Performance and Measurement
Police Performance Management: Practical Guidance
Over recent years there has been significant focus on embedding a performance culture within the police service and developing effective performance management tools and techniques.
The Home Office, working in partnership with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Association of Police Authorities (APA) and other policing organisations, has produced two guidance documents for forces and authorities in this area:
- Improving Performance: A Practical Guide to Police Performance Management (February 2008)
- Police Performance Management: Practical Guidance for Police Authorities (June 2006)
NB: The APACS interim local priority guidance previously appeared here. It is now linked from the bottom of this page and appears on the Assessment Methods pages of this site.
Improving Performance: A Practical Guide to Police Performance Management (February 2008)
Over the latter half of 2007 and early part of 2008, the Home Office worked with the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Association of Police Authorities, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, the National Policing Improvement Agency, the Audit Commission and the Superintendents’ Association to update guidance on performance management first published in 2004.
The 2008 guidance comprises five parts: a main ‘resource’ document, a separate document of case studies, and three summary versions of the main guide aimed at the Force Executive, Managers and Team Leaders. The guide aims to support improved understanding and practice of performance management in policing and has been drawn together from the experience of forces and policing stakeholders over recent years.
Electronic copies of the main guidance document, case studies and summary guides are available from the links below.
Main guidance document:
Improving Performance: A Practical Guide to Police Performance Management
Case Studies
These illustrate how forces have implemented the principles of effective performance management and show the application of performance management in a range of policing situations:
Improving Performance: A Practical Guide to Police Performance Management – Case Studies
Guidance for the Executive
A summary of the main guidance for those directly involved in determining the overall strategic direction of the force.
Guidance for Managers
A summary of the main guidance for other strategic leaders, for example BCU Commanders, heads of department and potentially members of their senior management teams.
Improving Performance: A Practical Guide to Police Performance Management – Guidance for Managers
Guidance for Team Leaders
A summary of the main guidance aimed at those who directly control and supervise a single team.
Improving Performance: A Practical Guide to Police Performance Management – Guidance for Team Leaders
2004 edition
The forerunner to this guidance was published in 2004, ‘Managing Police Performance: A Practical Guide to Performance Management’. Although the relevant content of this original guidance was drawn into the second edition, the case studies and annexes may still be useful to practitioners, so this material is still available from the link below:
Practical guidance for police authorities
The Home Office and Association of Police Authorities (APA) worked with all authorities in England and Wales during 2005/06 to collate good practice and summarise key principles for authorities in carrying out their role in police performance management.
The results of this work were collected together in two documents published in June 2006: a full guidance document, and a summary for authority members - copies of which were sent to all authorities and forces. Both of these documents are available from the APA website (new window) and through the link below, and are useful reading for authority members and officers and police managers alike:
Police Performance Management: Practical Guidance for Police Authorities
Local Priority Guidance
The assessments of policing and community safety (APACS) Local Priority Board has published revised guidance for setting local policing plan priorities within the new APACS framework.
Whilst the APACS consultation is live, this guidance must be treated as interim. The guidance advises on the setting of local targets within policing plans. It does not relate to the determination of local area agreement targets.
Read the interim good practice guidance for police authorities and police forces (subject to the APACS consultation) on setting local policing plan priorities and assessing performance within APACS.
