- Conference
- 2023 Police & Justice Service Group Conference
- Date
- 25 May 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the impact that the Conservative government’s pledge to recruit 20000 police officers, known in policing as Operation Uplift, has had on the job security and career progression of police staff.
Conference believes that the financial arrangements surrounding the pledge are forcing Chief Officers to place police officers into roles that would otherwise be done by police staff.
In particular, Police Staff Investigators with Professionalising Investigations Programme (PIP) level 1 and level 2 qualifications are being replaced by trainee Detective Constables, with those remaining knowing that they have almost no opportunities for career development in the same role.
Conference believes that the ability to investigate crime is not determined by whether you hold a warrant card, but rather by a person’s professional skills, their training and their desire to support victims of crime and bring offenders to justice, and notes that in local councils and a range of national organisations, criminal investigations are carried out by investigators who are not police officers.
Conference calls on the Service Group Executive to:
1)Continue to publicise the essential role of police staff via its ‘We are Police Staff’ campaign;
2)Consider ways that UNISON could recognise outstanding Police Staff Investigators;
3)Highlight the impact that Operation Uplift is having on police staff roles.