Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 section 60 Super Complaint recommendations and responses

Lincolnshire Police Response to Report on the Criminal Justice Alliance’s super-complaint: Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and independent community scrutiny of stop and search.

Recommendation 1

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure their forces review the content of training on section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 and how they provide it. The review should consider current national police curriculum requirements and the adequacy of force training for:

• officers who may be required to authorise section 60s; and
• officers who may be required to conduct section 60 stop and searches.

The review and any associated actions should be proportionate to each force's use of section 60.

Lincolnshire Police Response

Section 60 (S60) authorities in Lincolnshire are exceptional. Initial training for all officers includes an input on S60 legislation, as does Second Line Leadership development, which is aimed at new inspectors and staff equivalents. The Inspectors Legal Knowledge Exam (LKE) covers S60 authorities, and when Powers changed from Superintendent to Inspector, officers were briefed.

S60 is covered in Public Order Silver Tactical Command Training and recently on superintendent Continuing Professional Development (CPD) provided by the College of Policing.

In practice, use of the power is considered for pre-planned operations where the National Decision Model (NDM) assessment for pre-planned or spontaneous disorder is medium or above. Under those circumstances, which have been football matches and protests over recent years, a discussion takes place between the tactical commander and the tactical advisor, then consideration is made for a bespoke briefing in an appropriate format for all relevant officers.

Recommendation 3

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure briefing and debriefing arrangements for their force's activities under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/60)  are thorough and in line with Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Code A (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pace-code-a-2023) and authorised professional practice https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/glossary/authorised-professional-practice/) content and guidance.

Chief constables must make sure section 60 authorisation briefings are recorded. This may be as a written briefing. But formal verbal section 60 authorisation briefings should be given on audiovisual devices such as body-worn video (https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/glossary/body-worn-video/) or approved handheld communication devices. They should be capable of being recorded as part of the policing operation and be subject to scrutiny.

Section 60 briefings to officers who are required to use their stop and search powers should include information on:

• the relevant law and guidance;
• the particular grounds for authorising the use of section 60 stop and search powers;
• all relevant and current information and intelligence;
• the geographical area covered and time limitations authorised;
• all relevant community information (including policing history) and any community
• impact assessment;
• how any debriefing and force learning will be conducted; and
• the importance of recording all section 60 stop and search encounters on body-worn video in their entirety.

Lincolnshire Police Response

There is a review ongoing of current procedures, and a benchmarking request submitted to other forces to identify processes already in place, with a view of looking at best practice and learning, and established procedures elsewhere.

CPD presentation slides have been created utilising the returns of the benchmark. These include guidance on briefing, debriefing, supervisor responsibilities, and communication considerations for officers and children.

The force lead for stop search is creating a proforma for CADView so that decisions are recorded and will have key reminders for supervisors and authorisers. CADView refers to the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system whereby reports are automatically filed from dispatch information, and historical police report data can be easily accessed to provide context and better inform officers of potential hazards.

Recommendation 4

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure all officers who may exercise stop and search powers understand, and comply with, their responsibility to safeguard (https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/glossary/safeguarding/) children who are stopped and searched.

In doing so, chief constables should make sure that:

• in line with the national policing curriculum, officers undertaking searches are appropriately trained to take the necessary steps to minimise any emotional harm that may be caused through these encounters;
• their force has processes in place to assist appropriate safeguarding referrals when children are stopped and searched; and
• there is robust checking and assessment of all such searches that takes account of the safety and welfare needs of the child.

Lincolnshire Police Response

The force’s Stop and Search Policy (PD 108) is in place and highlights the need for submission of Public Protection Notices (PPN) when under 18s are searched. CPD events have been conducted for Response teams covering this. This CPD is also being cascaded out to Special Constabulary and also Operations Support Officers. CPD content is also being put together to cover this element at first line managers development courses.

There is work ongoing to review the stop search NICHE (the force’s recording system) supervisors template to ensure it is more fit for purpose in what is asked of supervisors to review and scrutinise.

