By Graham Brown

TAYSIDE POLICE is set to drop its pursuit of a government-backed accolade to get on with the business of catching criminals.

Today, the force will be congratulated on becoming only the second in the country to achieve the prestigious Charter Mark five times in succession—but the award is set to be the last if Tayside Joint Police Board members go along with Chief Constable John Vine’s view that the paper-chase involved in meeting the standard is a waste of officers’ time.

The Charter Mark standard is endorsed by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and focuses on key criteria such as setting standards, consulting users and delivering customer satisfaction.

Mr Vine agrees it is a highly-rated honour but with effective use of resources being one of the other major planks of the award process he is poised to tell board members that force performance is well monitored through a number of other inspection regimes under which police across the country are scrutinised and staff time could be better spent on their core role.

“The Charter Mark standard commands high profile recognition under the Government’s agenda for reform of public services,” states the Chief Constable in his report to this morning’s board meeting in Forfar.

“Charter Mark holders represent an elite group providing a service to their communities nationally recognised as second to none. The award focuses on the outward face of the organisation and how it interacts with customers in terms of providing choice, flexibility and public value.

“It recognises organisations that have gone the ‘extra mile’ and sought the views of partners and users of its service and subsequently used that feedback to continuously improve.”

The latest Tayside Charter Mark inspection took place over three days in January and in delivering the three-year award, assessors highlighted several area’s of the force’s service delivery, including significant evidence of work in the community, effective partnership working with other agencies and the pursuit of a technology-based solution to improve the call management process.

Mr Vine will ask board members to give staff a pat on the back for the success before going on to recommend that they do not have to jump through the Charter Mark hoops again.

“The HQ division performance manager was significantly involved on a part-time basis for a six-week period during the preparatory phase and during the on-site assessment,” he adds.

“Two sergeants were assigned to the work for a three-week period during the preparation of the application.

“In addition, senior management and other personnel were involved as part of the interview process, in particular attending meetings with the assessor and representatives of partner organisations.

“However, the renewal process coincided with a detailed review of the force by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland.

“Audit Scotland and internal audit arrangements also regularly subject the force to detailed scrutiny and the Tayside Joint Police Board audit sub-committee oversees activity in pursuit of best value and continuous improvement.

“Over the years, since the inception of Charter Mark, the overall inspection regime applicable to police forces generally has expanded significantly, covering the fullest range of policing and service delivery activities.”

Mr Vine states, “The various inspection processes can place a significant demand on staff time, often impacting on their core activity, preparing documentation and responding to inspection protocols.

“Our assessment has concluded that the added benefit likely to be accrued from optional awards such as Charter Mark is not commensurate with the significant additional resource effort required to support the assessment process.”

He adds, “The force is very pleased to have been awarded a fifth consecutive Charter Mark in recognition of the high standards of service delivered by its staff.

“However, on balance, the force has concluded that it should not seek to renew the Charter Mark when the recent award expires in three years.”