OPCC

In this section you will find information relating to the staff who work within the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable share a number of services in their roles that represents better value for money. These services are:

A Service Level Agreement provides the statement of intent between the Police and Police and Crime Commissioner to work in partnership and to define an effective working relationship.

The Police and Crime Commissioner also has a contract with Gateshead Council to carry out Internal Audit of the Police and Crime Commissioner and Northumbria Police accounts.

Legal Services for property transactions are provided through a contract between the Police and Crime Commissioner and North Tyneside Council.

View the Staff Structure of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner here (September 24).

Northumbria Police Chief Constable Recruitment

December 2022 

Following the news that Chief Constable Winton Keenen QPM DL had notified the Police and Crime Commissioner of his intention to retire with effect from March 2023 therefore meaning a comprehensive recruitment process was implemented to find the new Chief Constable for Northumbria.

The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner ensured that the recruitment process met legislative requirements and was developed in accordance with the College of Policing ‘Guidance for Appointing Chief Officers’ 2018. This process ensured that it was fair, transparent, and open.  To ensure this I included an independent member on the appointments panel and also included stakeholders from local authorities, businesses and community organisations in the appointment process.

The vacancy was widely advertised on the Senior Leaders Hub, College of Policing Website and Northumbria Police Website.  A comprehensive candidate pack provided information about Northumbria, the Police and Crime Plan and the role of the Chief Constable along with an overview of the recruitment process and timeline. Three applications were received for the position of Chief Constable for Northumbria.

An extensive appointment process was undertaken to test all candidates ability with each stage of the process explained below:

Initial Contact

Candidates were encouraged to take up the offer of an informal discussion with the PCC regarding the role and there was an option of a familiarisation visit to the force to engage with relevant police officers and staff members and key stakeholders across Northumbria.  All three candidates took advantage of this offer and ultimately three applications were received by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Formal Written Application

Potential candidates had to complete a formal application form as for any job, which included past experience and specific questions relating to the role and the challenges faced by Northumbria Police.

Application Shortlisting

Shortlisting was carried out by the Police and Crime Commissioner and Patrick Melia, Chief Executive Officer Sunderland City Council and supported by Helen Cooksley a Professional Development & Assessment Partner from Northumbria Police People and Organisational Development.  A tailored assessment pack was provided to support the shortlisting and the panel was briefing in advance of the meeting.  The pack included the Rank Profile and details of key accountabilities, leadership and education, qualifications, skills and experience required from the role.  It provided information about unconscious bias ensuring that the shortlisting assessment was evidence-based, fair and objective. Being aware of unconscious bias and any barrier to effective assessment can assist greatly in improving fairness and objectivity.

The panel used an evidence-based approach of reading and evaluating the evidence provided by each candidate in response to six application questions included in the application form.

Application forms from three candidates were independently assessed and the evidence was discussed at the shortlisting meeting.  Each applicant was assessed to determine if they met the required shortlisting standard and could progress to the selection process.  All three applicants for the role were determined to have met the required standard to be shortlisted and continued to the formal interview process.

Stakeholder Engagement Process

Given the Chief Constable is an important public role whose impact is beyond the direct delivery of policing services the selection process was designed to provide an opportunity for a number of key stakeholders to meet the shortlisted candidates.  The input of stakeholders brings additional perspective and context to the appointment as the panel questions and interacts with the candidate to assess their level of awareness and understanding of the various sectors and communities in Northumbria.

Two stakeholder panels were involved in the process with partners from a range of organisations in the statutory and voluntary and community sector forming a Joint Accountability and People and Communities Panels.  Representatives from Northumbria Police staff associations were also part of the panels.

Feedback from the groups were presented to the formal interview panel for information.  The stakeholder panel are not part of the formal assessment process.

Formal Interview and Presentation

The significance of the Chief Constable role was reflected with a suitably skilled and experienced senior interview panel.  The members of the panel have extensive experience of recruiting at a senior executive level.

Members of the interview panel were:

• Kim McGuinness, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner
• Patrick Melia, Chief Executive Sunderland City Council (Independent Member)
• John McCabe, Chief Executive North East Chamber of Commerce

In addition, it is appropriate for a PCC to ask a panel member to act in a professional advisory capacity around policing around the fit of candidates experience and skills with the policing specific requirements of the role. John Campbell QPM, Chief Constable for Thames Valley Police agreed to join the panel in a policing advisory role only.

The first part of the assessment was a 15-minute presentation by the candidate on which they were then asked a series of question.  The second part of the assessment was the formal interview where candidates were asked eight questions.

