Bedfordshire PEEL 2015

The creation of a force-wide ethics committee is encouraging, and the chief officer team is committed to developing and maintaining an ethical culture in Bedfordshire Police. Overall, there is an understanding of the main aspects that underpinned the Code of Ethics among staff and this is informing force policy and practice. The integration of the code into the force’s existing values is very positive. The force recognises there is more to do in developing a shared set of values and incorporating the code across collaborated teams.

The force effectively promotes the wellbeing of the workforce and there were positive comments from officers and staff about wellbeing arrangements, although a reduction in funding had made them less accessible.

There are different approaches for police officers and police staff to the initial assessment of serious misconduct allegations. This could lead to police staff being dealt with more harshly than police officers. However, the force’s professional standards department plans to standardise approaches for police staff and police officers.

Most staff felt confident to challenge poor behaviour but at a more senior level there were some concerns expressed about the impact of such challenges on future career development. This is concerning.

The force recognises that it needs to do more to increase the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff among its workforce, and it is taking a number of positive steps to do so.

This question has not been inspected or graded in 2015.

Bedfordshire Police is committed to engaging and working with the public and it promotes values, including accountability and transparency and fair treatment, which are understood and supported by its staff.

There are some excellent examples of local engagement with people in the culturally and ethnically diverse community of Luton. Most neighbourhood teams are effectively using social media. However, the understanding of local communities is not consistent across the force. Police community support officers are in contact with people locally; they visit schools, and attend a range of different meetings to help address local problems. They are also taking part in some initiatives that provide crime prevention advice and listen to residents’ problems.

However, the force could do more to take steps to make sure that its local teams have sufficient information available to them to improve their understanding of their local communities.

Bedfordshire Police is complying with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme. However, too many search records do not clearly describe the grounds for the search, and this is something the force should address. There is a robust independent scrutiny process, which includes the review of an officer’s body-worn video record. This process involves members of the black, Asian and minority ethnic community and young people.

Officers mainly understand the need to use the National Decision Model (the framework by which all policing decisions should be made, examined and challenged) and a more intelligence-led approach, when using stop and search powers and Taser, in order to achieve positive outcomes and maintain good community relations.

The force uses Taser more frequently but this reflects aspects of crime and disorder being dealt with by the force and the force applies effective scrutiny of every deployment to check Taser is being used fairly. All operational officers in Bedfordshire are being equipped with body-worn video cameras, which support greater accountability in the use of stop and search and Taser.

Overall, the use of stop and search and Taser by Bedfordshire Police is fair and appropriate.