March 2011 Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) Title of function, policy / procedure, project or proposal (FPPP): A 0401 Procedure - Cannabis Simple Possession Date of Assessment: 28 th August, 2014 Assessment Author: Sgt 48 Bell Date of previous Assessment: Nil Stage 1 About the FPPP: What are the aims and purpose of FPPP? To provide a framework for the operational management of those found in simple possession of cannabis in accordance with ACPO guidance. What policies / procedures / guidance / legislation are relevant to this FPPP? A0401 Cannabis simple possession ACPO guidance on cannabis update NCRS paper No. 23-2009 (3 June 2009) Outline the key points of the FPPP. Is there criteria to be followed? Describe how discretion may be applied The disposal of a person found in simple possession (personal use) of cannabis may be managed via an escalating set of disposal measures depending upon circumstance. At the lower end, the individual may be issued a formal warning, rising via the use of Penalty Notice for disorder (PND lower tier) to arrest and prosecution before the Court. Force procedure A0401 governs this process. Officers need to assess the suitability of the person against criteria some of which are fixed (e.g. the procedure only applies to adults or the need to undertake field identification of the substance as cannabis) whilst others are a matter for the professional judgement of the officer (e.g. indications of vulnerability, sobriety or the interpretation of a small amount of cannabis, whether or not a repeat warning is appropriate).
March 2011 Stage 2 Consider the evidence Who is / will be affected by this FPPP and how? e.g. staff, service users, wider public Cannabis is widely used across a broad demographic and any section of the community found in possession of cannabis is capable of being affected by this FPPP. What relevant quantitative data has been considered? Information is captured as part of the process using force form CID312, a crime report and The Pentip system (for PND s). Data collected includes personal details of the subject sufficient to confirm identity as well as ethnicity (officer and self-defined) and employment details. What relevant qualitative data has been considered? e.g. known under-reporting of hate crime; An examination of simple cannabis possessions dealt with by means of Community Resolution(CR) have been reviewed to identify any potential disposal or procedural issues. No equality impact indicators were apparent and CR has been removed as a first instance disposal option for adults thus restricting levels of individual officer discretion. A bespoke examination of recorded instances of simple possession of cannabis during 2014 has been examined to identify age/gender and ethnicity patterns. The key findings included; A total of 1711 offences were recorded January to August of which; 91% of offenders were male; 88% were adult; 12% were identified by the officer as having a non White ethnicity 84% disclosed self-defined ethnicity as British Based upon BME census data the proportion of non-white (officer defined) offenders appears about double the ratio of the population of Essex. Who has been consulted (internally and externally) to assess the impact of this FPPP? e.g staff networks, Strategic Independent Advisory Group, Diversity Unit. How they were consulted and give a summary of the responses: During the creation of force procedure the following were formally consulted using established SharePoint practices; Diversity Team, Health & Safety, Federation and LPA Sergeants and Inspectors.
March 2011 Are there any information gaps? How will these be addressed? e.g. does any specific research need to be commissioned / undertaken to inform this assessment such as user surveys, focus groups. If yes, who will arrange and what is timescale? None are apparent Stage 3 Assessing the impact Explain any actual / potential different impact (positive and negative) of this FPPP on people, as suggested by data / consultation / diversity unit, in respect of: a) Age: The FPPP does not apply to those under 18 years of age but applies equally to everyone else. The majority of those dealt with during 2014 were adult but no information is currently extracted to assess their age grouping. b) Disability There are claims that smoking cannabis can alleviate the symptoms of medical conditions including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and rheumatoid arthritis. It is possible therefore that people suffering with such conditions who choose to self-medicate with cannabis may be affected. Whilst such use does not amount to a legal defence, depending on circumstances an investigating officer might consider that it is a mitigating factor in deciding which form of disposal is most appropriate. c) Gender and transgender (e.g. different effects on men and women): In terms of gender the majority of those dealt with are male (91% in 2014). There is no data captured in relation transgender.. d) Race (including Gypsies and Travellers) and nationality: See comment in section 2 above. e) Faith and / or culture: Whilst the use of cannabis is considered to be sacramental in Rastafari worship there is no evidence of identifiable Rastafari communities in Essex and existing systems do not capture detail of an individual s faith.
f) Sexual orientation: No details of orientation are recorded March 2011 g) Pregnancy & Maternity; Marriage & Civil Partnership: No relevant detail is recorded. Describe how the FPPP should or does eliminate discrimination / harassment: The FPPP collects information that will provides the opportunity to identify any ethnically biased discriminatory behaviour and provides a framework of professional behaviour that limits officer discretion as far as is allowed for by legislation and ACPO guidance. Describe how the FPPP should or does advance equality: As above Describe how the FPPP should or does promote good relations: The FPPP provides a series of low level disposal options that avoids the unnecessary criminalisation of individuals and allows a more nuanced set of disposal options than previous systems. As a result of the FPPP a range of data is collected that assists with making policing of the issue more transparent and auditable. Stage 4 Way Forward Can any different impact as described at a-g above be justified and if so why? The potential differential impact relating to the above is justified by Government decision to legislate. Essex Police are closely following ACPO guidance in relation to the FPPP.
March 2011 Describe any options / changes that could be considered / will be made to reduce / eliminate any different negative impact as at a-g above: A standard monitoring procedure needs to be adopted to monitor the cultural backgrounds of those dealt with under the FPPP. It is probable that this will be limited to the ethnicity codes captured during crime reporting of CID312 procedures. The disparity between population profile and offender ethnicity indicated in section 2 above should be sufficient grounds to develop checks to monitor the profile of those dealt with by the police. The exercise that led to this data is a one-off, not necessarily of robust methodology and relies on a short period. Systems should identify trends and act as a trigger to further examination. Itemise any recommendations from this review which will improve the effectiveness / fairness of delivering this FPPP. Describe how they will be actioned, who is responsible for delivering the action and the timescale: None Stage 5 Monitoring Arrangements Describe how the FPPP is monitored or will be monitored if it is not currently: The FPPP relies on the completion of primary force recording tools including databases like crime reporting and Pentip (a national system). These systems are capable of being interrogated to detect trends or respond to Freedom of Information requests. No trend examination is currently scheduled. See stage 4 above for recommendations. Stage 6 Publication Have the outcomes been fed back to those consulted? Not applicable DIVERSITY UNIT: Assessment agreed for publication or further work needed? Signed Nikki Geaves Date: 28 th August, 2014