This is not a political blog.

However, the reality of the moment is that the current political scene (and the decisions in relation to cuts in public spending that are being decided by the coalition government ) is having a direct and significant impact on UK Policing Plc. That’s the nature of politics and policing, no matter the shade of government.

Timing is everything they say, and the season of goodwill to all is now behind us. ‘Fight the cuts’ hostilities were temporarily suspended to allow family over eating and general merriment to take place. Now a different reality is taking shape ...

The Lord Chief Justice has issued landmark guidance that there is no statutory prohibition on the use of live, text based communications ( such as mobile email, social media (including Twitter) and internet enabled laptops) in court.

The ruling will have far reaching implications and opens up a number of interesting debates. Forces and their press offices would be wise to  have thought through their positions and capabilities on what is sure to be a thorny issue.

The guidance states that:

‘Before such use is permitted, the court must be satisfied that its use does not pose a danger of interference to the proper ...

The Home Office has announced that new civil injunctions to prevent gang-related violence will come into effect at the end of next month (31 Jan 2011).

The ‘gang injunctions’ are designed to break down gang culture and prevent further incidents of gang-related violence by imposing certain prohibitions and requirements on the recipient. These could include:

* Not entering a certain geographical area; * Not being in public with a particular species of animal, for example a dog which had previously been used as a weapon; * Not wearing certain ‘gang colours’ in public; or * Participating in positive activities such as entering ...

This week saw the announcement of government funding for policing.

The four-year settlement reflects the intent signalled in the October Spending Review and outlines a significant, phased, cut in funding. What may bring some small cheer is the continuation of the Neighbourhood Policing Fund (for two years) to ‘protect visible local policing’.

In addition a specific fund for counter-terrorism will be maintained to ensure forces are able to deal with the continuing terrorist threat and  a number of other funds have been brought into the main police grant.

In addition to the police settlement, a £600M Olympic safety and security funding pot has been ...

I have uploaded the Ministry of Justice Green Paper: Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders and the Cabinet Office consultation paper –  Modernising Commissioning: Increasing the role of charities, social enterprises, mutuals and cooperatives in public service delivery.

You can find them in the ‘Agency Reports’ section of my website

While you are there, if you could click on one of the links to our supported charities, we’d be grateful. I just watched moving scenes of a British soldier who lost his legs in an IED blast, walk, in pain, to meet the Queen to receive ...

The Big Society Awards have been launched today by the Prime Minister.

Individuals, businesses, charities, community groups and other organisations are all eligible if they illustrate the Big Society in action.

These might be:

People or groups who are bringing their community together and helping to give people more power to take decisions and shape their area People who are transforming our public services, staff setting up their own cooperatives, or new providers or frontline staff finding innovative ways to deliver better services to the public Or people who are giving their time and money to help others, the unsung heroes changing ...

I’m really grateful to Inspect Lee Lyons, Sussex Police (@Insp_Lyons) for sharing with me his recent experience of social media use at the scene of an incident, and the subsequent national media attention that generated. His story raises a number of key organisational and operational issues which I will explore later in this post. First, his story…

Hastings Pier Fire

“Hastings was originally a Victorian town, and like many Victorian towns it has a pier.  Now in recent years the pier at Hastings has become embroiled in ownership disputes and ...

This week I attended the excellent Policing 2.0 Conference at Ryton organised by the NPIA and Chaired by West Midlands ACC, soon to be Tayside DCC, Gordon Scobie. This was the second such conference and it has developed really well. The format was presentations in the morning, with a variety of workshops throughout the afternoon.

Interestingly, the conference was broadcast (via CJX connected terminals) to the service. At one time over 100 people were viewing the presentations online. Real efficiency and cost saving, although by not attending you do miss out on the key networking that takes place.

Not ...

Today is the day that the public sector axe starts to swing and the future of the UK’s public sector is defined for the foreseeable future.

Whatever the outcome of the Chancellor’s deliberations, one thing is clear, the need for forces to have in place an effective, dynamic and well communicated employee engagement strategy has never been more obvious or more pressing.

Fact: as a result of the cuts some colleagues will lose their job and leave the organisation. Fact: more people will stay than will leave.

What isn’t known as fact, but can be surmised, is that those who stay will be ...