Derbyshire Constabulary ‘adequate’ at vetting but improvements needed
Derbyshire Constabulary is ‘adequate’ at vetting its police officers and staff but needs to improve its vetting arrangements, the police inspectorate has said.
In particular, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said the constabulary should make sure it has a “robust process” to research and assess all notifications of changes of circumstances in a timely manner; and that all personnel are made aware of the requirement to report any changes to their personal circumstances.
“The constabulary has taken some steps to improve the workforce’s awareness that they must report any changes of personal circumstances. But we spoke to some personnel who weren’t aware they needed to report certain changes,” said HMICFRS.
“At the time of our inspection, the force vetting unit told us it had 73 changes of circumstance waiting to be researched and assessed. This means the constabulary doesn’t know any potential risks they may contain. Also, the constabulary conceded that its notification-of-change forms didn’t include all categories of changes in enough detail.
“These issues relate to a recommendation from our 2022 national report ‘An inspection of vetting, misconduct and misogyny in the police service’. The constabulary still hasn’t implemented this recommendation.”
HMICFRS said the constabulary needs to improve its understanding of potential disproportionality in its vetting decisions, and make sure that it analyses vetting data to identify, understand and respond to any disproportionality.
“The constabulary collects information around all nine protected characteristics. But it has only just started analysing this data. The process hasn’t yet developed enough for the constabulary to understand if disproportionality exists in its vetting decisions,” the inspectorate said.
The inspection also found Derbyshire Constabulary was ‘adequate’ at upholding the standards of professional behaviour and addressing potential breaches.
“There is a comprehensive approach to training and awareness of the standards of professional behaviour across Derbyshire Constabulary,” said HMICFRS.
However, it said the constabulary “doesn’t always carry out thorough and proportionate investigations of complaints and misconduct. And its management of investigations falls short of the standards required”.
HMICFRS said: “We reviewed 26 complaint and conduct investigations. Five weren’t thorough and proportionate. We only saw one case where the professional standards department (PSD) had interviewed the subject of misconduct allegations in person.
“In some cases, the PSD reduced the severity assessment down from gross misconduct because the appropriate authority deemed the reflective practice review process to be appropriate. They made this decision based on the accused’s written response, without testing the evidence in interview or exploring other opportunities to gather evidence.
“Investigators had recorded terms of reference in all complaint and conduct cases dealt with by way of investigation. But only six contained a decision or policy log and only two had an investigation plan. Only eight had any record they had been supervised. Even where there was documented supervision, we found this was too brief and didn’t provide enough direction for the investigators.
“We recommended that forces should produce and follow an investigation plan, endorsed by a supervisor in our 2022 national report ‘An inspection of vetting, misconduct and misogyny in the police service’. The constabulary still hasn’t implemented this recommendation.
“The PSD also has an inconsistent approach for recording progress on its complaint and conduct IT system Centurion. This would help the constabulary manage complaint and conduct cases more effectively.”