Thread by @JeSuisTC

I've had some time to read this now and am able to share my views on it, not sure how long this thread will be, I will unroll it at the end. Firstly an introduction to this document - what is it? It's a review requested by @PoliceChiefs into @TFProgramme and @FCNnetwork /1

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork AFAIK you won't find this document on the internet atm last time I visited @PoliceChiefs website it wasn't in their publication list. I'm very grateful to @PoliceChiefs for providing it to me via FOI, which they did speedily and without any quibble whatsoever. /2

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork I came across its existence via a very simple FOI request to PCCs asking them had they joined @FCNnetwork , Norfolk and Suffolk mentioned it in their response /3

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork Lord Fox, not @FCNnetwork's greatest fan, had asked a question of the governement regarding a review, to which he got this response. I don't know if Lord Fox has since received a copy of the review. /4 questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questi…

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork If not, he is very welcome to have mine, as are you all, below is a link to my copy. Spoiler alert I don't think the report will change his mind

drive.google.com/file/d/14s2ukI… /5

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork The report itself is undated, but the terms of reference required it to be completed by June 2021 (see also Baroness Williams reply to Lord Fox). It is also unsigned, but it does mention Sir Mackey, presumably gov.uk/government/pub… ? /6

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork the report provides an insight into the complexities of police leadership at the highest levels through the prism of the #forensic crisis. I've picked out points that interest me, but there is bound to be details I have missed / not appreciated, hoping others will join in. /7

@PoliceChiefs @TFProgramme @FCNnetwork the review team consulted the following organisations in conducting its review. This is of course an internal review so you can understand the list on that basis, but if reputational risk is a concern, perhaps @policechiefs could consider broadening its consultation next time /8

This is only pg2 of the report and it shows that when it comes to considering an issue as "national" that the NPCC struggle to get clarity or agreement on what that should be. There appear to be views, strongly held and passionately expressed, but little by way of consenus. /9

What's interesting about this to me, is that you can form the view, as I have, that @PoliceChiefs lead for forensic science speaks for @PoliceChiefs and therefore represents the views of all police forces, particularly at @CommonsSTC or @LordsSTCom enquiries. /10

but reading this report its clear that this is far from the case. A good example of this is where the report states that @metpoliceuk and @northumbriapol would not join @FCNnetwork from the outset. /11

The problem of "churn" within @PoliceChiefs has been a bugbear for many years for forensic professionals seeking any kind of consistency in direction from the police in relation to forensic science. It's good to see this recognised in the review. /12

.....but I would like to point out that the lead for forensic science @PoliceChiefs had, over the last decade or more at least, been held by a Chief Constable, now it's a Deputy Chief Constable who holds that brief. In my view that says a lot. /13

Take two rape cases in any police force on any given day. In one case the police force spends on forensic science, in the other it doesn't, Which do you think is the case that will more likely be solved? How would you answer? 🤷Also digital forensic backlogs of 1000s 👀/14

the police didn't want a national body telling them what to do, shocker. /15

ouch. "Some interviewees felt that communications were too focused on the progress of the development of the FCN for its own sake, rather than on delivering forensic science." The last sentence here is so polite and devastating. /16

I would like to learn more about the £22.5M and how loosely their supplier was managed. I presume they mean Kellogg Brown Root when they refer to delivery partner. The report falls just short of concluding on whether it was a waste of £ or not 🤔 /17

note - updating this cost - the delivery partner's costs for y/e 2020/21 adds £14.5 M to the £22.5 quoted for 2017-2020 making the total figure £36.5M /18

on finances looks like @ukhomeoffice have called time on any more funding. Without it, none of the options discussed here look viable, particularly given the low esteem in which the brand is held amongst some key forces. That looks like curtains for the FCN. /19

@ukhomeoffice just pausing to put £36.5 million spent on the delivery partner in some perspective. It is over half the entire annual spend of forensic science in the same period. Think how many more sexual offence cases could have been solved with that money flowing through the market. /20

*external annual spend on forensic science /21

insufficient scrutiny.....one-off discussions /22

Culture. Lack of trust and persepctive gaps. Honestly it paints a chaotic picture of forces largely seeking to protect their own little kingdoms with little thought of the CJS or consideration of their role within it or the impact of their local policies on #forensic science. /23

important point. James Vaughan said to the House of Lords that the FSPs were too important to be allowed to fail. If individual forces know that they can carry on in the knowledge that FSPs will be bailed out regardless, why should they change their procurement behaviour? /24

"before forces and regions completely occupy the space", I fear it's too late for that. /25

the challenges of doing anything 'nationally'. @policechiefs was never designed or resourced to deliver national capabilities. // IMO on this basis Police forces appear structurally incapable of placing national interest above the local /26

"@TFProgramme and @FCNnetwork cannot continue as is " ...
"but there is a need for a national capability for forensic science...." if you think that the review is suggesting a new national forensic science service (albeit perhaps not its intention), there's a sentence for you/27

"not simply a matter for police forces", Review demands govt intervention /28

this set of recommendations for FCN read like a list of reasons to scrap it altogether. #EndingOnAHighNote /29 / ends