentation to a centralised area
business use of, and appropriate investment        for retyping into the ageing LEAP database.
in, its information. As a consequence, the
                                                   Around 50 per cent of a police officer’s
organisation does not have an integrated
                                                   time on each shift is spent in the station,
approach to information management. For
                                                   with a significant proportion attributed
example, the Law Enforcement Assistance
                                                   to administrative tasks associated with
Program (LEAP) record management database
                                                   information capture and reporting. Increasingly
does not include intelligence, which is stored
                                                   police find that their paperwork burden
on the separate Interpose database and is
                                                   requires them to commence shifts early and
not available to all operational police during
                                                   finish late in order to complete documentation.
a shift. There have been a number of high
                                                   Delays in processing information and making
profile lapses of information security and
                                                   it available for operational members present
police face an enormous information burden.
                                                   difficulties for police in responding to service
Victoria Police’s current operational policing
                                                   delivery calls and increase safety risks to both
information environment comprises more than
                                                   police and the public.
100 processes and 10 critical systems. These
require laborious manual handling, data entry
and duplication of effort, which in turn leads
to incomplete, delayed and varied quality of
data for decision support and less time for core
policing duties.

18
PIPP – A new approach to information management
The Policing Information Process and Practice Reform Program (PIPP) focuses on improving
processes and practices, with IT being the critical factor. PIPP is developing a strategic view of
Victoria Police’s information, IT and business needs, to better meet the changing requirements
of the community and the police.

PIPP received $23.3 million, over four years, in the 2013-14 budget to fund two projects
essential to improving police systems. The first, the Sustain Project, will focus on necessary
maintenance of the ageing LEAP and Interpose systems for the coming five years. The second
project, the Transform Project, is developing a long-term, integrated and sustainable solution for
managing investigations and intelligence to support future police service delivery, as part of a
long-term information management strategy.

                                          As a priority, PIPP focuses on creating a single point of
                                          access to the information held in multiple disparate
                                          systems. PIPP will also target investment in changes to
                                          processes and automation of processes to reduce
                                          administrative tasks. Further, it will increase the availability
                                          and accessibility of information through mobile
                                          technology in the field and introduce new service
                                          channels for the community, such as online reporting.

                                          As part of the PIPP process, an application has been
                                          introduced to simplify specific high-volume policing
                                          processes (family violence and field contact reporting).
                                          This application improves the availability and overall
                                          quality of data on LEAP by providing a user interface
                                          that enables reports submitted by members to be
                                          immediately available via the LEAP database. It reduces
                                          duplicate data entry and provides members with
                                          the ability to pre-populate required forms with data
                                          already captured. This application has enabled process
                                          changes that reduce time spent by frontline members
                                          completing family violence and field contact reports.

It is conservatively estimated that improvements in family violence processes alone, have released
an extra 72,000 police hours for patrol and proactive duties, at an equivalent value of $3.8 million.
It is also estimated that there has been a 30 per cent reduction in the time spent on the relevant
administrative documentation by front line police. These figures do not take into account reductions
in back office data entry requirements, or the enhancements gained from the field contact reports.
With the success of this initial implementation, expansion of this application to all crime reporting
and offender processing is planned for 2014 to gain further efficiencies.

                                                                                                        19
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

Information and communication                                   o Growing from operational necessity,
technology                                                        ad-hoc workarounds have produced
Almost a decade and a half into the twenty                        in excess of 600 stand-alone small
first century, Victoria Police labours with                       to large software programs and
twentieth century technology. Victoria                            databases.
Police officers regard the poor state of the
                                                                o The Victoria Police computer network
organisation’s technology and IT in particular
                                                                  still uses Windows XP, which has been
as a severe constraint on their ability to do
                                                                  superseded by three newer operating
their job, and compare it unfavourably with
                                                                  systems. Many police encounter
police organisations in other states and English
                                                                  difficulty in opening documents
speaking countries. This state of affairs is the
                                                                  created using newer programs and
result of funding and management decisions -
                                                                  resort to taking the documents home
including omissions - over many years.
                                                                  to read, print or convert to a usable
The problems created by inadequate information                    format. The operating system will be
and communications technology affect Victoria                     upgraded by the end of 2014, for the
Police operations in a number of ways:                            first time in many years.

