All Police Forces within the UK have come under criticism in a report “An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service” published by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Service.
From the document:
- Following the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, the then Home Secretary commissioned us to inspect the police’s vetting and counter-corruption arrangements. This was to include assessing forces’ abilities to detect and deal with misogynistic and predatory behaviour by police officers
- Forces need effective systems to prevent unsuitable applicants from joining.
- No system is watertight so, inevitably, unsuitable applicants will slip through from time to time. And some who are assessed as suitable when they join may become unsuitable later in their career. When this happens, forces also need effective systems to identify these individuals and, if necessary, dismiss them.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire said:
The Commissioner is of course concerned to note the overall findings of this national report. However, she welcomes the recognition in this report for the North Yorkshire Police pilot schemes highlighted by HMICFRS as good practice, which could help other Forces to improve their vetting processes.
The Commissioner and her team work to enhance public confidence, keep people safe and support victims in our communities. Scrutiny of North Yorkshire Police professional standards is a key element of the Commissioner’s work to hold the Force to account. As such, the Commissioner’s Office will be reviewing this report along with the Chief Constable to ensure that the Force takes action to ensure that the highest standards of integrity are maintained at North Yorkshire Police. This includes making sure that it recruits and retains officers of the highest ethical calibre, to keep our communities safe and feeling safe.
As with all HMICFRS reports, the Commissioner will respond formally to His Majesty’s Inspector in early course and will publish her response.
In extract from the document (page 94) North Yorkshire Police have been undertaking a pilot trial
Monthly checking of PND – a pilot scheme
Following our contact with the company, work on a further pilot scheme in North Yorkshire Police began, with the support of the NPCC lead for intelligence.
This involves the monthly checking of all police officers and staff against the PND.
The scheme uses data from the force’s vetting IT system, consisting of names, dates of birth and home addresses.
It has created automated and repeated searches, using agreed search limits and a set of defined rules, to check information on the
PND for updates. These searches will not add any details of police officers and staff to the PND.The purpose of the scheme is to check whether the PND holds any relevant information that the force is unaware of. This will allow the force to address potentially serious matters at the earliest opportunity and identify people who fail to disclose relevant matters.
Note: Police National Database (PND) is a different system to the Police National Computer (PNC). The PND holds intelligence information rather than records of convictions.
NPCC is National Police Chiefs’ Council
To read the whole report:
