Media Release - Review of the NSW Police Force's use of Advice and Guidance as a form of management action

Wednesday, 11 December 2024

Police watchdog and NSW Police Force agree on need to rethink ‘Advice and Guidance’ response for police misconduct

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission has published its Review of the NSW Police Force’s use of Advice and Guidance as a form of management action today.

The review has prompted the NSW Police Force to revise its guidelines and processes for dealing with officers’ misconduct and unsatisfactory performance.

The NSW Police Force agreed with the Commission that senior police need more clarity about when and how to give officers feedback, which police call Advice and Guidance, to respond to conduct or performance issues.

The Force’s revisions to the misconduct management framework comes after the Commission led a review tracing the use of Advice and Guidance in a six-month dataset of complaints against police.

Commissioner Anina Johnson welcomed the NSW Police Force’s assistance throughout the review.

“The Commission would like to thank the NSW Police Force for its collaborative approach and willingness to participate in ongoing productive dialogue to progress change.

“We look forward to continuing our engagement with the NSW Police Force to evaluate the impact of these policy and process changes,” she said.

The Commission’s review sought to better understand the police practice of giving Advice and Guidance in response to officer misconduct and performance issues.

The review found that NSW police officers received Advice and Guidance for a wide-array of misconduct allegations.

It also identified concerns about recording these responses to misconduct.

The NSW Police Force has now improved record keeping for any advice and guidance issued to officers to enhance accountability, transparency and decision-making.  

The Commission’s report Review of the NSW Police Force’s use of Advice and Guidance as a form of management action can be accessed on the Commission’s website here and a fact sheet about the report can be found here. A video summary of the report can be found here.

LECC Media

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