     • Operational communications – in                          o Insufficient computer storage space
       country areas, police rely on an analogue                  presents a real capacity issue, with
       radio system that is not secure and can                    some members unable to readily store
       be intercepted by almost anyone who                        and access data (such as audio-visual
       wants to listen to police conversations.                   files) needed to perform their duties.
       The organisation cannot meet the                         o The inability to access and apply data
       increasing demand from individual                          analytics, voice recognition and video
       police officers for personal audio video                   analysis to valuable raw information
       recording devices; consequently many                       limits real-time preventative, detection
       police officers use their own devices                      and investigation efforts.
       and store and transfer files in a way that
       is not secure. Limitations on bandwidth                  o LEAP, the main database for Victoria
       capacity to police stations cause delays                   Police, operates on obsolete
       in processing information, decreasing                      mainframe and ‘green screen’
       frontline police availability for patrol                   technology, described in 2009 by
       and tasking.                                               the Ombudsman as ‘antiquated’, and
                                                                  ‘unsuited to a twenty first century
     • Systems capability
                                                                  approach to policing’.13 Almost five
        o There are multiple applications that                    years later, LEAP remains the core
          do not share information, are not                       data storage and retrieval system for
          mobile, do not contain an adequate                      Victoria Police.
          security or audit function and do
          not support organisation-wide, end-
          to-end business processes. These
          multiple databases, many of which
          are unsupported or have single points
          of failure, require duplication of
                                                    13 Ombudsman Victoria (2009), Crime Statistics and police numbers,
          information and manual data entry.        Victorian Government Printer, p.8.

20
• Online service delivery - Victoria Police’s   For example, Victoria Police’s
  general online services are limited to        contribution to the Australian Crime
  Party Safe registrations, submission of       Commission’s secure intelligence
  compliments and complaints about police       sharing system, linking multiple law
  behaviour, police recruitment applications    enforcement agencies, is supported by
  and access to an array of online forms.       a manual process, with limitations on
  Even these services still require manual      the capability to add further analysis.
  handing at the back office.                   Further, a lack of dexterity and mobility
                                                in information delivery systems restricts
• Inter-agency information sharing -
                                                physical co-location with other
  Victoria Police’s information technology
                                                enforcement and community partners.
  capability does not adequately support
  the imperative to share information
  with other government agencies.

                                                                                        21
PART 2
V
Strategic goals and directions

Over the decade to 2025, Victoria Police        Figure 1: A Vision for 2025: Victoria Police operating model
will need to become a more connected,
                                                                        Victorian community
intelligence-led and evidence-based
organisation, that works closely with                                               Expectations

communities and partners to prevent, and
                                                                                                         Policing
reduce the harm from crime, disorder
                                                                             Victoria
and other public safety hazards. It will be         Government                                     Partnerships
                                                                              Police
challenged to do better with relatively less.

Further reductions to VPS staff have real                                           Service Delivery Model

potential to reduce the capacity of Victoria            People                Physical
                                                                                                   Technology
Police to deliver frontline operations. Other     (including culture)      infrastructure

mechanisms must be used to enable Victoria
                                                The traditional police service delivery
Police to be more effective and efficient.
                                                model needs to shift from one based on
Achievement of Victoria Police’s goals will     historically-determined locations and physical
require three related strategic directions:     infrastructure, which can restrict efficiency
                                                and effectiveness, towards one that is flexible,
   • better matching of resources to demand     risk-based and digitally-enabled.
     by rethinking the traditional operating
     model                                      In considering how best to harness the
                                                skills, knowledge and experience of Victoria
   • improving capability through workforce
                                                Police staff to deliver greater operational
     reform and technology
                                                effectiveness, the interactions between
   • collaborating more closely through         individuals are critical to the overall productivity
     partnerships.                              of the workforce. Different roles and functions
                                                complement, influence and enable the
                                                effectiveness of others to a greater or lesser
                                                extent. Thus a different workforce mix has the
                                                potential to substantially improve operational
                                                effectiveness.

