CLTF Research and Development Officer (12 month FTC/Secondment)

The Major Crime Unit County Lines Taskforce are now recruiting for a Research and Development Officer. The aims of the taskforce are to:

To close drug lines in line with Home Office requirements
Bring County Lines perpetrators to justice by increasing the consequences and decreasing the reward associated with county lines offending
Reduce the exploitation of young people and vulnerable adults ensuring appropriate safeguarding and support for county lines victims
Reducing and mitigating violence and Homicides linked to County Lines
Tackle the enablers of county lines (including telecoms/online, transport and illicit finance)

Role Key Responsibilities

Analyse and interpret multiple sets of large telecommunications data and use intelligence and investigatory skills to identify the nature of phone numbers referred in to the County Lines Taskforce
Provide in depth development packages and handovers for the investigation teams
Using the RAG status identify any RED referrals as top priority for sanctioning to an investigation team
Manage multiple referrals at once and working to prioritise the workload based on risk and current Force objectives – needs re-wording
Review and interrogate intelligence systems and submit relevant intelligence logs
Identify vulnerable children and adults that may feature within the telecommunications data and update relevant teams with this information
Look for signs of potential exploitation and identify who the exploiters are using telecommunications data and intelligence systems
Manage the County Lines Inbox
Manage all incoming County Lines referrals and requests for support and provide timely updates to referrers
Update and maintain trackers
Provide SLT with advice on further actions for the developed county lines at weekly sanctioning meetings
Identify changing trends within County Lines operating models and inform SLT
Provide advice, guidance, training, and support to other departments and Forces
Support departments/LPAs within WMP and other Forces with their operations, including disruption of criminal activity, and threats to life that involve County Lines nominals
Use NAS to support identifying suspects and wider criminality
Provide tactical advice to support investigative and enforcement action both internally and externally
Work with other teams within the department when required to support them with their investigations/operations
Support live time operations when required (occasionally outside of normal working hours and at other sites)
Plan and prep pro-active traffic enforcement and support on the live operation
Manage the database for ANPR resources and carry out intelligence work for deployment

Knowledge and skills

Essential

Knowledge of County Lines and their operating models
Knowledge of exploitation and vulnerability
Ability to plan and prioritise high workloads with the added ability to multi-task multiple inputs from different sources and stakeholders
Excellent communication and listening skills
Effective time management skills and ability to work on own initiative
Excellent organisational skills and able to multi-task in often fast paced situations
Active, effective, and positive team player
Ability to present, influence and communicate information and rationale clearly and confidently to all levels of the organisation and other Forces
Excellent level of literacy and numeracy skills to support accurate data entry onto computer records, producing written documentation and proofing incoming referrals
Confident using Excel and other Windows based programmes
Good at building and maintaining working relationships with both internal and external colleagues at all levels
Able to use Connect and Insight
Trained and competent in the use of CycComms, CSAS, and NAS
Awareness of RIPA/DSAs
Experience of working in a busy environment

Desirable

Experian, PNC and PND trained

Location – Central Birmingham

Hours – Core Hours Mon-Fri 8am-4pm

Contract- This is a twelve-month fixed term contract role until 31 March 2025.

Contact – For more information please contact Insps Mark Robinson or Lisa Yates-Laughton.

Vetting - Successful applicants will be required to pass Management Vetting prior to commencing their role, this will include a full background & financial disclosure as part of the vetting process.

Medical - Appointment to this role will be dependent upon successfully medical checks, which may include a drugs test and if required a fitness test.

Under the Probation Policy, if you are currently in your probation period, “during your probationary period you will not be permitted to apply for alternative police staff roles within the Force unless there are exceptional circumstances. In such cases, you would require the support of your line manager prior to applying for alternative roles, and if successful, your probationary period will start over.”- Policies - Probation Period (Police Staff) (wmpad.local)

Secondment Statements:

Secondment Policy: (paragraph 7.3)

For the duration of the secondment, you will be paid at the appropriate rate for the role that you are seconded into. In general terms, the expectation is that this will be the bottom spinal column point for the appropriate grade, as per our standard recruitment process.

The only exception to this is where you are seconded to a role of the same grade, in which case your substantive spinal column point should continue to be paid. Where you or your manager feel that you have relevant skills and experience for the role which would require consideration of a higher spinal column point, a salary justification form will need to be completed and sent to the Reward Team for review and consideration in line with usual recruitment processes.

If you are seconded into a role of a lower grade than your substantive post, you will receive the maximum spinal column point for that grade. Shift allowances and payments for unsociable or weekend working will only be paid as applicable to the role that you are seconded into (at the applicable rate). In other words, if you receive shift allowance in your substantive role, however the role that you are seconded into doesn’t attract a shift allowance you will not receive this for the duration of the secondment.

To view the full Secondment Policy please visit Policies - Secondments Policy (wmpad.local)

West Midlands Police is a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions. As part of our commitment we operate a ‘Disability Confident Interview Scheme’ - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.

It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example: in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, the employer could select the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.

"Diversity and Inclusion Vision: Maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities"