- Conference
- 2025 Police, Probation and CAFCASS Conference
- Date
- 2 June 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Over the years probation services have been burdened with increased workloads that go far beyond their job descriptions and role boundaries. Probations primary role is to protect the public, a responsibility that should not extend into areas typically handled by other professions but rather work with them cohesively. This motion seeks to delineate our roles and advocate for changes that will enable us to perform our duties more effectively.
The Probation Service and the Police Service are not mental health teams, social workers, child-care providers, housing officers or general practitioners. Their focus should remain on protecting the public from crime and criminal activities that impact the wider community.
The Police Service have ‘Right Care, Right Person’ (RCRP). This ensures that a call for service is dealt with by the correct agency and they become responsible. The expanding responsibilities have led to Probation Officers being less visible to the public as they are stretched thin across multiple roles. This overextension has a negative impact on their ability to protect the public. Consequently, there is an urgent need to reassess and redistribute workloads to ensure that we can fulfil our primary functions.
Probation are understaffed and overworked due to a number of issues. This situation exacerbates the challenges we face in protecting the public and maintaining community safety. Addressing these staff shortages is crucial to enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of our service.
Conference calls on the Police, Probation and CAFCASS Service Group Executive to work with the Probation Committee to:
1. Develop a strategy similar to RCRP. Ensure appropriate authorities are taking responsibility for their area of business;
2. Public Awareness Campaign/Strategy: Develop and implement a strategy to inform the public about the roles and functions of Police and Probation services;
3. Collaborative Community Engagement: Work closely with community leaders to build an understanding to provide better cooperation between Police, Probation services and the communities they serve;
4. Manifesto for Working Together with our Police colleagues: Create a comprehensive manifesto that outlines how police and probation services will collaborate to protect the community.