                                                                                                                23
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

Key lines of inquiry must consider how Victoria     Police service delivery should be:
Police can deliver better service with relatively
                                                       • shaped by intelligence and therefore
less:
                                                         prevention-focused, targetting the
     • What functions drive the effectiveness of         greatest harms and greatest impacts
       Victoria Police and the achievement of            based on robust evidence
       outcomes – at the frontline and behind it?
                                                       • mobile and therefore more visible,
     • Are these functions being delivered               accessible and effective, through
       in the right proportions to maximise              smart solutions
       effectiveness?
                                                       • engaged in constant, productive
     • Are these functions being delivered               dialogue with the community through
       by the right people – sworn, VPS, or              social media and other channels.
       contractors – to maximise effectiveness?
                                                    Finally, the capacity of policing to create
     • Are these functions being delivered          public value is greater than the capacity
       in the right ways to maximise                of the police to create public value.
       effectiveness?                               This embraces Peel’s principle that ‘the public
                                                    are the police’ to employ many different kinds
     • Can levers such as technology be used
                                                    of policing through partnerships. Effective
       to enable better interactions?
                                                    partnerships are essential to maximise the
There is great potential for sophisticated          ability of Victoria Police to fulfil its mission -
technology, fully integrated with reformed          to increase public safety.
business processes, to revolutionise Victoria
Police’s operational effectiveness.

24
VI
Better matching of resources to demand

The widening mission of police in the                 Determining priorities
21st century is unsustainable without
re-shaping the way they operate to                    Who decides priorities?
balance competing demands.                            Governments worldwide are recognising the
                                                      link between policing effectiveness locally and
Demand is not only escalating but is also             the effectiveness of ‘big picture’ operations
constantly shifting. This is true on both the         decided centrally (such as operations to
local, community-facing frontline (where, for         counter the criminal activities of outlaw
example, regional and rural areas will experience     motor cycle gangs). National and international
demand pressures that are different from those        security are closely linked to neighbourhood
seen in metropolitan Victoria), as well as the        security, as organised crime and terrorist plans
state, national and transnational frontline that      are disrupted due to local, on-the-ground
is less visible to the public. Victoria Police must   information passed on to local police. This is
also expect the unexpected, by maintaining            the 21st century frontline.
contingency for emergency humanitarian and
environmental situations.                             Police possess information and insights not
                                                      accessible to any other party. Consequently
Under increasing budget pressures, Victoria           they are best-placed to make the ultimate
Police needs to optimise the use of all its           decisions on how to allocate the available
resources to anticipate, manage and best satisfy      resources to respond to different demands.
demand along the spectrum of crime and other          At the same time, community priorities must
public safety hazards. This requires the tools,       be identified and reflected as far as practicable:
capability and data to understand the nature of       resource allocation decisions must be shaped
demand, and the ensuing resource implications.        by community views.
Victoria Police must determine its priorities and
deploy its resources in smarter, more flexible and
mobile ways, to respond to shifts in demand.
The criteria for doing so should be transparent
and understood by the community.

                                                                                                     25
VICTORIA POLICE BLUE PAPER:
A VISION FOR VICTORIA POLICE IN 2025

To be effective along the whole of the 21st                                          Criteria for determining priorities
century frontline, Victoria Police needs to:                                         Police fulfil their role in two very different ways:
      • respond to what the public can see                                           proactive activities in relation to the threat of
        – that is, local problems and highly                                         crime and other threats to public safety (such
        visible crimes or situations – to meet                                       as road collisions), and reactive activities in
        community expectations, as well as                                           relation to crime or other incidents. The more
        motivating each and every citizen to                                         successful the proactive activity, the less the
        support and participate in policing                                          demand for reactive policing.

      • allocate its resources appropriately along                                   The balance of Victoria Police’s activities
        the ‘golden thread that [now] runs from                                      must be tilted further towards prevention,
        local policing across force boundaries                                       as compared to enforcement or ‘catching
        and internationally’,14 to deliver the right                                 crooks’, to respond to the complexity of
        balance of operations to also counter                                        Victorian society, promote sustainable, long-
        the less visible, big picture threats to                                     term public safety, and tackle crime before
        the public.                                                                  it happens.

