Operational partnerships - Community impact assessments policy (O36a)

1. Summary of Changes

1.1. This Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been reviewed in December 2024; the following amendments have been made:
• Paragraph 2.2 amended.
• Paragraph 2.4 amended.
• Paragraph 2.5 amended.
• Paragraph 2.6 amended.
• Paragraph 3.2.3 amended.
• Paragraph 6 amended.

2. What this Procedure is About

The Community Impact Assessment

2.1 Kent Police Community Liaison Officers (CLOs) can offer tactical advice when engaging with the diverse communities.

2.2 CIAs should provide an accurate interpretation of the effect the incident may have/has had on the community. This should include assessing the quality of the police response and whether it is proportionate. There should be specialist professional and community knowledge provided to the person completing the CIA. It will be appropriate to involve CLOs, Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NHPs) and Local Policing Teams (LPTs)

2.3 A CIA must be considered for all Critical Incidents and it is the responsibility of the Gold Commander to ensure that this is completed as soon as practicable. CIAs are to be regularly reviewed taking into account emerging issues. These may involve cross-border considerations (e.g. where an incident takes place in one District and the family lives in another).

2.4 CIAs will be produced at an appropriate geographic level. In exceptional circumstances a Countywide CIA with additional district CIAs may be required for significant events. Routinely the CIAs will concentrated on a ward and district level. CIAs will be reviewed and appropriate information extracted to form part of the National Community Tension Team weekly submissions.

2.5 It should also be remembered that some communities have both national and/or international links. The document should be viewed as complementary to intelligence processes and can be used for pre-planned events/operations or post critical or major incident. Consultation and engagement with community representatives should be considered at an early stage to identify and address community concerns. These could include:

• Neighbourhood Policing Teams
• Family members and/or their representatives
• Community group leaders
• Partner agencies
• CLOs
• Independent Critical Incident Advisors (ICIAs)
• Independent Advisory Group members (IAG)
• Gold Group member(s)
• Counter Terrorism Prevent Officers
• Media Services
• Kent Police Staff Support Groups.

2.6 Independent Critical Incident Advisors (ICIAs)

2.6.1 Independent Critical Incident Advisors (ICIAs) are formed from selected IAG members, Staff Support Groups, volunteer groups, public services, professional bodies, key individual networks, community groups etc. ICIAs will offer independent critical advice during the ongoing management of a live or potential critical incident.

2.6.2 ICIAs are vetted and receive specialist training and guidance in assistance they provide Kent Police with the management of a critical incident. Details of ICIAs are held within FCR.

2.7 Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs)

2.7.1 Guidance on the use of IAGs is provided by the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice. Involving the community at an early stage will lessen the impact of a critical incident and provide a bridge between the police and the victim or the wider community. This advice is therefore essential but existing structures in which only IAG members are used can limit effectiveness.

2.7.2 IAG members can give their personal perspective on how they view the incident and our response and what they as an individual would expect. Independent advisory groups (IAGs) should reflect the diversity of local communities and can advise the force on policies and procedures.

2.7.3 An IAG can help to build trust and confidence within the community, and can help the police to understand the implications or effect of policies and actions on different communities within the force area. To include communities of place and specialist advice in relation to communities of interest, advisors should be sought from outside the IAG.

2.8 Using community cohesion groups is important when building community relationships. In some cases these groups can identify and advise on the best ways to access under-represented community groups. The IAG is not considered as community engagement mechanism.

Compliance with this SOP and any governing policy is mandatory.

3. Detail the Procedure

3.1. The Community Impact Assessment Process and Form

3.1.1 Kent Police CIA document is available in Microsoft Word (form - 3447). This document guides the person completing the CIA through the process of defining the incident, considering consultation (internal/external), scoring community tensions and generating actions.

3.1.2 Community tensions are scored in 3 categories:

• Experienced - What the community is ‘thinking’, ‘feeling’, reactions to media, etc.
• Evidenced - What actual evidence do we have e.g. crime reports, Storm incidents, Intelligence Reports, etc.
• Potential - Factors that might influence tension such as religious festivals, protest marches, national/international events.

3.1.3 Once the initial information is included in the assessment, actions should be generated and implemented to deal with any community issues or tensions identified.

3.2 Management and review

3.2.1 All CIAs will be included on the agenda of the daily management meeting and included in the Duty Manager's report.

3.2.2 All Community Impact Assessments are recorded on SharePoint for access by all Kent Police Officers and Staff. It is the responsibly of the recording officer to upload the “Community Impact Assessments – Kent” SharePoint page, placing it in the appropriate Location/Date folder.

3.2.3 There will be a monthly review by the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), of the progress of each CIA.

3.2.4 Where appropriate, there will be local reviews of CIAs with CLOs, partnership agencies, and Neighbourhood Policing Teams. Such a process may be able to identify broader organisational learning and best practice and should utilise community feedback obtained by Neighbourhood Policing Team engagement on how the management of the critical incident may have affected a particular community and any improvements that could be made.

3.2.5. All CIAS must be reviewed, and endorsed, by an Inspector prior to closure.

4. Equality Impact Assessment

4.1. This SOP has been assessed with regard to its impact on equality. As a result of this assessment the policy has been graded as having a high potential impact.

5. Risk Assessment

5.1. This SOP has been assessed as medium risk.

6. Consultation

o County Independent Police Advisory Group (County IAG)
o Divisional independent Police Advisory Groups
o Independent Critical Incident Advisors (ICIAs)
o Staff Support Groups
o Unison
o Police Federation
o Community Liaison Officers (CLOs)
o HR
o Finance
o IT Security
o Health and Safety
o Legal
o Freedom of Information

7. Monitoring and Review

7.1. This SOP and associated policy will be reviewed every two years by the Policy Owner with the next review taking place in December 2026.

8. Related Force Policies

o O01 - Critical Incident Management

9. Security

9.1. Kent Police have measures in place to protect the security of your data in accordance with our Information Management Policy (Policy W1000 – Information Management).

10. Retention and Disposal of Records

10.1. Kent Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, Retention and Disposal Policy (Policy W1012 – Records Review, Retention and Disposal).