ACPO comment on Royal Society of Arts study: Reflexive Coppers - Adaptive Challenges in Policing

ACPO lead for workforce development Chief Constable Peter Fahy said:

"The vast majority of our staff are driven by a very strong sense of vocation and personally-held values of public service and compassion.

"The report is right to suggest that in the pace of modern policing and the pressure to be visibly active there is a need to reflect on difficult incidents and perhaps how they could have been handled differently. Many staff do this already because they care deeply about their impact on the public.

"ACPO has recently developed and promoted its own decision-making model which helps staff to ensure that the core values of British policing are constantly taken into account by staff.

"Developing professional practise through a new professional body for policing, as proposed by the Home Office, will also help in this regard.

"Self-awareness, policing ethics and the impact of leadership behaviour on culture are key aspects of police leadership training. The media and other regulatory organisations can play a part by acknowledging that in many incidents it is better to adopt a lesson to be learned approach rather than finding an individual to blame.

"Accepting that individuals in the heat of complex incidents can make mistakes is most likely to encourage greater openness from officers."

For more information about the Royal Society of Arts report Reflexive Coppers: Adaptive Challenges in Policing please see the RSA website: http://www.thersa.org/projects/social-brain/reflexive-coppers

For more information please contact:

ACPO Press Office
Association of Chief Police Officers
e: press.office@acpo.pnn.police.uk