The Civil Nuclear Constabulary needs to adopt the new 2020 Conduct and Performance Regulations so that it doesn't fall behind the rest of British policing, the Police Federation has said.
It is planned that the regulations will come into effect for CNC later this year, though they've already been implemented in England & Wales since 1st February. They aim to ensure that complaints made against the police are dealt with quickly, effectively and proportionately, with a greater emphasis on learning from mistakes through a process called Reflective practice.
Chairman Gary Thwaite said: "The 2020 regulations aim to create a culture of learning and development. Gone are the days of punitive management action. It's very performance-themed. For it to work, we all have to buy into the concept, everyone from officers, line managers, appropriate authorities and PSDs. It's not about punishment anymore."
Gary pointed out that due to the CNC being a national 'non-territorial' police force, there were issues to resolve prior to adopting the new regulations. These include changes to statute and complications around the CNC's Scottish based officers. The CNC hasn't adopted the previous Regulations from 2017, and are still following rules from 2015, mainly due to the above complications.
Gary said: "We're two Regulations behind now, which causes problems. We want to align ourselves as closely as possible with everybody else, otherwise we're going to get problems down the line. Why be so behind the times when we're such a forward-thinking force?"
He admitted there were issues that needed ironing out, but said: "The risk is we get too far behind on Police Conduct Regulations. It needs to be done now. There's no better time to adopt them."