Inspector

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Inspectors manage teams of sergeants, constables and police staff and/or portfolios. Post holders may be the senior operational officer or manage assigned specialist policing functions. This role carries specific legal powers to enable the maintenance of law and order.

Inspectors plan, manage and monitor operational policing activity. They effectively and efficiently direct the deployment of resources to incidents, including critical incidents. Inspectors manage and mitigate risk effectively in order ensure the safety and wellbeing of officers, staff and the public and to respond effectively to problems, incidents and crime.

• Plan, manage and monitor the front line and/or specialist operational policing activity for their team, managing competing demands and priorities to make informed deployment decisions and ensure best use of available resources.
• Lead, motivate and engage a team of sergeants, constables and police staff, protecting and promoting workforce wellbeing to uphold professional standards and enable a high performing team.
• Contribute to the setting, monitoring and assessment of team/individual key performance indicators in alignment with wider objectives, taking corrective action as necessary to ensure that the team effectively contribute towards the achievement of Force goals.
• Manage the initial response to critical incidents, in alignment with relevant frameworks and guidance, ensuring appropriate resource allocation and risk management to enable effective service delivery.
• Manage matrix teams providing clear tasking in accordance with operational policing plans and priorities to provide an efficient and effective response to problems, incidents and crime.
• Review and report on team expenditure to ensure the efficient use of available budgets and maximise value for money.
• Analyse performance data and information against team objectives in order to effectively inform workforce planning, budgets and the measurement of department and force goals.
• Identify, manage and mitigate operational threats and risks in line with national guidance and operational policing plans in order to ensure the safety of officers, staff, and the public.
• Develop and maintain relationships with colleagues, communities and partners to drive collaboration across policing and wider public services provision.
• Analyse and evaluate the effectiveness of existing processes and practices within area of work in order to identify and implement opportunities for change and innovation, promote best practice and enable improvement, problem solving approaches and evidence based policing within teams.

Prior Education and Experience:

Typically, an Inspector will have:

• Operational experience at Sergeant Level.
• Met all necessary local and national promotion requirements (or Direct Entry selection criteria) as defined in the National Police Promotions Framework (NPPF) or previous OSPRE process.

Police Education Qualifications Framework:

The educational requirement for the ranks above Police Constable has still to be confirmed. Should an educational requirement be agreed, the expectation is that it will be set at Level 7 for the rank of Inspector and above. Information will be made available in due course by the College of Policing. Any new requirements agreed with the Service will require development before implementation. Consequently existing promotion requirements will continue to apply for the foreseeable future.

Skills:

• Able to plan to short and medium-term cycles, to coordinate a range of activities appropriately within the function, to match these to available resources, and to identify and mitigate known risks to delivery.
• 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 develop and implement an effective stakeholder and partner relationship plan which develops trusts and enables contributions.
• Able to engage a variety of audiences through a range of media to inform and/or persuade.
• Skilled in setting, monitoring and enabling high performance against team and individual performance objectives.
• Able to identify potential applications of new or improved practices related to area of work to improve ways of working.
• Able to contribute to resource planning, to manage financial budgets and utilise commercial acumen to make risk-based decisions that deliver effective outcomes within the resources allocated.
• Able to seek out and identify a range of information to identify patterns, trends and options, and use SARA (scan, analyse, respond and assess) principles to solve multifaceted and complex problems.
• Skilled in coaching and mentoring to enable appropriate career and professional development.
• Able to manage the delivery of change initiatives within own team.
• Able to problem solve and critically question and identify potential opportunities to enhance efficiency and/or effectiveness across teams.
• Able to maintain personal resilience and wellbeing in complex and challenging situations and enable others to develop their own personal resilience and wellbeing.

• Maintain knowledge and understanding of Police Regulations and College of Policing Guidance, best practice and any local policy applicable to the operational police context and leading and managing teams.
• 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, 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.
• Maintain knowledge and understanding of performance management and assessment process and ensure they are implemented effectively when leading and managing teams.
• Keep up to date with guidance and best practice on health, safety and welfare

Not applicable.

Specialist Inspector roles, for example:

• Response Inspector
• Detective Inspector

Please note this list is not exhaustive.