Recommendation 5

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should make sure forces effectively communicate with communities and interested parties on the police use of section 60 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/600 stop and search powers. This should include:

• making sure communications reach the communities most likely to be affected by the section 60 authorisation and checking their communication strategies were effective;
• publicising details to inform the public, give reassurance and maximise any deterrent effect; and
• reporting back to communities and interested parties on operational outcomes.

Lincolnshire Police Response

Lincolnshire Police has not authorised a S60 power in recent years. Training, guidance, and policy are being developed and updated to ensure that in the event that these powers are authorised that communications reach communities who are most likely to be affected and that a review of these strategies are effective.

Officers will be trained within CPD events around the authorising of police powers and the importance of ensuring that communities are consulted with and advised throughout to deal with any subsequent tensions or concerns. The issuing of any authority will be publicly advertised where practicable in advance and communities engaged with. Where spontaneous authorities are granted, consultation will follow as soon as practicable. The work will take place in partnership with the force’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team, local policing teams, and media.

Communities are involved in stop search scrutiny panels (as per Recommendation 7). They will be utilised as part of the review of any authority as community representatives. They will also be able to report back to key communities their findings and views of the tactic. Their views are also used to help shape and develop best practice alongside individual and organisational learning.

Recommendation 7

By 14 June 2024, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force gives community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) all relevant information to help them scrutinise police stop and searches and other police actions arising from section 60 ( https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/60) authorisations. This should include:

• the grounds and underlying reasons for the authorisations;
• any recordings of briefings;
• written records of searches;
• information about the outcomes of searches; and
• body-worn video (https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/glossary/body-worn-video/) footage of entire encounters.

In addition, chief constables should satisfy themselves that their force incorporates feedback from community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) when evaluating and improving the force's use of section 60.

Lincolnshire Police Response

Scrutiny panels have facilities to view all relevant materials should S60 stop searches take place, including body worn footage and any administration such as search forms.

Panels’ scrutiny can already be fed back to officers and completion of feedback via Microsoft Forms allows for in depth collation of data to be considered and reviewed by the force. This same method of feedback would be available for scrutiny of any S60 stop search encounters.

A benchmarking request has been submitted to identify best practice and learning from forces that have utilised the power.

Recommendation 8

By 14 June 2024, chief constables and where applicable police and crime commissioners (or equivalents) should make sure their forces work in partnership with community scrutiny panels (or their equivalents) to:

• review panel membership and vetting arrangements to remove any unnecessary barriers to recruiting panel members;
• promote the recruitment of culturally diverse members, with a particular focus on representing, involving and retaining those from under-represented communities and young people;
• promote the representation, involvement and retention of those who have been stopped and searched;
• make sure the force gives community scrutiny panels information on the police use of force, including handcuffing, relevant to the police use of stop and search powers;

Lincolnshire Police Response

Lincolnshire Police have replaced full vetting with a comprehensive non-disclosure agreement, this is to remove the potential barrier of public being off put with process or being unable to attend due to previous convictions, for example. The force has trialled online scrutiny panels over 2023 that have improved representation and sent targeted invites to underrepresented groups, but the recording of equality data was requested voluntarily, rather than a mandatory requirement to take part. Out of the voluntary data returned, there was representation from those who disclosed a disability, any other white background, religion, gender reassignment, LGBT, and age ranges from under 25 to over 55.

Almost all who have attended online panels expressed interest in attending again and provided their email address to be contacted for future opportunities. The force has also shared additional opportunities such as ride-alongs and knife crime observers with panel attendees to consider.

This is an area still to develop in terms of how the force engages with those who have been stopped and searched and provide the opportunity to attend a future panel. It is proposed to capture this in the PR launch for online panels.

Guidance on legislation, types stop searches, and what to look out for is provided ahead of each panel, it is also available on the website and the police facilitator recaps at the start of each panel. The panel are free to ask or type questions at any point.