Operational partnerships - Community impact assessments policy (O36a)

1. Summary of changes

1.1. This standard operating procedure (SOP) has been reviewed in February 2022; the following amendments have been made:

• paragraph 3.2.2 amended
• paragraph 3.2.5 added

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 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 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:

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

2.5 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.

2.6 IPAG members are representative of diverse communities. The CLO will contact the Chair of the county/divisional IPAG as appropriate, to obtain tactical advice from members.

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 three categories:

1. experienced - what the community is ‘thinking’, ‘feeling’, reactions to media, etc.
2. evidenced - what actual evidence do we have e.g. crime reports, Storm incidents, intelligence reports, etc.
3. 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 management team (SMT), of the progress of each CIA.

3.2.4 Where appropriate, there will be local reviews of CIAs with CLOs, partnership agencies, IPAG members and ICIAs where appropriate. Such a process may be able to identify broader organisational learning and best practice. IPAG member(s) and ICIAs can provide community feedback 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 (EIA)

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

• County Independent Police Advisory Group (County IPAG)
• Divisional independent Police Advisory Groups
• Independent Critical Incident Advisors (ICIAs)
• Staff Support Groups
• Unison
• Police Federation
• Equality Champions
• Community Liaison Officers (CLOs)
• Critical Incident Review Board
• HR
• Finance
• IT Security
• Health and Safety
• Legal
• 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 February 2024.

8. Related force policies

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.

10. Retention and disposal of records

10.1. Kent Police will hold data in accordance with our Records Review, Retention and Disposal policy.