Planning and Logistics

The Force Planning Unit is a specialist department within the Protective Services Operations Division based at Operational Support Division based at Jubilee House, Carr Gate, Wakefield WF2 0QD. Its role is to deal with all aspects of emergency planning both planned & spontaneous and to manage the logistical requirements of the Force in relation to all major, operational events and contingencies.

The unit comprises of a number of departments including Contingency Planning & Business Continuity, Operational Planning & Logistics, West Yorkshire Resilience Forum Management & Force Duty Planners.

Operational Planning & Logistics have the responsibility for planning all events across West Yorkshire, including the below areas:

Football

The area covered by West Yorkshire Police has five football teams that have regular Policing commitments assigned to their matches (Leeds United, Huddersfield Town, Bradford City, Halifax Town & Guiseley AFC)

Force & Events

These are events that require support from other districts and departments i.e. Large Political Demonstrations, large sporting events, and major carnivals. The force planning unit will co-ordinate the organisation of Intelligence, Communications and Investigative response along with provision of specialist staff to support the operation. An operational order will be produced.

District Events 

These are events that are able to be planned and organized utilising the staff working within each district i.e. Elections, Carnivals, Religious Parades, and Remembrance Day Parades along with small sporting events. Also under this category falls the planning for the Bonfire and Christmas/New Year periods. In general these events will have an operational order produced.

Local Events   

These are small local events and gala's where the Force Planning Unit will have been involved in the pre-planning of the event. Providing help and advice to event organisers and determining the Police response to be a Partnership Working Area Team Footprint (PWA formally NPT – Neighbourhood Policing Team), and an opportunity for Community engagement. In general an operational order will not be completed for those events.

If you are planning an event, protest or demonstration please contact this department for advice and information utilising [email protected]

Resilience Planning

The Resilience Planning Team deals with wider issues that are likely to affect the Police Service as a whole and requires the team to develop and maintain Contingency & Business Continuity plans. This involves maintaining liaison with various external bodies, top of the list being the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) through which national policies for the police service are developed. There is also regular contact with the local, surrounding police services and those in the immediate region of the North-East.

The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 places a responsibility on the Force as a “Category 1 Responder" in emergency situations. There are 6 duties to discharge, namely:
assess the risk of emergencies occurring and use this to inform contingency planning

  • put in place emergency plans
  • put in place business continuity management arrangements
  • put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public in the event of an emergency
  • share information with other local responders to enhance co-ordination
  • co-operate with other local responders to enhance co-ordination and efficiency

In line with the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, the county of West Yorkshire has a fully integrated approach to emergency planning. The West Yorkshire Resilience Forum (WYRF) publicly known as West Yorkshire Prepared, is made up of “Category 1 and 2 Responders” and other key partner organisations who meet regularly to ensure though joint working that contingency plans are put into place for the public of West Yorkshire.

The WYRF is responsible for the upkeep and administration of the CRR (Community Risk Register) for West Yorkshire.  The Forum is comprised of emergency planning officers from a broad spread of Category 1 and 2 responders and key partners from throughout the county. This includes Emergency Services, the five Local Authorities, NHS, Environment Agency, Military, Utility Companies and the Voluntary Organisations Sector.  Each of these agencies co-produce plans with partners utilising their own areas of responsibility and expertise. The work of the WYRF is to ensure that all these planning arrangements are properly coordinated amongst all agencies involved.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) work very closely with all resilience forums throughout the UK.  
The WYRF partners ensure that regular training and exercising takes place throughout the region, which focuses on the identified critical risks highlighted within the various working sub groups throughout the Forum and the CRR (Community Risk Register).
If you have any queries regarding emergency planning in West Yorkshire Police, please contact [email protected] for further details.
 

Page last reviewed June 2022