Hampshire PEEL 2016

Hampshire Constabulary is good at treating all the people it serves with care and respect. This stems from the force’s commitment to the Code of Ethics which is reflected in the mission and values, policies, structures and practice, including an authoritative ethics committee. The force seeks feedback to identify those issues which have the greatest impact on the public’s perceptions of fairness through a variety of mechanisms, beyond the use of independent advisory groups, including online feedback as well as focused work with a range of different groups. We found overall that the force is working hard to improve how it responds to feedback, and keeps those who have given feedback informed about progress. However, it could do more to apply and evaluate this consistently across the force and to communicate this to the wider public.

Hampshire Constabulary is good at ensuring that its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully. It has effective and generally robust vetting arrangements. The force systematically clarifies and reinforces what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. As a result, members of the force now understand more fully what constitutes unacceptable behaviour. The force recognises, understands and manages risks to the integrity of the organisation from the activity of staff. While it recognises that it must refresh its strategy in relation to sexual predatory behaviour, it has taken specific steps to detect this behaviour. The force uses a range of effective means to communicate with both staff and the public about the outcomes of criminal cases and misconduct hearings in corruption cases, including holding hearings in public.

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 – Hampshire Constabulary

Hampshire Constabulary requires improvement in how it treats its workforce with care and respect. This is not a judgment about the ethos of the force, nor does all performance fall within this category, but rather a reflection of the force’s reliance on systems which are not fully integrated so does not fully understand staff welfare and performance. This inhibits the force’s ability to treat its workforce fairly and respectfully.

The force has several effective mechanisms for engaging with the workforce, but its grievance procedures lack credibility. We found evidence of the force acting on issues raised by staff, but also instances of a delay in taking action. We acknowledge that these issues are under review.

Generally, the force is committed to workforce wellbeing and we found evidence of good practice through new facilities, increasing interest from supervisors, and individual initiatives. But it does not yet have the means to collate all information around wellbeing to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the needs of its workforce. The delays in staff accessing occupational health services indicate that the current level of services is inadequate.

Hampshire Constabulary also requires improvement in how it manages the performance of its officers and staff. The performance development review system is used inconsistently. It is not thoroughly monitored for completion or value, and does not link consistently to performance improvement.