Top police advisor joins Penna team

Former programme manager for the National Centre for Policing Excellence (NCPE) and head of investigative training at the National Crime Faculty, Stephen Reid, is working as a special advisor to Pennaís ëForce for Changeí team.

Reid started his police career with the RUC in Northern Ireland and went on to work on major incident handling, crisis management and planning and the introduction of the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System which resulted from the failure of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation. He then entered the world of training becoming head of training at the National Crime Faculty where he established best practice guidelines and training for national investigations. Reid was also in at the beginning of thinking around modernising the police force which led to his position as programme manager for NCPE (now part of the National Police Improvement Agency).

Working with Penna, a leader in Human Capital Management, Reid is charged with taking the change management message to police forces.

ìPolice forces have been very keen to talk to Penna not just because of the much talked about mergers programme but also alternative ways of restructuring and sharing services to deliver increased capacity, enhanced efficiency and greater responsiveness. The majority of forces recognise that the modernisation agenda will bring huge opportunities for changes that will greatly increase professionalism and capability,î said Reid.

ìOf vital importance is the need for police forces to invest in their people and there are a number of areas that need to be examined from the kind of leaders required to take the police force into the next decade to how to create and support a new kind of organisation. The old ways of doing things are dying; control and command will no longer be appropriate in providing the public with policing that is fit for societyís changing requirements,î he added.

Pennaís dedicated ëForce for Changeí team already has credible experience in working on leadership and HR projects with constabularies across the UK, including Kent, West Midlands, Hertfordshire, Derbyshire and Cleveland and the Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI).

It is this experience that Penna believes positions it as a perfect partner to support reform of the Police Service. In addition, Penna can offer expertise from across the employment lifecycle that will help guide the Police through the maze of people issues that will emerge during the modernisation programme.

Grahame Russell who heads Pennaís ëForce for Changeí team, said: ìThe experience we already have in Penna has been significantly strengthened with the expertise we have gained from Stephen. This enables us to bring a strong offering to police forces that Penna can work with leadership teams and help the forces effectively, and visibly, re-align themselves to achieve the operational success they are looking for.î