Collaboration

Under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, PCCs and Chief Officers have a duty to consider collaboration where it is in the interests of the efficiency and effectiveness.

Sections 22A - 23I of Police Act 1996 (as amended) (the Act) sets out the provisions under which collaboration agreements may be made by police forces and local policing bodies as a means of achieving more efficient and effective delivery of policing services. Such an agreement is known as a Police Force Collaboration Agreement (PFCA).

The Chief Officer can only enter into such an agreement with the approval of the PCC and where it is in the interests of the efficiency or effectiveness of the service.

Section 23A of the Act enables two or more PCCs to make an Agreement about the provision of joint support services. “Support” includes the provision of premises, equipment, staff, and facilities.

 

Regional Collaborations

Leicestershire Police and its neighbouring forces in the East Midlands have been at the forefront of collaborative policing in the UK for more than a decade.

In fact, the East Midlands Police Collaboration Programme is the largest project of its kind in the UK, serving a population of 4.5 million people living in a region of more than 6,000 square miles, an area which incorporates landmarks such as the world famous Silverstone motor racing circuit in southern Northamptonshire, the Lincolnshire coast to the east and the Peak District National Park at its north-western edge.

Under the collaboration arrangements, the five forces of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire are working together in many different areas vital to policing, ranging from major crime investigation through to IT infrastructure.

Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire Forces and PCCs are also currently exploring further opportunities for a Tri-force collaborative approach.

 
 Regional Collaboration Teams

East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU)

Involves all five forces providing specialist crime services relating to Major Crime Investigation, Organised Crime Group Management, Forensic Services and Intelligence to name but a few.

East Midlands Collaborative Human Resources, Learning and Development (EMCHRS L & D)

Operates across Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire providing cost effective and innovative solutions to learning needs for policing.  In addition an Occupational Health Service forms part of this arrangement.

East Midlands Legal Services (EMLS)

Provides legal advice to Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables across all five forces in the East Midlands region in areas such as employment, court and disciplinary, civil litigation and commercial law.

East Midlands Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit (EMCTIU)

Provides a regional approach to tackling terrorism and the domestic extremism threat across all five forces in the East Midlands region.

Gateway Shared Service

A Derbyshire owned service that provides transactional HR services to Leicestershire Police'

 

 
 Regional Collaboration Agreements


You can download any of these documents and if you need any further information please contact the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

 

National Collaborations

 
National Organisations/Collaborations

National Police Chief's Council (NPCC)

The NPCC help police cut crime and keep the public safe by joining up the operational response to the most serious and strategic threats. They bring together operationally independent and locally accountable chief constables and their chief officer teams to coordinate national operational policing. They also work closely with the College of Policing, which is responsible for developing professional standards, to develop national approaches on issues such as finance, technology and human resources.

National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC)

Launched in April 2013 by the former Policing Minister Damian Green MP and overseen by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC), formerly the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the NPoCC replaced the Police National Information Coordination Centre with a wider remit to ensure policing is better prepared to deal with wide scale disorder or mobilisation of police assets.

The centre maintains an oversight of national capacity and capability of specialist policing roles and assesses these in relation to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR) and National Policing Requirement (NPR).

NPoCC helps effectively coordinate these resources to support forces during large scale events and operations and in times of civil emergency.

NPoCC also works with partners, organisations and intelligence agencies to ensure that as threats change there if sufficient policing capacity to deal with them.

Capability is tested through an extensive testing and exercising programme, undertaken with partner agencies including the Home Office, Cabinet Office’s Civil Contingencies Secretariat, the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme.

NPoCC also has a key role to play in providing assurance to government that the British Police Service has the ability to deal with the SPR threats. This is done through formal reporting and representation at COBR.

UK Disaster Victim Identification (UK DVI) also falls within the NPoCC structure. This is the UK police response to disasters relating to mass fatalities in the UK and abroad.

National Police Air Service (NPAS)

The focus of NPAS is to deliver a more cost effective service, balancing the need to save money in a challenging economic environment against the need to ensure the police service has a quickly deployable asset that can be used to tackle crime and protect the public.

NPAS will ensure that essential air support continues to be delivered where it is required; ensuring that confidence in the service remains high. Forces will also be able to make use of a number of aircraft within each region meaning that the police service’s response will, in many cases, be enhanced over current provision. NPAS will be a truly national (England and Wales) policing service that will be at the heart of improving public safety. It will bring improvements in operational efficiencies and allow for the introduction of innovative contracts that offer better value for money for the service and the tax payer.

The Secretary of State has made an order under Section 23FA of the Police Act 1996 to specify air support as a function to be carried out through a single national collaboration agreement for England and Wales.  The Police (Collaboration: Specified Function) Order 2012 has been approved by both Houses of Parliament.  The order came into effect 29th June 2012.

National Collaboration Agreement to support CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Sources)

Authorisation for the purpose of counter terrorism and combating domestic extremism which has been signed by the PCC and the Chief Constable.  A copy of this agreement is not available to download on the grounds that publication could reveal, and therefore undermine the effectiveness of operational tactics. In order to comply with the publication requirements under Section 23e of the Police Act 1996.

North West Collaboration Agreement for SSAS (Surveillance Situational Awareness System)

Eighteen PCCs have entered into a police force collaboration from the Northwest, East Midlands, South Wales and West Midlands constituent police forces and Regional Organised Crime Units for a regional collaboration agreement for Surveillance Operations service (January 2023).

SSAS provides a platform to enhance shared situational awareness, connectivity and visibility of resources deployed on surveillance and firearms operations and has been developed following recommendations from several public enquiries into police incidents. This collaboration was entered into in order to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of procuring the system from a supplier.

 

 

 National Collaboration Agreements