Quality Assurance

As stated in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, Police and Crime Commissioners have ‘a statutory duty and electoral mandate to hold the police to account on behalf of the public’. Quality assurance and supportive scrutiny is a process that enables the Commissioner to challenge, whist also providing support to the force to make improvements and respond appropriately. It also seeks to promote public trust and confidence in the effectiveness and efficiency of local policing.

Quality Assurance Exercises

Members of the Police & Crime Commissioner’s team conduct regular quality assurance exercises, ranging from reviewing completed stop and search forms, observing body worn video and monitoring victim satisfaction. Examples of these exercises include: 

Stop and Search

Records: Stop and search reviews enable completed stop search forms in all four divisions of the force to be independently scrutinised, from a ‘lay person’ perspective. Completed forms are considered for their accuracy and for their legitimacy in terms of use of stop search powers and grounds for search. Each dip sample exercise also ensures the scrutiny of a proportion of forms relating to black & minority ethnic people that have been searched. Recognising that nationally, black and minority ethnic people are disproportionately stopped and searched, this level of scrutiny enables the fair use of powers to be assured or the misuse of powers to be appropriately challenged and investigated.

Body worn video: The key points being considered during these body worn video exercises are the extent to which the ‘GOWISELY’ protocol has been adhered to during each search.  The ‘GOWISELY’ protocol is as follows:

• Outline Grounds for search – giving a clear explanation of the officer’s grounds for suspicion
• State the Object of the search – a clear explanation of the item(s) the officer is looking for
• Warrant card to be shown (if the officer is not in uniform or if requested)
• Identity of officer to be given – the officer’s name and number
• Station to which the officer is attached to be stated
• Entitlement to a copy of the search record within 3 months to be explained
• Legal power being used to be stated
• Explain to the individual that ‘You are detained for the purposes of a search’

In addition to this, the overall politeness and civility of officers during each search is considered.

Victim Satisfaction Surveys 

Following the initial report of an incident, crime types are recorded within the police management system. The Telephone Research Unit based in South Wales Police are responsible for contacting victims who have reported to South Wales Police to further understand their experience of reporting to the police. The victim satisfaction survey captures feedback from each stage of a victim’s journey ranging from the initial point of contact through to action taken and treatment by officers. 

Hate Crime: When we review hate crime victim satisfaction surveys we look at the qualitative information provided by hate crime victims to the South Wales Police Telephone Research Unit. The reviews aim to explore and understand victim experiences after they report a hate-related incident to South Wales Police in order to identify good practice and any issues of concern.