Derbyshire PEEL 2015

The chief officer team is committed to upholding and maintaining the ethical culture that it has established in recent years. Chief officers are very visible leaders, who continually promote the constabulary’s values, priorities and policing principles.

There are a number of different ways that the need for an ethical culture is communicated to the workforce. The main mechanism is through the constabulary’s internal campaign, ‘Just Think’, which reinforces ethical behaviour and standards of conduct.

The constabulary has good arrangements in place to provide for the wellbeing of its workforce.

While the Code of Ethics has not been fully incorporated into constabulary practice, good work has been done, primarily through the constabulary’s internal campaign, ‘Just Think’, to ensure the workforce understands the importance of behaving ethically.

Public complaints or allegations made about officers and staff, including those with protected characteristics, are generally being dealt with in a fair and consistent way.

This question has not been inspected or graded in 2015.

Safer neighbourhood teams across Derbyshire Constabulary have a good understanding of their local communities, and engage with them successfully. There are several excellent examples of local engagement. Neighbourhood teams use Twitter and Facebook, alongside more traditional methods of communication, such as newsletters and leaflets, to provide information to a broad range of people in their communities.

The public have access to a wide range of useful information about what is happening within their area, as well as about the constabulary generally, through the website.

The constabulary’s ‘Just think’ campaign places an emphasis on the way in which officers and staff engage with the public – from how they make a good impression with their appearance, to how they communicate verbally. Call-handlers and front desk staff are generally polite, friendly and helpful. The National Decision Model is also well understood among the workforce.

The constabulary’s overall approach is positive and the majority of officers and staff in Derbyshire treat people fairly and with respect when they come into contact with them.

Derbyshire Constabulary is not complying with all the features of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme, although there are advanced plans to publish the full range of outcomes (including the connection between the outcomes and the item searched for). It has more to do in respect of recording reasonable grounds for stopping someone. Staff do not have a consistent level of knowledge and understanding of the scheme.

In Derbyshire, Taser is only used by a small number of highly-trained officers. Tasers are used fairly and appropriately and the force records, monitors and evaluates their use. The National Decision Model is established and well-understood, however, Taser-trained officers need to consistently record their decisions, using the model, after using a Taser.

As Derbyshire Constabulary was not compliant in one or two aspects of the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme in 2015, HMIC revisited the force in 2016 to assess improvements made since the initial inspection.

Best Use of Stop and Search letter – Derbyshire Constabulary