National Police Chiefs' Council

Merry Christmas from everyone at NPCC!  🎅 🎄 🎁 ☃️ It may be Christmas Day but we know many police officers, staff and other emergency service workers will be away from their families, working hard to keep our communities safe. We thank you all and wish you a happy and healthy 2025.

An extremely prudent reminder given the tragic events that occured in Magdeburg yesterday evening. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, our German colleagues, and all those affected.

The National County Lines Coordination Centre (NCLCC) has launched a brand-new newsletter, designed for professionals and partners working in the County Lines space. The newsletter provides a platform for partners to share best practice, receive updates about the NCLCC's ongoing work and to demystify some of the police processes you come across in your work. The December edition includes: ✅ Release of the Strategic Threat Risk Assessment ✅ Spotlight on Cuckooing ✅ Update on the recent Intensification Week Got an idea for a future edition? Get in touch ➡️ NCLCCMailbox-.BusinessManagement@met.police.uk

“The cost of kennelling and veterinary bills alone currently stands in excess of £11 million and is expected to total over £25 million by the end of the financial year." Thanks to BBC News for today's piece on the costs to policing of the XL bully ban and the challenges it presents. In policing our priority is always the safety of our communities and we're taking positive action to deal with dangerous dogs and irresponsible owners who risk that safety. However, the new legislation has placed huge additional demand on our resources. Before the XL Bully ban was introduced there were 120 Dog Liaison Officers across England and Wales but now over an additional 100 officers and staff have been redeployed from other areas of business to support the dangerous dog response. This means that in some areas established dog handlers have been called away from other policing duties. We have had to purchase additional vehicles, equipment and find countless extra kennel spaces from the finite that are available within the industry.    The cost of kennelling and veterinary bills alone currently stands in excess of £11 million and is expected to total over £25 million by the end of the financial year.   We have not yet received any additional funding to support us in dealing with this additional demand which we predict will continue to rise since the government brought in the ban on XL bullies.   We will always uphold legislation and act robustly to keep our communities safe from threats, of which dangerous dogs continue to present a significant one. Alongside this, we are working hard to encourage responsible ownership, ensuring people are aware of the types of dogs they are bringing into their homes and what is involved in taking on a dog of any breed. https://lnkd.in/ghZzKQ5u

Today His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have published the first part of their findings into the police response to this summer’s violent disorder. NPCC lead for Public Order CC Ben-Julian 'BJ' Harrington QPM responds.

The Government has today announced the police funding settlement for the coming year. In recognition of the significant financial challenges facing police forces, NPCC lead for Finance, Chief Constable Paul Sanford, said: “The funding settlement announced today presents real challenges for policing, with forces facing an estimated £1.3bn gap in finances over the next two years. This will inevitability lead to cuts across forces." He continued: “We are fully committed to achieving the Government’s ambition of making our streets safer and reducing violence against women and girls. To do that, we need to focus on recruiting the right people with the right skills, supported by the best technology, and not measure our effectiveness alone through officer numbers. “We reaffirm our commitment to work closely with government to improve policing, including through the forthcoming spending review.” You can read the full statement here: https://lnkd.in/eW4gbTTc

"Policing values its relationship, through mutual trust, with the media." Following two newspaper columns about police media briefings, we want to set the record straight.   The priority of policing is to keep the public feeling and being safe.   It is also our duty to make sure we are being open and informing the public, and one way that we do this is via the media.   We have today published the below piece, which addresses several points raised by the columnist that we believe to be inaccurate. 

“Our ongoing goal is the pursuit of justice.” An ongoing investigation unprecedented in size and scale will now be supported by a 100-strong team of skilled police officers and staff from across the UK to try and secure justice for the thousands of people affected by the Post Office Horizon scandal. Operation Olympos is the ongoing criminal investigation into what is often described as the largest miscarriage of justice in British legal history. It has been running since 2020, and in parallel with the Public Inquiry since it began in February 2022. NPCC and the Metropolitan Police Service have been working with Chief Constables across the UK to build a national investigation team, which is now in place. The investigation is currently reviewing over 1.5 million documents, although the true scale is not yet known. Four Regional Investigation Teams (RITs) are made up from police forces across England and Wales with Police Scotland, Police Service of Northern Ireland and the National Crime Agency, also making a contribution. Op Olympos is currently investigating offences of perjury and perverting the course of justice and is not a reinvestigation of all of the prosecutions of sub postmasters. It is a focussed and proportionate investigation into potential criminality in the prosecutions of sub-postmasters and the wider presentation of the Horizon IT system as robust. Commander Stephen Clayman is Gold lead for Op Olympos, he said: “The sub-postmasters and their families are at the heart of this investigation and our goal is to try and secure justice for those affected by this shocking set of events, the impact of which cannot be underestimated. “The scale of the task ahead is unprecedented and I am confident we have an excellent team in place, with the support of cutting-edge technology to strengthen our search for information and evidence in amongst the 1.5 million-plus documents obtained and which will grow. “I do know that if you take into account Post Office criminal and private prosecutions, civil claims and contract withdrawals, there are potentially thousands of victims who we are working hard to identify and build our database so that we can ensure we reach as many affected individuals as possible. “I cannot make promises that this will be a fast process. An investigation of this size must continue to be undertaken meticulously and methodically and will take time. However, I speak on behalf of our whole team when I say we will approach it with independence, precision and integrity.” Find out more about the investigation: https://lnkd.in/e9ntbanb If you have information to share with the investigation team, you can submit this through the Major Investigation Public Portal

The use and management of data has become essential to modern life and critical to an effective police service. 🚔 Operationally, policing can utilise data to identify offenders, disable criminal networks and safeguard those most vulnerable in society. 📈 Strategically, data can inform policy, highlight trends, and provide evidence and insight to support decision making at the highest and most sensitive level. All forces collect vast quantities of complex, highly sensitive data. Policing is committed to putting the measures in place to ensure this data is secured safely, managed legally, and utilised ethically and proportionately to build tools that improve policing and better protect the public. The National Police Chiefs' Council are seeking a Director of Data and Analytics to drive this work forward and ensure a data-driven police service that is fit for the future. 📝 Fixed Term Contract to 31 March 2026 🕰️ Closing date: 11.55pm, 5 January 2025 You can read a full job description and find out how to apply, here: https://lnkd.in/euQtugmz

🔦 On the last day of 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence, we are sharing Essex Police's Reflect campaign. 🗣️ The Reflect campaign raises awareness of emotional abuse perpetrated against a partner, ex-partner or family member, with particular focus on coercive control, sharing intimate images without consent, and creating deepfake images to cause harm and distress. 🤲 The campaign urges those who are abusive in their relationship to seek help to change their behaviour by visiting Essex-based charity The Change Project #16Days