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The College of Policing has issued a statutory Code of Practice for Ethical Policing (“the COP”). It came into force on 6 December 2024. The COP will be supplemented in January by a non-statutory Code of Ethics. Meanwhile, the College of Policing states that the current 2014 version of the Code of Ethics will remain on its website to aid decision-making and expectations around behaviour.
The COP is issued under section 39A of the Police Act 1996 which provides a power for the College of Policing to issue codes of practice relating to the discharge of their functions by chief officers of police. Under subsection 39(7), a chief officer is required to have regard to the code in discharging any function to which the code of practice relates. The stated purpose of the Code of Practice is to set out the actions that chief officers should carry out to ensure that they lead an ethical culture, where staff are supported and directed to use the ethical policing principles in decision making and to demonstrate professional behaviour. It also describes what needs to be done to proactively and positively identify – and respond to – misconduct and corruption when it occurs.
The COP includes a new Duty of Candour that goes well beyond application to inquests. It includes a general duty for Chief Officers to ensure openness and candour within their force and goes on to set out what that includes.
The duty of candour incorporates compliance with the Charter for Families Bereaved through Public Tragedy. The NPCC’s adoption of the Charter is available here. As the COP is statutory code of practice, chief officers must have regard to the Charter when discharging functions relevant to it.
Other aspects of the duty of candour include:
The duty will no doubt raise thorny legal issues for police forces particularly when the duty of candour affects information about particular investigations or policing methods generally, disciplinary proceedings, or information rights of third parties. Chief officers will undoubtedly need to develop internal policies and procedures around implementing the duty addressing those issues, supported by appropriate training.
Compared to the 2014 Code of Ethics, the COP includes new provisions relating to staff welfare and CPD. It also includes more granular requirements for Chief Officers in relation to:
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