Cheshire PEEL 2016

HMIC found that Cheshire Constabulary has a good approach to treating the people it serves with fairness and respect. It has a clear vision and clear values that correspond with the Code of Ethics, expressed through a set of ‘We’re here…’ commitments. These have been well communicated and understood throughout the organisation. They are used in order to understand behavioural standards and are seen by the workforce as an important means to ensure that the public is treated fairly and with respect.

The constabulary frequently seeks feedback and challenge through a range of channels, including focus groups, challenge panels and surveys. The constabulary has carried out targeted work with communities who historically have less trust and confidence in the police, such as the LGBT and the Roma, Traveller and Gypsy communities.

Through its website, the constabulary encourages complaints, and it uses a range of approaches to collect feedback from various communities. This feedback is used strategically for planning priorities and organisational changes. The constabulary could do more to demonstrate to the public how it has responded to the issues identified through consultation and feedback.

HMIC judges Cheshire Constabulary good in its approach to ensuring its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully. The constabulary understands the importance of vetting potential applicants and contract staff and has a vetting policy for recruits, including volunteers and other non-police staff, which is in line with national guidance. The constabulary recognises that further work is need on its management of cases after initial vetting to ensure it complies with national security vetting standards. The constabulary has continued to promote and embed the Code of Ethics through its ‘We’re here…’ commitments. Although the workforce is aware of the abuse of authority by officers and staff for sexual gain through the recent investigation and conviction of a Cheshire officer for misconduct in a public office, the constabulary has further training to do. It also needs to seek intelligence on potential abuse of authority from a variety of sources, such as sex worker support organisations and victims of domestic abuse, through working with third sector and voluntary organisations. The constabulary publicises all misconduct hearings internally and externally. The constabulary could consider including lessons learned in its communications with the workforce, to demonstrate and emphasise expected standards and the consequences of not adhering to them.

In our 2016 national overview of police legitimacy, we recommended that all forces should have started to implement a plan to achieve the capability and capacity required to seek intelligence on potential abuse of position for sexual gain. In 2017, we reviewed of the plans put in place by all forces to in response to this recommendation.

Abuse of position assessment – Cheshire Constabulary

Cheshire Constabulary has a good approach to treating its workforce with fairness and respect. The constabulary is currently reviewing its approach to staff surveys and is moving to a national model for measuring and assessing workforce views and opinions. This will allow the constabulary to benchmark itself against other similar organisations and focus on areas essential to a productive workforce. There are several examples where the constabulary has changed its approach to an issue in response to staff feedback. More could be done to feed back to the workforce to demonstrate that the constabulary has listened and responded. The constabulary is developing a comprehensive approach to understanding staff wellbeing, demonstrated through several new initiatives. The constabulary has recently introduced a new system for PDR following feedback from staff that the previous system was ineffective. The new process has been developed in line with the College of Policing guidance. While acknowledging that the new system is only three months old, we found much confusion among staff as to what was required. This is having a negative impact on the PDR completion rate, with no systems in place to ensure fair application of the process to assess personal performance across the workforce.