Conflict Management in Policing: Duty, Legislation, Guidelines & NDM

This report provides a comprehensive overview of conflict management within policing, focusing on the duty of care police officers owe to the public and themselves. It examines the ethical principles outlined in the Code of Ethics, emphasizing accountability, fairness, and integrity. The report details relevant legislation, including the Criminal Law Act 1967, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, and the European Convention on Human Rights, highlighting how these laws shape police conduct. It also addresses organizational requirements and personal responsibilities of police officers, stressing the importance of communication and proactive decision-making. Furthermore, the report discusses the training levels necessary for personal safety skills and equipment, including initial and refresher stages, and explores national guidelines for managing conflicts related to vulnerable persons, domestic abuse, and child abuse. Finally, it touches on the role of the National Decision Model in conflict management and the procedures for recording and reporting safety incidents, underscoring the importance of public protection and ethical policing practices.

Running head: POLICING
Conflict Management
Name of the student:
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Table of Contents
1.1. Duty of care by the police officer regarding conflict management:...................................2
1.2. Legislation, organisational requirements and personal responsibilities:.............................3
1.3. Training level for personal safety skills and equipment:....................................................4
1.4. National guidelines relating to manage the conflicts:.........................................................6
1.5. Role of National Decision Model regarding conflict management:...................................7
1.6. Procedure for recording and reporting safety incidents:.....................................................8
Reference:................................................................................................................................10

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1.1. Duty of care by the police officer regarding conflict management:
Policing is a regulation applicable in the United Kingdom (Grubb, Brown and
Hall 2015 page 360). It contains certain guidelines for the police who deal with the violent
and aggressive people. Therefore, there is a chance to be inflicted physically during the
operation. The regulations of the policing help the police to get protection from the harms.
Protection is needed not only to the police officers but also to the public in general as the acts
of the police officers, to certain extent, cause serious impacts on the public. Therefore, the
officers are required to adopt certain care for protecting the interest of the public at large
(Johnson and Hampson 2015 page 250).
A Code of Ethics has been enacted for maintaining an ethical behaviour among
the police and it applies on the continents of the England and Wales. The Code contains
certain rules where it has been stated that the police are playing an important role regarding
the protection of public safety and therefore they should have to maintain certain ethical
principles. The police officers have to make important decisions during their job and they
have a responsibility regarding the choices they have made (Iliya 2016). Certain principles
are included in the Code regarding the ethical behaviour of the police officers. The principles
are accountability, fairness, honesty, integrity, leadership, objectivity, openness, respect and
selflessness. These principles help to strengthen the base of the duty of care by the police
officers.
It is the primary duty of the police to protect the interest of the public by
prevents crimes. This duty should be done with fair and impartial way. The doctrine of
honesty and integrity has been promoted through this Code and prevent the officers to act in
an unprofessional way. The officers should have to give answer to the public for any decision
or action regarding the policies and the base of the police service should be transparent

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(Randol and Gaffney 2014 page 238). The officers should make attempt to maintain the
human rights and treat the people impartially.
Personal safety is also important, as the officers have to take part in certain
endangered works. The equipments should be modern and they have the authority to use
force for their personal security. An effective communication with each other is important
regarding personal security (Randol and Gaffney 2014 page 242).
1.2. Legislation, organisational requirements and personal responsibilities:
The policing service is based on tactics and intends to solve certain conflicting
situations like agitation and aggressive violence. The officers, who are engaged with the
operation, must make certain decisions and the outcome of the decision must not hamper the
interest of the public at large. The operational matter follows certain legislations that can be
categorised as follows:
Provisions regarding the Criminal Law Act 1967, Police and Criminal
Evidence Act 1984 and Common Law Act 1967 are applied in the policing matters. The
provision regarding rights and freedom is included in the European Convention on Human
Rights. According to Article 3 of the European Convention, the police force has to be
engaged in operation when it is necessary. If any unnecessary force is being engaged, it will
be regarded as the infringement of the rules mention in the Article and the officer has to face
trial regarding misconduct (Eick and Briken 2014 page 120). Certain provision has also been
mentioned for regulating the health and safety work. The main objective of the health and
safety provision is to protect the officers from any physical harm and secure the interest of
the common people. Safety provision of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is
considered as relevant in this case.