Panel Assessment 

A Chief Constable Assessor Pack was provided to the Interview Panel Members in advance of the interviews together with copies of the application forms.

The pack set out the Chief Constable rank profile including the role purpose, key accountabilities and required education skills and experience and leadership expectations in Northumbria Police guiding the panel to consider these as part of their assessment.  The panel role is to ensure they get as much evidence from the candidate as possible, which means that at time additional questions may be asked.

This is normal for this type of assessment.  Guidance was given to panel members around the use of probing questions, ensuring they are relevant to the question being asked and will elicit evidence from the candidate in relation to the areas being assessed, are open questions and are not leading questions.

Overall considerations for the assessment focus on whether the candidate is future focussed, have the right skills, behaviours and personal qualities to successfully lead an empowered and diverse workforce.  For each aspect of the assessment a score rating was used. The interview panel agreed a minimum expected score before the interviews commenced.

The candidates were all scored at the end of the formal interview on a scale of 0 (no evidence) through to 4 (very strong) against each of the structured questions and presentation.

Vanessa Jardine scored highly during this process and it was the consensus of the interview panel that she was the most suitable candidate for the position.

She demonstrated through her application form, engagement with key stakeholders and throughout her formal interview that she has the requisite depth of operational experience coupled with the desired leadership qualities, skills and ability to lead Northumbria Police in the future.

Police and Crime Panel Confirmation Hearing

Following the recruitment process as discussed above, the Commissioner proposed the appointment of Vanessa Jardine as Chief Constable of Northumbria Police to the Police and Crime Panel on 13^th December 2022.

At this meeting the Police and Crime Panel formally agreed the appointment of Vanessa Jardine as Chief Constable of Northumbria Police. You can read a copy of the Police and Crime Panel Appointment report by clicking on the following link: Report and recommendation to PCC on CC Appointment

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office has several different social media accounts on a variety of platforms.

We’re happy to help you in any way that we can and look forward to seeing your views and feedback.

We do however expect our users to offer us the same level of courtesy that we offer them.

We welcome opinions and comments and believe public figures should be held to account. However, we will not tolerate confrontational, obsessive and abusive language and behaviour – whether targeting the PCC, the office, or most importantly others who are contributing across our channels

When this happens, we will take all reasonable steps to remove them and take appropriate action.

‘House rules’

Below are our short set of house rules:

1. All users must comply with the social media platform’s Terms of Use as well as these Terms of Use.
2. You are wholly responsible for any content you post including content that you choose to share.
3. We will remove, in whole or in part, posts which we feel are inappropriate.
4. We will report and remove any social media profiles that are set up using our branding
5. We will block and/or report X/Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn users who direct tweets at us which we believe are:

-Abusive or obscene

-Graphic, sensitive or offensive imagery

-Deceptive or misleading

-In violation of any intellectual property rights

-In violation of any law or regulation

-Spam (persistent negative and/or abusive tweeting in which the aim is to provoke a response)

Anyone repeatedly engaging with us using content or language which falls into the above categories will be blocked and/or reported to the associated social media platform.

Responding 

1. We’ll do our best to respond to your enquiries where possible, but the best way to get in touch is always via email on enquiries@northumbria-pcc.gov.uk
2. Unless there is an obvious reason for its anonymity, we will often not engage with anonymous accounts which are used to share abusive/confrontational language. Some people may need to talk to us anonymously and we respect that but advise emailing the address above.
3. We’ll try to help you, or direct you to people and/or departments who can, wherever possible.
4. Our working hours are 9.00 – 17.00 Monday to Friday. We’ll deal with enquiries sent outside of this time as soon as possible when working hours resume.

We reserve the right to modify or change these conditions at any time.

Engage, challenge, disagree – that’s all fine, but obsessive and offensive behaviour has no place in our debates. We believe we owe it to ourselves and each other to keep it respectful.

We look forward to hearing from you!

This Safeguarding Policy sets out the processes in place for staff working in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria (OPCC) to ensure children, young people and adults at risk are protected. In addition, this policy applies equally to all OPCC commissioned services and interventions.

Northumbria OPCC Safeguarding Policy

Equality and diversity is at the heart of all that we do and the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (OPCC) is committed to ensuring people in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear feel safe and protected. There should be space for everyone to be themselves and not feel discriminated against and the Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) will continue to work with the Chief Constable to make sure everyone is shown dignity and respect.

