What you could be doing | Professional Standards Department
WE WORK HARD TO MAKE SURE OUR PEOPLE ARE THE BEST THEY CAN POSSIBLY BE
Professional Standards Department
The Organisational Learning Culture And Ethics department, OLCE for short, oversees functions such as vetting, complaints, counter corruption, hearings and learning that may come from misconduct, but also from HMIC inspections, incidents and de-briefs.
We also ensure that staff on the frontline understand and have access to the learning they need. The way we push out learning is ahead of most organisations. We’re busy exploiting technology to support this, with ‘how to’ videos and a ‘you need to know’ app that can be streamed through mobile data. It’s very much a peers learning environment.
Because there are various teams within the department, there’s something for everyone in terms of roles. Vetting sets the standards for those entering the organisation. Counter Corruption, while it may sound interesting and presents a fulfilling challenge, can, on occasions, be a high stress area. Complaints are about maintaining public confidence in the police service. This can also be challenging, as some complainants are dissatisfied if their complaint is not upheld. Again, it’s challenging and you have to be willing to work with partners from other areas such as the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
The Counter Corruption team requires the majority of the training, which is centred around investigations and the qualifications needed to ensure competency in the investigation field.
Our Professional Standards Department teams
COMPLAINTS
They are here to maintain public confidence and deal with public complaints. These can range from very minor matters to serious complaints of misconduct where our service has fallen short of what people would expect.
COUNTER CORRUPTION
This team looks at serious misconduct and criminal matters that may have been committed by staff within the organisation. There are also various proactive elements to this area to ensure our systems are not exploited for criminal purposes.
HEARINGS OFFICE
The staff here process internal misconduct or gross misconduct hearings. They also deal with complaint appeals that are usually directed to executive officers.
ORGANISATION LEARNING
This team ensures that any learning, from internal misconduct through to incidents or inspections, is highlighted to staff who may manage similar incidents and may be able to learn from others who have got something wrong or done something exceptionally well.
VETTING
This team ensures that those joining or already employed, meet the highest standards and that there are some rules and guidance in place to ensure that those who make genuine and minor mistakes can be employed by the Constabulary.
Investing in your development
We know that to protect and support our community effectively we need to keep up-to-date with new approaches, processes and technologies. This means that there will always be opportunities for training and professional development. We’ll continuously review your training needs and help succeed in your role. We’ll challenge you to work outside your comfort zone. And we’ll encourage you to grow.
As well as professional training and a range of in-house training opportunities, you can also look forward to plenty of personal support. This might be from your colleagues in the team, new opportunities that become available or through membership of one of our many staff associations.
