Durham Constabulary’s vetting and counter-corruption arrangements ‘inadequate’, says HMICFRS

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded the constabulary as ‘inadequate’ for its vetting of police officers and staff, ‘requires improvement’ for professional standards, and ‘inadequate’ for counter-corruption arrangements.

HMICFRS said current practices may result in vetting clearances being issued to individuals who are not suitable to work in or with the police service.

In addition to improving its vetting arrangements, HMICFRS said the force needs to:

• Address the understaffing of its vetting unit, and ensure structured training and continuous professional development to maintain up-to-date vetting knowledge;
• Enhance the handling and management of complaint and conduct cases, such as timely recording, decision-making, referrals to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, and providing updates to complainants; and
• Improving the monitoring of its IT systems, how it collects counter-corruption intelligence, and conducting regular reviews of the gifts and hospitality register.

However, the inspectorate noted that Durham Constabulary:

• Has improved workforce awareness of the need to report any changes in personal circumstances, and uses risk mitigation in vetting clearance cases where there is adverse information;
• Uses a variety of methods to reinforce organisational learning and standards of professional behaviour;
• Has a dedicated ‘prevent officer’ who promotes standards of acceptable behaviour; and
• Has a counter-corruption unit with experienced investigators and strong working relationships with external agencies that support people who may be at risk of abuse by police personnel.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Michelle Skeer said: “If police officers or staff are found to be involved in misconduct, it reduces public trust and confidence in policing.

“With increased demand and focus on the work of force vetting units, professional standards departments and counter-corruption units, their work has never been more vital. We must make sure that those working to keep our communities safe can be trusted to do so.

“It was positive to find that Durham Constabulary has improved workforce awareness of reporting changes in personal circumstances and has strong relationships with external agencies supporting vulnerable people.

“But we were disappointed to find that the constabulary’s vetting and counter-corruption arrangements are inadequate. The constabulary needs to ensure its vetting unit has sufficient staff and capability and must improve how it monitors IT systems and collects counter-corruption intelligence.

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

Durham Constabulary Chief constable Rachel Bacon said the report makes for “very difficult, but not entirely unexpected, reading”.

“The public rightly expects the highest possible standards of performance from their police,” she said.

“As referenced in the HMICFRS report, prior to this inspection and at my direction Durham Constabulary commissioned its own independent audit of vetting which identified areas for improvement, caused in part by a legacy of underfunding of the force, leading to underinvestment in our Professional Standards Department for many years.

“On taking over as chief constable, I introduced a broad programme of work to address a number of issues which the force faced: I prioritised initial investment on being there when the public really needed us, improving call handling and response times which had been amongst the slowest in England and Wales and increasing neighbourhood policing to drive down crime levels. Having turned around our operational performance I shifted that intensified focus to reform of supporting areas which includes our approach to professional standards.

“It is also clear that, for some time, the force had not adopted national policies and procedures and that a shortage of resources led to unacceptable delays in our vetting regime.

“These long-standing problems stem from decisions made over many years and the significant funding challenges faced by the force. They will not be fixed overnight but, from the moment our audit uncovered these issues, we have introduced decisive measures to address them.”

Durham Constabulary said it has already made a major investment to raise standards of its professional standards department and overhaul vetting systems.

“Long term underinvestment had led to issues such as inefficient IT systems and discrepancies in the data used by different teams, leading to delays in completing vetting processes,” the force said.

“Following the findings of the audit, Durham Constabulary launched a programme of investment and reorganisation to ensure the force was adhering to the highest possible standards of integrity.”

That investment programme includes:

• An extra 12 officers and staff within Professional Standards;
• A new dedicated conduct investigation team sitting alongside vetting, counter corruption and complaints teams;
• More than £200,000 of new IT systems to tighten up monitoring;
• The reintroduction of random drug testing for officers and staff;
• New advanced training programmes for Professional Standards teams;
• Improved operational security of Professional Standards’ working environment; and
• Structural reorganisation so the team now reports directly into the deputy chief constable

Ms Bacon said: “We are confident that the measures we have taken will ensure that the public can continue to have faith in the standards and integrity of Durham Constabulary.”