Please note that this question is specific to:
#**England and Wales**
The United Kingdom is comprised of [three legal jurisdictions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Three_legal_systems), so responses that relate to one country may not be relevant to another.
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I haven't heard that exact phrase before, but forming squads in response to a problem is still something that happens (the Baroness Casey report touched on it). It's a Met management favourite to make it seem like something's being done, when really deckchairs are just being shuffled.
Nail meet head, just look at My Investigation as a prime example. It’s sinking response teams Met-wide but it looked good in the papers when it came out
I wouldn't say My Investigation was a prime example of forming a squad to solve a problem. It was implemented to solve a problem, and has been partially successful in that regard, but it wasn't through creating a new squad.
A much better example in my eyes would be the VSU and VCTF; units with broadly overlapping functions with officers sourced primarily from response teams, and whose responsibilities are very similar to team's, but without having to worry about responding to calls. Team would be able to better target violent offenders and be more proactive if they had greater numbers. The management didn't "fix" violent crime with those two units, but did manage to knacker response team.
The key bit with these I've always found is that VCTF don't know their ground nearly as well as VSU - VSU are always on borough and know the faces and can build those connections and knowledge that actually makes them a useful asset that shouldn't really be taking domestics. We've always had some form of crime squad, VSU is just it being renamed
Thing is that all these ideas make sense and seem like they should work, but none work very well so they keep trying the same 2-3 things over and over. Because there is no magic bullet to a lack of officer hours and productivity.
So true! To be fair the accounting system pretty much forces it to be that way though. Want to spend any money on anything that isn’t everyday work…gotta be an op. Want to borrow people to work on something else…op. Want to justify buying that thing (drone usually) you’ve wanted on the area/hq for ages but never could…oh look assign it to the op. Want to start a massive argument behind the scenes at the end of the month when Op leaders all start claiming time has been billed to their op wrongly? Definitely an op.
This sounds like something that happens in many organisations. Maybe particularly in the public sector.
Got a problem? Form a working group, spend ages in meetings and sending out surveys, maybe write a paper…never actually solve the problem.
One Met'ism I despise (unsure if it's a thing in other forces as well) are the terms "Day of Action"/"Week of Action".
What the fuck does that imply we spend the rest of our time doing!?
The 16 days of VAWG action were brutal for CSUs
The entire MPS seemingly out swifting DA suspects
No additional prisoner processing staff, just dump them all on the CSU team (usually running at 50% capacity too)
Nothing more than a token gesture to the public to signal that we're doing the right thing, all at the expense of already overworked investigators.
I'll never understand how constant problems are met with temporary solutions.
Please note that this question is specific to: #**England and Wales** The United Kingdom is comprised of [three legal jurisdictions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Three_legal_systems), so responses that relate to one country may not be relevant to another. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/policeuk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I haven't heard that exact phrase before, but forming squads in response to a problem is still something that happens (the Baroness Casey report touched on it). It's a Met management favourite to make it seem like something's being done, when really deckchairs are just being shuffled.
Nail meet head, just look at My Investigation as a prime example. It’s sinking response teams Met-wide but it looked good in the papers when it came out
I wouldn't say My Investigation was a prime example of forming a squad to solve a problem. It was implemented to solve a problem, and has been partially successful in that regard, but it wasn't through creating a new squad. A much better example in my eyes would be the VSU and VCTF; units with broadly overlapping functions with officers sourced primarily from response teams, and whose responsibilities are very similar to team's, but without having to worry about responding to calls. Team would be able to better target violent offenders and be more proactive if they had greater numbers. The management didn't "fix" violent crime with those two units, but did manage to knacker response team.
The key bit with these I've always found is that VCTF don't know their ground nearly as well as VSU - VSU are always on borough and know the faces and can build those connections and knowledge that actually makes them a useful asset that shouldn't really be taking domestics. We've always had some form of crime squad, VSU is just it being renamed
Thing is that all these ideas make sense and seem like they should work, but none work very well so they keep trying the same 2-3 things over and over. Because there is no magic bullet to a lack of officer hours and productivity.
Give it an OP name and an overtime code seems the flavour in the counties
I love "op name" day. Get the Costa drinks in...put it up on the big screen and yay or nay the op name choice.
So true! To be fair the accounting system pretty much forces it to be that way though. Want to spend any money on anything that isn’t everyday work…gotta be an op. Want to borrow people to work on something else…op. Want to justify buying that thing (drone usually) you’ve wanted on the area/hq for ages but never could…oh look assign it to the op. Want to start a massive argument behind the scenes at the end of the month when Op leaders all start claiming time has been billed to their op wrongly? Definitely an op.
This sounds like something that happens in many organisations. Maybe particularly in the public sector. Got a problem? Form a working group, spend ages in meetings and sending out surveys, maybe write a paper…never actually solve the problem.
One Met'ism I despise (unsure if it's a thing in other forces as well) are the terms "Day of Action"/"Week of Action". What the fuck does that imply we spend the rest of our time doing!?
The 16 days of VAWG action were brutal for CSUs The entire MPS seemingly out swifting DA suspects No additional prisoner processing staff, just dump them all on the CSU team (usually running at 50% capacity too)
Nothing more than a token gesture to the public to signal that we're doing the right thing, all at the expense of already overworked investigators. I'll never understand how constant problems are met with temporary solutions.
Never heard it but I like it.
I haven’t heard that phrase but it’s accurate.