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Profile: The problem solving DS

Supporting talent, working better with other organisations and tackling fraud more effectively are among the ideas of a detective with an unusual force role.
Published - 28/01/2020 By - Chris Smith

Detective Sergeant Ash Jones of Avon and Somerset has a unique role marked out by his job title as Force Problem-Solving Coordinator.

He made headlines at the start of the year when he was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list in recognition of his work enabling charities to help vulnerable people by working with his force.

DS Jones was also responsible for the Chat Bench initiative which has become a global phenomenon. Designated public benches have a sign that encourages people to talk to each other. The idea is to reduce isolation among older people who will otherwise stay in their homes where they are targeted by phone and online fraudsters.

He told Police Oracle: “I sit in the force’s transformation and improvement division. My role is to encourage a positive culture of innovation. In my world there’s only me. I give advice and I do a lot of reading about what’s going on around the world. I’ve always been 100 per cent a police officer. I enjoy feeling collars but this role definitely stretches my intellect.”

The role builds on his work with volunteers and charities running the Senior Citizen Liaison Team (SCLT) which he set up in 2009 to offer face-to-face crime prevention help including presentations and a quarterly magazine.

He said: “It’s on all elements of law enforcement and the Third Sector. It’s thoroughly engaging. We’ve moved into a bit of tactical work and are looking at adults at risk themes.”

Where do you start with problem solving when the objective is organisational change in something as complex as policing which inevitably involves other organisations?

DS Jones said: “We should be saying ‘for every arrest there’s a failed opportunity to prevent a crime’. If there’s a victim, we’ve lost a mission.”

Part of his approach has been to use the Avon and Somerset Police ‘brand’ as a way of engaging with people, agencies and local charities. Rather than looking at solving crime faster, why not work to ensure the crime does not happen in the first place?

He explained: “With the chat benches, the police element was what the media was interested in. Of course, people said ‘shouldn’t you be arresting criminals?’ Well, we’re saving money: policing by creating the bench.”

Deciding what you can do and using the same approach to address a different problem can also lead to positive change, he says.

“We focus on children: there are units for schools to liaise with. When it comes to the older people it’s a different story. When I realised there was going to be little appetite for serving the needs of older people, I started an older citizen liaison team in 2009. It was about plugging the gap what the police could do and what the Third Sector could do.”

His interest in older people was partly due to the large population of older people who live in the area covered by the force but also by the fact that, according to the College of Policing, 83 per cent of calls to the service are for non-crime related issues.

He told Police Oracle: “Many of the problems we end up dealing with are nothing to do with crime. It says ‘Police’ above the door but we get involved in everything: local authority social care, children’s social care, housing and more.”

DS Jones added that removing the pressures created by non-crime work is a major issue for his force: “We’re the emergency service of last resort; we always answer the phone. It’s time for other government departments to stop shifting their demand to the police. We’ve got enough on; we should be spending more time preventing demand not managing issues about other departments.

He added: “We can’t do everything. My issue is that we don’t have the statutory power; it sits in other agencies but we soldier on. We never say no. The PCC sets the agenda for us but no one party is protecting the vulnerable and that’s the ultimate accountability issue for the police.”

Legislation is due later this year to force public sector organisations to work better together and DS Jones said it was long overdue.

“I’ll wait and see how it pans out but anything that encourages other agencies to shoulder the weight is helpful,” he said.

His work to create the chat bench scheme was triggered by phone fraudsters targeting lonely older people. But a report by HM Inspectorate late last year concluded the crime is not getting a higher priority. DS Jones said the significance of the crime needs to be rethought.

He said: “I’d love to see more work on fraud. I don’t see us being particularly effective and I wonder why. The issue of money is very different to the protection of human life. The offences have been overlooked. Some of the amounts of money have been life-changing and the money goes on to fund organised crime and terrorism.”

The austerity era has been a major factor in the failure to tackle offences like cyber fraud. He hoped that with the new government’s commitment to policing would also bring a change of approach to the crime.

He said: “I would hope that as our resources increase slowly we would be able to focus more on preventing criminals accessing the funds for our most vulnerable people in society. They’re completely overlooked.”

DS Jones is clear from his work as to why this is happening: “We don’t – as a matter of programming – think older. Last year we had 17,000 calls from chronically lonely people. We had a loneliness campaign over Christmas to highlight the point. We need to get a group to help them.”

His approach to problem solving and innovation is partly based on his previous career with the Royal Air Force. That organisation also has pressures and demands to protect the public while delivering a capability that includes rapid response.

He said: “I served for 10 years in the RAF and left in 1997. I was in the Mechanical Transport Branch; I used to refuel aircraft. I serviced aircraft on the ground.  I served in Germany, Belgium and Canada – standard Cold War stuff. I was very young when I joined; I grew a lot in the RAF. One of the things that resonated was that all our leaders were chosen for their ability. They were pilots: if you don’t have the mental ability to pass the flight test, you didn’t progress. It was about your capabilities: the Chief of the Air Staff is a pilot.”

One example of the organisation culture – and what doesn’t work - came on a specialist placement: “I worked for NATO in Brussels and saw the Navy and Army leaders. They were public school educated and were very different. The RAF people were chosen because of their familiarity with the tasks involved. They were ‘ability-driven’. In the police, there’s an element of that. I have to constantly remind people that there is no link between talent and rank. You may only be a PCSO but that shouldn’t restrict what you can contribute. Everybody should be empowered to make decisions: talent is not specific to your grade. The RAF was very bottom up, not top down. I see a bit of it and there needs to be more.”

His career with Avon and Somerset followed work with Gwent Police which has also helped shape his views on organisational culture. DS Jones believes he is the right ‘fit’ with Avon and Somerset and would be less likely to do his current role anywhere else.

He told Police Oracle: “My organisation has been very supportive of me. Gwent is more hierarchical – but also encouraging - whereas Avon and Somerset is a bit different. My organisation has been extremely encouraging of junior officers to explore innovation. Chat Bench is small, simple stuff in terms of measurement but it’s been embraced. But the simple things seem to be more effective.”

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