Disclosure Practitioner Champion

The purpose of this role is to drive disclosure awareness within force and drive best practice across all phases of the investigative process. The Disclosure Practitioner Champion has significant awareness of issues regarding disclosure and act as an agent for change by providing general disclosure advice and guidance to colleagues handling any element of the investigative process.

This role ensures compliance with the Criminal Procedures Investigations Act (CPIA) and the National Disclosure Manual as part of the fair and transparent administration of justice.

• Act as an agent for change and support individuals’ in policing to achieve behavioural change by championing disclosure best practise.
• Support individuals and teams to improve and develop their knowledge, skills and experience in relation to disclosure by providing advice and guidance in line with legislative requirements and best practise to enable high performance.
• Provide up to date and ongoing subject matter expertise on disclosure policies, procedures and principles to all individuals, regardless of their position or rank to deliver the highest quality of investigations and ensure compliance with the Criminal Procedures Investigations Act (CPIA).
• Support effective, efficient criminal prosecutions by maintaining an awareness of investigative best practise and effective revelation, and where necessary challenging existing behaviours and escalating risks and issues.
• Contribute to and influence local and national cultures and behaviours by promoting disclosure considerations and engaging with internal and external stakeholders in order to support evidential continuity, a balanced approach to investigations and evidence gathering, and the effective management of all case materials.
• Provide advice and support at the point of need to officers in relation to managing contact with witnesses, recording and scheduling, national quality processes and standards, and in the appropriate methods of providing evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the defence.
• Participate in a national network of ‘go to’ champions across the policing family to maintain and enhance their own knowledge and skills, share methodologies and keep pace with changes to legislation, policy and best practise.

Prior Education and Experience:
• Knowledge and experience of criminal investigations and disclosure
• Familiarity with performing the disclosure officer function
• Confident in the general application of the principles of CPIA in the majority of high volume cases.

Skills:
• Able to set out logical arguments clearly, adapting language, form and message to meet the needs of different people / audiences.
• Skilled in using specialised software related to own area of work to extract, analyse and report on data.
• Able to manage the introduction of new business processes or ways of working at team level.
• Able to identify cause and effect and develop a course of action designed to target root causes and mitigate risks.
• Able to develop and motivate a team and create strong engagement of individuals with their personal and team objectives and with Force values, behaviours and strategic priorities.
• Able to identify exceptional situations that merit recognition and to take appropriate action.
• Able to identify situations that require disciplinary action and to respond appropriately.
• Able to review and assess individual and team performance against expected standards, providing objective and effective feedback and ensuring corrective actions are taken where necessary.
• Able to identify key stakeholders, understand potential roles and to take appropriate steps to understand their needs and concerns.
• Able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of partners and potential opportunities for collaboration.
• Able to identify potential opportunities to enhance efficiency and/or effectiveness within own area of work
• Able to manage the introduction of new business processes or ways of working at individual and team level, influencing and encouraging behavioural and cultural change.
• Able to lead change in the absence of rank.

• Personal responsibility for CPD and to research and refresh their own subject matter expertise.
• Maintain currency of College of Policing Guidance, best practice and any local policy applicable to the operational police context.
• Maintain and update key knowledge, understanding and skills relating to legislation policy and practice across all functional policing areas of operational responsibility.
• Maintain knowledge and understanding of new approaches identified by evidence based policing research and problem solving and team working and synthesise these into working practice.
• Maintain a working knowledge and understanding of new and evolving crime threats and priorities; and current best practice to tackle these in order to enable a pro-active and preventative approach.
• Complete all annual and mandatory training.

• Not applicable.

• Not applicable.