Intrusive Supervision

40/11
6 June 2011
MPA briefing paper 40/2011

This briefing paper has been prepared to inform members and staff. It is not a committee report and no decisions are required.

Intrusive Supervision

“What work has been done and continues to be done in the MPS to ensure supervisors and leaders understand what is meant in Intrusive Supervision”

Background

Intrusive supervision has been on the MPS leadership agenda for over two years now. It was one of the Commissioners key messages delivered through seminars held over the summer of 2009. The particular focus of the seminars was on Presence – one of the Commissioner’s ‘5 Ps’. These seminars were attended by all first and second line supervisors within Territorial Policing and Central Operations. Over two thousand MPS leaders attended these events and shared in this vision which culminated in the development of local action plans to embed key messages. One of the key tenets of Intrusive Supervision for the Commissioner is that it is about capturing and sharing what people are doing well and not about catching them out doing things badly.

In 2010, under the Professionalism strand of the Commissioner’s 5 Ps further work was undertaken to capture and share good practice across OCUs. There were a variety of strong examples of how, where and when intrusive supervision was taking place in their workplace and a willingness to enhance the standards of supervision and provide staff with the requisite tools and support to effectively intrusively supervise. Examples of ongoing improvement activity are as follows:

• Robust intervention strategies to deal with misconduct and driving standards and the development of a consistent standard to deal with misconduct issues for both police officers and police staff
• Reinforcement of supervisory standards through specific training and appropriate written guidance for staff.
• Ensuring consistency in dress code and ensuring all staff are wearing the correct name badge.
• Compliance processes to ensure quality and uniformity of investigations.
• Independent and objective ‘quality call back’ processes which are not operated by Line Managers, ensuring fair and useful data is achieved.
• Robust monitoring of single patrol/PDR (annual appraisal)/mandatory training/sickness policy etc compliance
• Capturing and disseminating high performance and best practice.
• Professionalising leadership standards in first line supervisors to provide a high quality of customer service

Present

The MPS Leadership Academy is reviewing current intrusive supervision activity across MPS business groups to assess its effectiveness. The findings of this review will be shared to enhance local performance through a good practice forum event planned for July 2011.

Future

The MPS remains committed to both the ethos and practical application of intrusive supervision. MPS leaders have a right to manage and feel empowered to make leadership decisions and in doing so be fully supported by their own managers and the organisation. The Leadership Academy review of intrusive supervision will be used to inform the construction of the MPS Leadership Development Pathway. This will be the future leadership model for all ranks and bands across the MPS.

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