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Criminal Law Act 1967 is a parliamentary Act and applies to the England and
Wales. It has three parts- first part deals with the distinction between felony and
misdemeanour, second part deals with the abolition of obsolete crimes and the third part deals
with the supplementary provisions. Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 is also a
parliamentary enactment that framed the powers of the police officers so that they can combat
with the crimes in a more effective way. The main objective of the Act is to make a balance
in between the power of the police and the freedom of the public at large. European
Convention on Human Rights 1953 is an international treaty and its objective is to promote
the base of human right by protecting the interest of the people. It concentrates on the
fundamental freedom of the citizen. Therefore, it can be stated that the police has certain duty
of care to the public. The proper application of these Acts help to bind the police to work in a
systematic way.
Considering the importance of the job, it is the duty of the police officers to
take certain responsibilities to maintain discipline and establish the principle of human rights.
Every officer has to perform certain reciprocal duties as against other officers and therefore,
it is necessary to meet the organisational requirements in a proper way (Krüsi et al. 2016 page
1140). Organisational requirements are a structural approach that leads towards an overall
development regarding the responsibilities and decision-making criteria of the police force. It
helps to design the suitability, feasibility and acceptability of the police force. It must be said
that the designs will lead to an open and proactive working methods and promotes the
productivity and responsiveness of the force.
It is no doubt to state that the police officers must show certain responsibilities
to each other and should have to maintain the ethics and values mentioned under the Code of
Ethics. A good communication during work is necessary and immediate action must be taken
on urgent basis. The personal responsibilities can be divided into two parts- positive and

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negative (James and Pearson 2015 page 462). The officers are required to handle the urgent
situation in a proactive way and set out certain goals to monitor their performance. All the
obstacles must be overcome with priorities and they have to extend their helping hand to the
public. If the responsibilities are applied inappropriately, it will create negative implication
and the objective of the policing will not be established.
1.3. Training level for personal safety skills and equipment:
Appropriate training is necessary for the police officers for better protection of
the society. Certain levels have been identified regarding the training program for the
development of personal safety skills and equipments. The program has two faces such as the
initial stage and the refresher stage. Both the stages are based on the performance. The main
objective of the stages is to manage the conflicts by maintaining the rules of National
Occupational Standards (Ratcliffe 2014 page 2576).
The skills and competency of a police officer are developed in the refresher
stage. It has been stated that the performance of a police officer is depending on the merit of
training program and therefore, this level plays an important role regarding the personal skill
development of the police officers. The training procedure is varied in different continents
and the rules of it can apply to all the officers. It has been stated under the training mandate
that if any officer fails to show his competence, he has to face another training course (Braga,
Welsh and Schnell 2015 page 575). Fitness test is the mandatory version of the training
program and it is no doubt to state that the fitness competency creates implication on the
personality of the officer.
It has been mentioned under the training regulation that the process should be
based on certain legislations such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Police
(Health and Safety) Act 1997. Skills are needful to resolve any agitation and tackle urgent

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situations. If the officers have no knowledge about the situation, they could not handle it.
Therefore, officers of different ranks can participate in this program. The officers are required
to participate in the training program per annum basis (Gau and Brunson 2015 page 139).
In England, there are certain institutions that provide training to the officers and
Association of Chief Police Officers are one of them. It is a non-profit private company,
develops the police practice, and shares ideas regarding the strategic operational responses. It
also provides trained chief officers. It is important to provide necessary training to the
officers who are using Taser stun gun. It has been reported that the chances of bodily injury
regarding an officer is low when a taser gun is used. Firearm officers also need proper
training to deal with the emergencies. There are certain other instruments that are being used
by the police to manage the public conflicts and in the absence of proper care; these can be
harmful for the police officers. One of such instrument is SDR or Software Defined Radio. It
is used to detect the digital radio transmission. Certain rules have been prescribed in Self-
Defence, Arrest & Restraint working group or SDAR regarding the use of sprays to drive
away the mob. Officers of the Public Order and Riot Squad are playing important role to
deal with the agitated mob and therefore, proper training is required to them to perform their
duties properly.
After completing all the training levels, the officers will be assessed regarding
their competency level and they should meet the standard in a proper manner. If any
operational officer missed the program, they should have to undertake the matter at earliest
possible opportunity. Personal safety training is delivered to the qualified staffs and the staffs
are required to maintain possible risk assessments for smoothening the competency level
(Bradford 2014 page 27). The officers have the option to refuse the training program due to
urgency or ill health. However, proper communication regarding the same is needed in this
case.

