Letter: Front-line Police Officers Are Heroes But Admin and Comms Need Improvement

Published on: 8 Jul, 2025
Updated on: 9 Jul, 2025

From Derek Payne

I write as a former police volunteer who worked in the Safer Neighbourhood (SN) Team for circa 3.5 years. I have nothing but admiration for the front-line officers who do an incredible job every day, not knowing what they will be asked to take on, and sometimes putting their own safety at risk. They are truly heroes in my eyes.

However, whilst volunteering, it became apparent over a period of time that the willingness of middle and senior management to engage with constructive suggestions to improve internal admin and external communications was pretty well non-existent, to the point of shutting down suggestions made without proper consideration.

In my personal experience, it finally came to the point when I was accused of “inappropriate access to a police system” and I was escorted out of the police station. I was told a review would be carried out, and that I would then be invited to a meeting to discuss. As I understood it, resulting criminal charges against me could not be completely ruled out.

At the review meeting the following emerged or was confirmed:

The borough commander was unaware of another volunteer in his team who was working from home
This volunteer, and many others, were accessing the same data as I was, and emailing selected data to the public without it being checked by an officer
What I had done was to check the details of an incident. I had asked a sergeant what I could and could not share with the public. In the event nothing was shared.

In the review, I asked why a 10-minute, adult conversation could not have been had to clear this up, and was told that because a sergeant had reported it, the review had to be undertaken, as it was “process”.

This all took about 15 minutes. A complete waste of time, in my view.

But, the discussion then turned to another matter, which, I believe, was the real reason for me being summoned, and this took over an hour.

The reason I had volunteered in the first instance was that at a multi-agency council meeting a police officer expressed concerns that duplicate data entry was required in two different police systems. This risked data discrepancies and was difficult and time consuming for officers.

After carrying out an audit of the circa 25 officers in the Safer Neighbourhood Team, it was shown that officers found this national, multi-agency system difficult and non-intuitive. Training was poor, a number of external teams would or could not use it, permissions were not enabled and some functions were wieldy.

This was raised in 2022. The team who administered the system refused to engage, and the issue was quickly shut down, despite officers continuing to have to waste time on “paperwork”.

About 15 months later, and under a new borough commander, similar issues arose, and a revisit of the 25 officers via a follow-up audit showed no improvement in their views of this system.

After raising this (both audits were fully shared), I was told that my comments were passed to the Admin Team, but that they did not need to respond. They again passed on that I should not get involved.

I raised the following simple observations: were other forces using this national, multi-agency system, and if so, did they find it effective to use. If they did, could they work with the Guildford SN Team to guide them. If not, then the system problems and usage need to be understood and addressed for the benefit of the officers who had to use it. The issues should not have been ignored.

Secondly, regarding communication, at two different police comms meetings, public participants stated that police communication to the public was poor.

I suggested that they need to understand who the audience is, and what messages they are looking to share. Basic, well-known first steps in communication and public relations.

If they are not sharing information with the public via a channel that the public will use, and using information of interest, then the messages will be lost.

I suggested a workshop to work through the best comms routes with the police comms team and some engaged members of the public.

After 18 months of trying, it seems the comms team cannot put this together, and continue to communicate in their own way. All these issues fall under Surrey Police administrators.

The question remains: is this just a problem with senior admin teams in Guildford police station, or is there a wider, national systemic issue?

Editor’s comment: Surrey Police declined our invitation to respond.

Responses to Letter: Front-line Police Officers Are Heroes But Admin and Comms Need Improvement

Jim Allen Reply

July 9, 2025 at 10:02 am

I believe I may be able to provide an answer to the question. Following the events of August 2nd, 2021, I reached out to all 48 police forces, submitting the same question under the Freedom of Information Act.

One might reasonably expect a consistent response from all 48 forces, given the legal framework. However, the responses varied considerably. Some responses included statements such as “we don’t know,” “we can’t find such data,” “too difficult,” “please rephrase,” and “too costly”. A few forces did, in fact, provide the requested data.

The overall impression was that each police force maintains different databases, and that each Freedom of Information office possesses varying levels of competence in terms of statutory knowledge and the ability to query these databases.
- Dave Middleton Reply
  
  July 24, 2025 at 2:33 pm
  
  Pray tell, what were the ‘events’ you speak of? Several things appear to have occured in the world that day.
John Redpath Reply

July 9, 2025 at 8:22 pm

It’s not just front line police that do a fantastic job.

We run a small bed and breakfast business in Guildford. Early one evening, some years ago, we received a phone call from the police. It was a back office staff member or volunteer who had been given the task of telephoning every hotel and B&B establishment in the area to see if they had a certain vulnerable person staying with them. We have received calls like this from the police in the past and they continue to this day.

This time though, the description given to me, of a young woman with black hair and a pale complexion fitted the identity of one of our guests. I was told that the woman was in poor mental health and might be considering suicide, which was something she had attempted before. Well, that set the pulse racing!

It was only a matter of minutes after I checked on the woman, and held her in conversation, that a police car arrived with two female officers. They spent nearly an hour with her, checking on her condition and discussing her concerns. After which, they took her back to the care home in which she had been staying.

It’s such a shame that most of what is reported in the press generally on police conduct is the relatively infrequent negative occurrences. We are lucky in Surrey to have such a well managed and compassionate police force.