Force says ‘significant improvements’ made to integrity processes following HMICFRS inspection

While His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) identified several areas of good practice, it said the force ‘requires improvement’ in its vetting of police officers and staff, professional standards and counter-corruption arrangements.

Wiltshire Police said “significant improvements” have been made to strengthen its approach to professional standards following the inspection, including changes in the leadership cadre in this command.

This has resulted in an “increase in misconduct outcomes”.

The HMICFRS integrity inspection, which took place in January this year, highlighted “concerns” around the lack of senior oversight in vetting decisions, delays in misconduct investigations, and vulnerabilities in how corruption intelligence is assessed and developed.

It found that the force:

• Is adequately staffed to meet vetting demand. This includes monitoring the progress of all internal moves and external recruitment, promotion processes and new vetting applications;
• Needs to assure the quality of vetting decisions. Inspectors found limited evidence of oversight and no evidence of quality assurance at a more senior level;
• Reinforces organisational learning and the standards of professional behaviour using a variety of methods;
• Should improve how it manages investigations into complaints and allegations of misconduct. It also needs to better understand potential disproportionality in complaints and conduct matters;
• Has built and maintained relationships with partners that work with and support vulnerable people. This means it is more likely to gather corruption intelligence relating to potential sexual abuse and safeguarding vulnerable people; and
• Needs to improve how it collects, assesses and develops counter-corruption intelligence.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Kathryn Stone said: “Public interest in police behaviour is high. There is an increased focus from the Government and police on improving vetting, challenging misconduct and tackling corruption.

“We must make sure that the right people join the police service and those working to keep our communities safe can be trusted to do so.

“Wiltshire Police uses a variety of methods to reinforce organisational learning and the standards of professional behaviour. And it was positive to see that it has maintained effective relationships with internal and external networks to enhance workforce learning and understanding.

“We were disappointed to find that that the force requires improvement in all areas of our inspection. It does not have an effective quality assurance process to review vetting decisions. And it needs to improve the speed it takes to investigate and finalise complaints and conduct cases.

“We will continue to monitor the force’s progress.”

Deputy Chief Constable Mark Cooper said: “Firstly, we welcome the transparency and rigour of the HMICFRS inspection process – now, more than ever, it is right that this area of our business is independently scrutinised.

“The report did acknowledge important strengths within this command, including:

“That we have developed and maintained relationships with partners who support vulnerable people – meaning we are more likely to gather corruption intelligence relating to potential sexual abuse and safeguarding vulnerable people; and

“That we reinforce standards of professional behaviour using a variety of methods.

“However, it also outlined a number of areas we need to grip – these included improving our quality assurance processes to review vetting decisions, speed up the time it takes to investigate and finalise complaints and conduct cases and improve how we collect and assess counter-corruption intelligence.

“It is important to note that the inspection was carried out at the start of this year and a number of things have changed, been introduced or developed since.”

He said the force had “accepted and progressed” all of the recommendations made to us by HMICFRS earlier this year

“We’ve changed the leadership cadre in this command – we now have a substantive detective superintendent overseeing our Professional Standards Department,” said Mr Cooper.

“Additionally, in February, I was appointed as the substantive deputy chief constable responsible for misconduct

“We’ve seen an increase in misconduct outcomes – both in terms of the number of gross misconduct hearings and the number of officers and staff dismissed as a result. Between October 2024 – September 2025, we held 26 gross misconduct Hearings (an increase from 17 the year previously) which resulted in 15 officers being dismissed (an increase from four the year previously) and nine police staff members being dismissed (up from four the year previously).

“We’ve further developed our relationships with key stakeholders to improve our service.”

This has included establishing a new partnership with Dorset Police aimed at improving the service provided to victims of domestic abuse where the alleged perpetrator is a serving or former police officer or staff member.

“Through this collaboration we are sharing specialist investigative expertise, introducing consistent processes across both forces, and providing enhanced support for victims from the very start of the investigation. This means that, no matter which of our counties a victim lives in, they will receive the same high standard of service and safeguarding,” said Mr Cooper.

He added: “I hope these improvements outline to our communities that we are totally committed to ensuring their local policing service operates with the highest level of integrity, care and professionalism.

“We will continue to ensure we embed improved practices and governance to enhance this further.”

Wiltshire police and crime commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: “The public rightly expects their police force to operate with integrity, transparency and accountability. This report makes clear that Wiltshire Police must do better to meet those expectations.

“While it is encouraging that the force is adequately staffed to meet vetting demand and is reinforcing professional standards through organisational learning, the absence of robust quality assurance and delays in handling complaints are unacceptable.

“Upon first receiving this report earlier this year I met with the chief constable to ensure that a clear and urgent action plan was in place, and I am reassured that all recommendations in the report have now been addressed and rapid improvements made.

“Improvements must be swift, measurable and sustained and I welcome the chief constable’s grasp of the issues outlined to ensure that Wiltshire Police have the necessary processes and oversight in place to robustly address poor performance and effectively manage misconduct and criminal investigations regarding officers and staff.

“My office will continue to hold the chief constable to account through enhanced scrutiny and regular performance reviews. We will also continue to work with partners and community leaders to ensure the public’s voice is central to the force’s improvement journey.

“Wiltshire residents deserve a police service that is both operationally effective and ethically sound. I am committed to ensuring that is delivered and our residents should be reassured that the issues and recommendations outlined in this report have been addressed and rectified.”

Following the BBC Panorama programme, which aired earlier this month, Chief Constable Catherine Roper published an open letter to communities outlining the force’s approach to misconduct.