The public-sector Equality duty, which came into force in 2011, places a legal duty on public authorities to get rid of unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to promote equal opportunities and encourage good relations between everyone. Delivering this duty is at the core of our business and our vision for equality.

The act covers nine protected characteristics, which cannot be used as a reason to treat people unfairly. These are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Monitoring Northumbria Police Progress

The Commissioner monitors the Force’s progress regarding equality and diversity through the ongoing scrutiny programme.

Our Vision and Equality Objectives

The role of the PCC is to be the voice of the people; she is committed to improving community engagement to bring communities, local partners and the police closer together whilst holding the police to account and ensuring an efficient and effective police service.

Our Vision

Our vision for equality and diversity is one where everyone, whether a member of the public or staff is treated fairly and with respect, and has the right to the same opportunities, freedom and equal access to services.

We value and celebrate the differences of individuals and communities by embracing people’s different perspectives, ideas, knowledge and culture to strengthen communities.

Equality Objectives

Following extensive consultation with communities and local partners, our Police and Crime Plan was refreshed and our equality objectives sit within the wider context of this plan.

We have developed a comprehensive EDI Business Plan which helps us to achieve our vision and to deliver our joint equality objectives with Northumbria Police. We have listened to our communities, workforce and partners to inform and tailor the objectives, which are summarised below:

• We will provide services, which embrace diversity, providing fair and responsive services to the communities we serve.
• We will seek to have a workforce that is representatives of the communities we serve, provide an inclusive working environment and ensure all staff have similar opportunities to develop their potential.
• We will continually review our efforts through targeted intelligence gathering and analysis to promote a culture of continuous improvement to deliver better services to our communities.
• We will ensure a coherent vision of equality which sits within the wider business framework and is shared and owned by us, our leaders, our workforce and partners.

We have also ensured that our objectives are aligned to the national Association of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s (APCC) Equality Framework.

For Northumbria Police, Vision 2025, sets out their road map for policing in the coming years and ensures EDI is truly embedded into the workforce and into the services they provide.

Equality Impact Assessments (EIA)

We undertake EIAs which is a dynamic tool to help us ensure that our policies, practices and decision-making processes are fair and do not present barriers to participation or is advantage to any protected groups. To do this, it is necessary to understand the potential impacts of any internal and external policies and activities on different groups of people and where the difference is disproportionate, action is taken to mitigate or minimise it.

Engagement and Consultation

Engaging with and listening to our communities is vital as it enables us to deliver services that are responsive to the needs of our communities. The PCC is committed to building trust and confidence through open and honest conversation with diverse groups. For instance, she invited people with lived experience of being stopped and searched to join the Police Powers External Scrutiny Panel, whereby Panel members provide robust challenge and oversight to the disproportionate use of stop and search and use of force.

The Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) focus their engagement in areas most in need, where there are high levels of crime and anti-social behaviour. They work with individuals with ‘lived experience’ to better connect with communities and improve their access to services and support at the earliest opportunity.

Equality profile of the OPCC

To ensure equality of opportunity we review equality monitoring information on a regular basis. We analyse the information relating to the OPCC and for all new positions that we recruit to. The equality profile of the OPCC as of August 2022 is as follows:

Hate Crime

In line with the national picture, unfortunately we have seen hate crime rise in recent years. As a result, our fight against hate continues and we are determined to bring about positive change. The PCC scrutinises Northumbria Police’s performance data on satisfaction levels of victims of hate crime and the work undertaken by the police to support victims.

The OPCC have commissioned a local voluntary service to provide a nationally recognised Advocacy Service which takes an innovative approach in supporting victims of hate crime to cope and recover.

Northumbria Police works with partners through Hate Crime Tension Monitoring groups, where local issues are identified and partners working together, intervene to prevent and reduce further incidents

The OPCC works with Northumbria Police, third sector partners and communities on a range of activities such as the promotion of the Hate Crime Champions Scheme, to challenge intolerance and hate, promoting diversity and inclusion – Hate Crime Champions continue to be recruited.

National and Local Equality Reports

The Commissioner considers local and national reports to help gain a sound understanding of our communities including the extent of inequality and disadvantage. This helps us when we are making decisions and setting priorities. A selection of resources is provided below:

• The ONS holds a wide range of local data including information about population, demographics, deprivation.
• Equality and Human Rights Commission – the website includes a host of research reports on equality, diversity and human rights matters.
• Home Office Equalities Office – website with information about the Equality Act 2010, the Equality Strategy, Women’s’ Equality and Equalities Research