Wednesday, November 02, 2022
Disturbing findings on police need action
The Independent reports that HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has found a culture of misogyny and predatory behaviour towards members of the public, female police officers and staff, which is pervasive in many police forces across England and Wales.
The paper says that their damning new report found police are not adopting high enough standards when screening potential officers and warned it is too easy for the “wrong people” to join or remain in the force:
The watchdog, which analysed hundreds of police vetting files, discovered many cases where individuals should not have been permitted to become police officers, even including those with organised crime connections.
Inspectors who looked at forces such as the Met, Cumbria, South Wales, Nottingham and Dorset also discovered incidents where evidence that a potential officer could endanger members of the public was overlooked.
Officers moved from one force to another, even though they had a track record of troubling complaints, intelligence, or had claims of misconduct levied against them.
Chief inspector of constabulary Matt Parr warned “we are close to a tipping point in policing” adding there were warning signs before Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.
“We found incidents that should have been addressed as gross misconduct,” he said. “Sometimes they were downgraded to misconduct only, which has a much lower penalty, or worse still, they weren't treated as misconduct at all.”
Mr Parr noted officers are first vetted before they join the police and then again 10 years after joining or if there is a change in their circumstances – arguing the time between screening is too lengthy.
“Some forces have a greater risk appetite for taking people with chequered pasts than others,” he said.
Mr Parr added: “If your appetite for risk is too high and you fail to put sufficient mitigation in place then you are risking the force and the public.”
He went on to note that no vetting system will be perfect, and that investigators did agree with most of the vetting decisions they looked at.
However, Mr Parr explained they found that “sometimes a force will find people have got a very concerning, worrying profile on social media.
“Rather than make that grounds for not actually taking them on, they’ve just decided to take them on and then have a word with them about their use of social media.”
Mr Parr said conduct that most people within the wider public would perceive as wholly “unacceptable” is “normalised” within policing.
Of particular concern is that of the individual files sampled, one in seven of them raised the sort of concerns expressed by HMIC. This is no small number and surely must call for robust action by the Home Office to sort this out.
The paper says that their damning new report found police are not adopting high enough standards when screening potential officers and warned it is too easy for the “wrong people” to join or remain in the force:
The watchdog, which analysed hundreds of police vetting files, discovered many cases where individuals should not have been permitted to become police officers, even including those with organised crime connections.
Inspectors who looked at forces such as the Met, Cumbria, South Wales, Nottingham and Dorset also discovered incidents where evidence that a potential officer could endanger members of the public was overlooked.
Officers moved from one force to another, even though they had a track record of troubling complaints, intelligence, or had claims of misconduct levied against them.
Chief inspector of constabulary Matt Parr warned “we are close to a tipping point in policing” adding there were warning signs before Sarah Everard was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serving Met Police officer Wayne Couzens in March 2021.
“We found incidents that should have been addressed as gross misconduct,” he said. “Sometimes they were downgraded to misconduct only, which has a much lower penalty, or worse still, they weren't treated as misconduct at all.”
Mr Parr noted officers are first vetted before they join the police and then again 10 years after joining or if there is a change in their circumstances – arguing the time between screening is too lengthy.
“Some forces have a greater risk appetite for taking people with chequered pasts than others,” he said.
Mr Parr added: “If your appetite for risk is too high and you fail to put sufficient mitigation in place then you are risking the force and the public.”
He went on to note that no vetting system will be perfect, and that investigators did agree with most of the vetting decisions they looked at.
However, Mr Parr explained they found that “sometimes a force will find people have got a very concerning, worrying profile on social media.
“Rather than make that grounds for not actually taking them on, they’ve just decided to take them on and then have a word with them about their use of social media.”
Mr Parr said conduct that most people within the wider public would perceive as wholly “unacceptable” is “normalised” within policing.
Of particular concern is that of the individual files sampled, one in seven of them raised the sort of concerns expressed by HMIC. This is no small number and surely must call for robust action by the Home Office to sort this out.
