Blue Badge Investigator - Senior Role

Blue Badge Investigator - Senior Role (50k - 65k)

Full time, 40 hours per week, including some evening and weekend working Must have previous experience and a full UK drivers license.

Role Purpose

• To detect, investigate and evidence the misuse of Blue Badges, through proactive intelligence-led on-street patrols, enquiries, badge inspection and seizure, and formal criminal investigation.
• To prepare complete, accurate and legally compliant evidential case files to the standard required for prosecution, and to give evidence in court where required.
• To work alongside Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) as a routine part of frontline operations, strengthening the link between on-street activity, intelligence and investigation, and to be deployed on core CEO duties where operationally required.

You will supervise the Blue Badge Investigator(s), allocate and review cases, and act as the team's Disclosure Officer under CPIA. Every case file will cross your desk before it reaches the Council, and your sign-off will mean that the offence is properly evidenced, the interview was compliant with PACE Codes C and E, the exhibits and schedules are complete and time limits have been met. You will personally lead the complex, sensitive and repeat-offender cases, including forged badges, and you will give evidence in court and brief the Council's solicitors on the strength of the case.

Job Description

1.Provide day-to-day supervision, direction and support to the Blue Badge Investigator(s), including allocation of cases, monitoring of caseloads, regular case reviews, welfare and performance management in line with GEL policies. 2.Review every completed investigation file before submission to the Council, checking that the offence and each of its elements is properly evidenced, that all statements, exhibits, interview records and disclosure schedules are complete and admissible, that PACE, CPIA and statutory time limits have been complied with, and that the file meets the standards required. 3.Sign off files as fit for submission, or return them with clear written direction on the further enquiries or corrections required, and maintain a record of quality-review decisions and recurring issues to inform training and improvement. 4.Act as the Disclosure Officer for the team, ensuring compliance with the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and its Code of Practice, including the recording, retention, revelation and scheduling of used and unused material, and the timely response to any requests from Legal Services or the defence. 5.Personally undertake proactive on-street patrols, badge inspections and retentions, on-street enquiries, investigations and interviews under caution, taking the lead on complex, sensitive or high-profile cases, including suspected organised or repeat offending, forged badges and cases involving vulnerable people. 6.Ensure that all inspection and retention of badges is conducted lawfully under the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 (as amended by the Crime and Courts Act 2013) and the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000, and that seized badges, exhibits and evidential material are handled, stored, recorded and returned in accordance with agreed procedures and continuity-of-evidence requirements. 7.Plan and conduct interviews under caution in accordance with PACE Codes C and E, including the more complex or contested interviews, and ensure that all interviews conducted by the team meet the required standard. 8.Attend Magistrates' Court and other courts and tribunals to give evidence, produce exhibits and support the Council's legal representatives, and brief and liaise with Legal Services on the strength, presentation and progress of cases. 9.Work with the Parking Operations Manager to translate daily and weekly deployment priorities, intelligence and corporate objectives into patrol plans and investigative tasking for the team, and adjust deployment in response to emerging intelligence. 10.Manage the team's intelligence function, ensuring that referrals from CEOs, the public, Council teams and partner agencies are recorded, graded, actioned and fed back, and identify patterns, hotspots and repeat offenders to target activity. 11.Deliver and maintain training for the Blue Badge Investigator(s) and provide briefings and refresher training to CEOs and supervisors on badge security features, fraud indicators, lawful inspection, and the correct on-street handling of suspected misuse. 12.Prepare accurate monthly performance and management information, including hours deployed, badges inspected and retained, investigations opened and closed, files submitted, files returned for further work, and prosecution outcomes

Requirements

You will hold ACFS, PIP Level 2 or an equivalent investigative qualification, or bring substantial equivalent experience. You will have conducted interviews under caution, built prosecution files including disclosure schedules, worked with prosecutors and given evidence in court. You will have reviewed other people's investigative work and be comfortable returning it when it is not good enough. Supervisory experience and knowledge of the Blue Badge scheme are desirable; sound judgement, integrity and credibility are essential.

If this Blue badge investigator role is of interest to you then please send your updated CV today. Please call Carly on (phone number removed) ext 113 if you require further information.

• ****We also offer a £100 referral voucher, if you can referrer us a candidate who we can successfully place in this role