44

 

 

 

 

Re on MEMO DATED 28*? 2002

COMMENTS

The Subject I I I
Our programme is not purely about Recruitment Assessment. It IS
about recruitment; continuous and formalised provision of welfare and support throughout the field officer's operation; and extended post operation care.

Appropriateness .
How can the OH Business Director ..obviously not comment on the
cannot do appropriateness of a formalised system of counselling 
so, who can?

 

An Informal Programme 
The programme is not 'informal'. It is the subject of a formalised agreement between Commander Special Branch and the 47 l 

The agreed format involves:

Independent testing and interview of all potential
recruits to the SDS

All field officers interviewed Six months

All field officers are subject to a full based debrief at
the conclusion of their field operation

At a suitable interval (about three to six months after returning to normal police duties, the former field officer will again be interviewed by

The field officer will meet Outside those set times if he/she wishes to do so.

 

If the office management deems it necesdiary

If 52 so advises

 

5357

 

 

As an integral element of the programme (and with due respect to issues of

patient con?dentiality), 55 iwill offer appropriate feedback from56

interviews with ?eld of?cer to the SDS management.

 

as a precise role in this programme fully understood by59 by the

SDS office management and, more importantly by the ?eld of?cers themselves. As
outlined in correspondence on the matter, this is a long term commitment for the

future.

Cost
Because there is an administrative discussion ongoing within60 it is not clear

whether invoicing for this programme will be to the,61 ion a
private basis. The latter, however, is more likely and some indication of probable cost

can be drawn from our experience of testing. Daily fees in the private
sector are around ?606 per day which, on the basis of the above programme would

work out at an approximate ?gure of62 er annum.

Litigation

53 has as much responsibility in respect of future iitigation as any other

66

professionai body engaged in this ?eid of work, inciuding the MP5.

Why Chipose64 iand not the ?Stress Management Umbrella??

The decision to work with65 is a pragmatic one, based in great part on
unique experience of dealing with the problems of individuals

invert Operations.

 

 

engaged in,67

Welfare - Litigation
As a unit, we approach this issue from the point of view of providing prOper support
for the ?eid of?cers?s  ete seems to be written from the perspectivL

of trying to avoid both litigation?and ?investment in people? for the future.69
arguments seem to support?70 largument that the MPS does not

treat support seriously and, on the basis of this note, I would have to
agree .71 lseems a small amount to invest to ensure that of?cers

engaged in exceptionally dif?cult work have a programme of support which is tailored
to that work and in which, most importantly, they have con?dence.
72??


Detective Inspector

 

 

 

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