Despite me over the last few months continuing to air our concerns about a lack of resilience in the Silver Command role I’m still being told of instances whereby Inspector Duty Officers, who are Silver accredited, are being asked to cover neighbouring boroughs whose duty officer isn’t trained.  In one particularly alarming case I was told that one Inspector was covering 3 boroughs on a night duty. This is totally unacceptable.

The justification given was that the practice had the consent of the Commanders in CO but I’m pleased to say this simply is not the case. The system of ‘Buddying’ can only be used in cases of "extremis" the most obvious example of which is short notice sickness. Those seeking to use this provision to justify a failure to effectively plan their Inspectors duties are quite simply abusing it and putting our members & the public at unnecessary risk

We have recently brought our concerns directly to the attention of the Commissioner and have received assurances that urgent steps will be taken to prevent any further abuses occurring.

Territorial Policing have informed me data that over 90% of Inspectors are current Silver One trained and ALL BOCU’s have enough to cover the full demand.

Asking one individual no matter how competent to cover two or perhaps three boroughs is a recipe for disaster. The poor soul who is unable to be in two places at the same time when confronted with simultaneous incidents requiring his or her attendance is inevitably going to have some difficult questions to answer, hopefully not to a coroners court or Misconduct hearing!
 
We do though understand their dilemma if given a order to cover more than their own patch, accordingly our advice to them is as follows:-

Strongly object and if ORDERED after raising the objection do not refuse as we would not want you served with a discipline or performance notice.  But as soon as possible after being told you are required to take on the additional responsibility, send an email to the OCU Commanders of your own and the OCU you’re being asked to cover, copying in the on duty/on-call Supt if out of hours.

A suggested format for that e mail follows but feel free to adapt as you see fit:-

Chief Superintendent. .....
Chief Superintendent (BOCU Covering)
On Call/duty Superintendent 

"I am at present performing the role of Duty Officer on ........ BOCU. I have been instructed that in addition to being responsible for spontaneous firearms incidents as the Silver Firearms Commander on this borough I am also responsible for providing similar cover for (name BOCU) for this shift (date thereof),

I have been told that you have agreed to this arrangement. The advice I have received from the Police Federation is that unless this imposition is in order to cover an emergency situation i.e. short notice sickness, this practice is contrary to the SOP / Policy.  I am further advised that on Friday 14th May 2010 direct contact was made by The General Secretary of the Met Inspectors Branch Board, with the office of Commander Saville CO19 who confirmed that this practice must only be applied in ‘cases of extremis’. I do not believe this to be such a case. 

I would like to point out the recommendations in Chapter 4 ACPO Firearms Manual regarding the roles and responsibilities of Silver and Gold. I would also draw to your attention to the case of McCann v UK where the planning of any firearms will come under scrutiny in any investigation. Whilst I will endeavour to deal in a professional manner with any incident that occurs during this tour of duty that requires the Duty Officer's attention and/or attendance, a very real possibility exists that two or more critical/firearms incidents may arise at similar times on the different boroughs I'm covering. I am concerned that should this eventuality occur I will be unable to properly supervise, manage and control each incident. Put simply I cannot be in two disparate locations, to deal with two critical incidents at the same time.   

In the event of me subsequently being asked to explain my actions to those investigating either criminal or misconduct allegations I shall seek to rely on the existence of this communication highlighting my concerns”

In the meantime can I ask that any examples of ‘Buddying’ justified under the policy or not be brought to the attention of your Inspectors Fed rep so that they in turn can notify me.

I cannot allow my members to continue to be exposed to this level jeopardy nor is it appropriate for the public of London to be put at increased risk because of the inability of senior