Police integrity inspection programme

We inspect professional standards, vetting and counter-corruption arrangements in police forces in England and Wales. We do this as part of our integrity programme of inspections.

In our integrity inspections, we address the following questions:

• How effectively does the force vet its officers and staff?
• How effectively does the force promote high standards of behaviour in its workforce?
• How effectively does the force identify, handle, and investigate potential breaches of the standards of professional behaviour?
• Does the force hold police officers and staff accountable for their behaviour in a way that is proportionate, fair and consistent?
• How effectively does the force protect the information it holds?
• How effectively does the force tackle corruption (including potential corruption)?

Our methodology

Our integrity programme has been developed to inspect policing in relation to public complaints and police conduct, as well as views gathered from external consultation.

All police forces inspected in this programme receive separate graded judgments for vetting, professional standards and counter-corruption.

Read the methodology: Police integrity inspection programme

Previous inspections and reports

In 2023, we paused our previous programme for assessing forces’ vetting arrangements, and how they identify and tackle corruption. This left nine forces still to be inspected under that programme. This was to allow for the development of the current integrity inspection programme.

The nine forces that were yet to be inspected for vetting and counter-corruption will be the first to have integrity inspections. There is no change to the vetting and counter-corruption methodology for these forces. This is to ensure fairness against those forces previously inspected in the programme. Of those nine forces, we have published:

• A report into the effectiveness of integrity arrangements in Lincolnshire Police – January 2025
• A report into the effectiveness of integrity arrangements in Derbyshire Constabulary – January 2025
• A report into the effectiveness of integrity arrangements in North Yorkshire Police – January 2025

The remaining forces are:

• Avon and Somerset
• Devon and Cornwall
• Hampshire
• Surrey
• Sussex
• Wiltshire