Lincolnshire PEEL 2016

Lincolnshire Police and its workforce understand the importance of treating the people they serve with fairness and respect, based on the force’s well-established vision and values. The force has an engagement plan to help it seek feedback from across the communities it serves (especially on those issues that have the greatest impact on people’s perceptions of fair and respectful treatment), to act on those issues and to demonstrate that it is doing so. However, the force could do more to demonstrate that it understands and responds to the wider public perception of fair and respectful treatment, particularly when involving those people who do not often come into contact with the police.

The force is working to improve trust and confidence in the police in communities where there are higher numbers of people from eastern Europe and other countries where English is not the first language. It engages with those who have less confidence in the police in order to increase their understanding of fair and respectful treatment, particularly those who may be fearful because of the police’s behaviour in their country of origin. The force recognised that victim satisfaction was negatively affected by a lack of information about the progress of an investigation and has now created a new team to improve contact with victims and witnesses.

Lincolnshire Police has continued to promote an ethical culture in which challenge and improvement are supported. The workforce are clear about expected standards of behaviour and feel able to challenge inappropriate behaviour. The force publishes details of gifts and hospitality to chief officers, and workforce business interests.

The force places significant emphasis on vetting to ensure the integrity of its workforce. However, its capability to investigate corruption and integrity proactively is limited because there are insufficient staff dedicated to this work, although the force responds quickly when problems are highlighted. The local counter-corruption threat assessment does not contain sufficient detail.

Although officers and staff recognise that the abuse of authority for sexual gain (taking advantage of a position of power to exploit vulnerable victims of crime) is serious corruption, the force has not taken sufficient steps to understand the risk in detail. It does not seek intelligence proactively about potential abuse of authority for sexual gain from external sources or through monitoring its IT systems.

Published misconduct data on the force intranet is not always up to date, and relatively little prominence is given to police staff disciplinary matters compared with police officers’ misconduct. This impairs the force’s ability to engage fully with its workforce on the outcomes of misconduct cases and to spread preventative messages.

Lincolnshire Police is good at ensuring that it treats its workforce with fairness and respect. It has a culture that encourages feedback, and it listens to staff and acts to solve problems. The force has an adequate understanding of workforce perceptions through a range of engagement channels, including surveys, seminars, and meetings with staff networks and associations.

The force has a clear focus on wellbeing and takes a preventative approach to the wellbeing of the workforce. For example, the force is raising awareness about mental health, and is training supervisors to identify early warning signs. The force intranet shows officers and staff how to find and access a range of health schemes that make up a comprehensive and accessible wellbeing programme, and the website gives practical advice on accessing other support services. Lincolnshire Police is not able to demonstrate that its performance assessment process is fair and effective because performance development reviews are not taking place annually for all members of the workforce.