In practice, decision-making powers should                                           Prevention is at the core of the police mission.
reflect this so that:                                                                Peel’s principles set out prevention as the
                                                                                     first and most important pillar of policing.
      • Victoria Police can identify its highest
                                                                                     The best way to tackle demand from crime
        priorities for the State as a whole
                                                                                     is to prevent it from happening in the first
        and allocate resources according
                                                                                     place. Prevention also makes operations more
        to this assessment, including how
                                                                                     effective and efficient by resolving people’s
        many resources will be allocated to
                                                                                     situations and issues before they escalate
        local communities through regional
                                                                                     and return to the attention of the police or
        operations
                                                                                     other services as more serious and intensive
      • local communities can influence how                                          demands.
        those resources will be used to meet
        local priorities.                                                            Victoria Police has a role to play in three forms
                                                                                     of prevention, in collaboration with other
If priorities are set centrally, Victoria Police                                     government agencies:
must also remain accountable to local
communities and their elected representatives                                           • Prevention of the social causes of crime
and be prepared to justify its choices to                                                 and other public safety hazards – that is,
government and the public. This will require                                              the underlying factors that affect certain
ongoing, constructive and open dialogue                                                   individuals or groups in society and
about policing to inform both the police and                                              therefore make them more likely to be
the community’s understanding of the choices                                              offenders or victims, such as inadequate
to be made to make Victoria safer. It will also                                           education, health, social engagement or
require the development of broader and                                                    employment.
deeper partnerships.                                                                    • Prevention of the direct drivers or causes
                                                                                          of crime and other public safety hazards
                                                                                          – such as risky drinking or drug abuse.

14 UK Home Office (2010) Policing in the 21st Century: Reconnecting police and the
people, Norwich: The Stationery Office.

26
• Prevention or disruption of the              repeatedly carried out by a single offender
     opportunity for crime and other public       (recidivist crime) or against a single victim
     safety hazards – ‘hardening’ potential       (repeat victimisation). A ‘harm index’ would
     targets (for example by advising             provide police, communities and governments
     residents and businesses on installation     with a ‘common currency‘ to make choices
     of security measures), and increasing        about resources and investment, and to assess
     the guardianship of public places            policing effectiveness.15
     or increasing policing presence in
                                                  There is also good evidence that ‘solvability’
     ‘hotspots’.
                                                  should form an element of the criteria used
In addition to an emphasis on prevention,         to target police resources most effectively
there are three further criteria that can be      in response to demand. Statistical models of
used in combination to determine priorities in    solvability factors – or even solvability checklists
response to demand from crime:                    – have been shown to be highly accurate in
                                                  predicting whether a reported crime will be
   • greater attention to victimisation
                                                  solved, providing an upfront assessment process
   • a focus on the greatest harms                for organising resources that might otherwise
   • better
     	      application of ‘solvability’ –       be over-allocated to pursuing unsolvable
     the likelihood of identifying an offender.   crimes.16 This is not to say that these crimes are
                                                  not important to report – as the intelligence
Victoria Police should take a preventative
                                                  provided can still be critical to police activities
approach to victimisation: to care better
                                                  – but that solvability should help to shape the
for victims and work harder to ensure that
                                                  most effective response to demand. Use of
individuals do not become victims again.
                                                  solvability as a criterion is a way to invest greater
This will involve allocating more resources
                                                  resources in supporting the victims of those
to support victims, providing an appropriate
                                                  crimes, rather than investigating them fruitlessly.
victim response based on the seriousness of
the crime and frequency of victimisation, and     The successful implementation of this strategic
better identification of high-risk victims who    shift to deliver the best and most effective mix
can then be assisted through proactive policing   of proactive and reactive operations will require:
and engagement.
                                                        • greater flexibility to deploy resources to
Greater transparency with victims about how               anticipate crime before it happens
Victoria Police is dealing with their cases is
                                                        • a greater focus on sophisticated
also necessary, through for example an online
                                                          modelling of demand to produce insight
tracking system.
                                                          into crime-prone hotspots and high
A focus on reducing the greatest amount                   priority offenders, victims and crime
of harm rather than the greatest number of              • deeper partnerships with the community
crimes can help to emphasise enforcement                  so they can provide their insight into
and prevention activities, and should inform              what the data cannot tell us about their
crime reduction reporting. The traditional raw            concerns, and what prevention activities
counting and reporting of crimes does not                 will be effective in providing reassurance
adequately consider the differences in severity           as well as reducing the likelihood of
between them. For example, some crimes                    crime.
are more serious because they: cause greater      15 Sherman, L. (2013) The Rise of Evidence-Based Policing: Targeting, Testing and
                                                  Tracking, University of Chicago, p. 44.
impact or injury, affect more victims, or are     16 Ibid, p. 14.

                                                                                                                                      27
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