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1.4. National guidelines relating to manage the conflicts:
Public protection is the main objective of the police force and therefore, the
officers are required to maintain certain criteria for managing the conflicts regarding public
policy. The police officers are required to abide by the rules mentioned in the National
Guidelines to deal with different subjects such as vulnerable problems, domestic abuse, child
abuse, female genital mutilation or human trafficking. There are certain legislations
applicable in these cases such as the Equality Act 2010, The Children and Young Persons Act
1933 and The Children Act 1989. It has been stated under the National Guidelines that the
approaches have to be flexible in nature and there should be no controversy regarding the
decision or operation. The officers are needed to take urgent decisions regarding certain
situation like the missing persons or the vulnerable persons. A prompt enquiry regarding the
missing person is to be taken and the role of the police officer regarding the case must be
explained (Gostin and Wiley 2016 page 23). The police officers should have to identify the
potential risks and use relevant techniques to resolve the disputes.
Another conflicting matter is the problem regarding the domestic abuse. It has
been observed that in United Kingdom, children and the teenagers is the soft target for
domestic abuse. The rules of National Guidelines help to identify the violence and recover
the affected children from such situation and provide necessary steps for the condition
recovery of the children. A high quality care has been provided and certain standards are
mentioned in urgent cases. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 could recognise the standard
(MacManus et al. 2013 page 912).
Human trafficking and prostitution is a social crime and the police to curb this
should adopt necessary process. Adult women and children are trafficking for flesh trade or
slavery. Certain means are provided by the National Guidelines regarding the victimisation
process including cross border movement, use of force, coercion, abduction, sexual

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exploitation and removal of organs etc. Similar guidelines have been given in case of the
slaves and the child labours. According to the National Guidelines, all the peoples should be
treated with equality and the officers are required to maintain the provision of the Equality
Act 2010.
1.5. Role of National Decision Model regarding conflict management:
It is a fact that the National Decision Model guides the decision of the police
regarding the violent criminal processes. In case of health care related matters, the trained
professionals are to be engaged in lieu of the police personnel. If the police officers have to
deal with the mentally ill persons or the vulnerable persons, they have to draw proper risk
assessment to avoid any negative outcome (Remer and Perpcast 2017 page 447). Proper
planning is also required in case of intoxication or neurone-disability. The National Decision
Model does its work with certain techniques. It suggests the officers to gather proper
information regarding the matter in dispute and obtain intelligence report on the missing links
(Decker et al. 2015 page 192). It is the duty of the officers to assess the risks and make a
working strategy to resolve the dispute in a systematic way. The powers of the officers and
the policies implemented by them are needed to be considered and the relevant contingencies
are to be identified. The last stage of the model provides certain action plans and review as
against the actions (Cascetta et al. 2015 page 29).
National Decision model can be recognised as police framework that craft the
decision making process of the officers in a more uniform way. However, the application of
the model is not limited up to the decision-making process; it can be applied in case of the
assessment and the judgment. The National Decision Model influences the decisions of the
police authorities regarding subsequent events. It is important to identify the stages of the
model in order to explain the same. The first stage is based on acquiring information for the

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proper assessment and judgment. The second stage deals with the determination of the
threats. Third stage is dealing with the powers of the police in case of combating the
problems (Mowbray 2015 page 323). Matter to develop a contingency plan is made in the
fourth stage. Performance of necessary actions and application of the methods has been made
in the last stage. This model represents a framework regarding the core values of policing.
1.6. Procedure for recording and reporting safety incidents:
It has observed that the rules and methods of the policing help the police
officers to take reasonable decision for ensuring protection to the public at large. It has been
observed that proper training is necessary so that the police officers can take immediate
action as per the situations. It has been mentioned earlier that the base of the policing is
protection. Protection should be given to the officers and the public. It is the duty of every
police officer to take required steps for personal safety and necessary training should have to
be generated regarding the topic. A personal safety training method is necessary to be
maintained. It helps to identify any deficit in the training process or it can be used as an
evaluation regarding the needs of development (Gooderham et al. 2015 page 728). There are
certain procedures regarding the improvement of the training records and that can be divided
into certain ways:
The training record can be made or written on any Microsoft word page. It is a
fact that the process of training is different regarding different positions, but the introduction
and general issues are common in respect of all the department (Tankebe 2013 page 120).
The second process signifies certain methods regarding the applicability of the rules. It is
required that the relevant authority will submit the same by maintaining proper style.
The record keeping system is different in respect of the different continents. In
Manchester Police System, certain principles are being followed to maintain the competency

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of the officials. The data controller of the police station is from Chief Constable Rank. The
data controller should have the knowledge on Data Protection Act. Personal information is
taken for the proper identification of the person. Manual and electronic methods are adopted
to record the information. Databases, CCTV footage, photographs are among the various
methods of recording.
Reporting can be regarded as another process. After recording the training
techniques, nature of the training and obtaining signs from the supervisors, the schedule
should be submitted as a report form. However, it is not necessary to make report on the
training program (Ellis 2014 page 13). Report can be made on the personal safety also. It is
the duty of the officers to write down the safety measures chronologically and make report by
maintaining proper format. The advantage of the record and the report is that it helps to
manage the conflicts in a systematic way.

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