Durham PEEL 2017

Durham Constabulary is good at treating all the people it serves with fairness and respect. Fairness and respect are fundamental to the constabulary’s values, which are well established within all its training and communications work. Senior leaders articulate the importance of procedural justice; officers and staff understand this, and are aware of their responsibilities. Unconscious bias training has been given to all frontline officers and staff, and members of the workforce with whom we spoke understand the concept and how to apply it when carrying out their duties. We found extremely positive evidence of training and understanding of effective communication skills across the workforce.

The constabulary has clear internal processes in place to monitor the legal and proportionate use of stop and search and use of force. However, the constabulary could monitor a more comprehensive set of data to ensure stop and search is being carried out fairly and effectively, particularly as our review of stop and search forms found that some officers and staff still do not understand what constitutes reasonable grounds for a stop and search.

The constabulary has a range of good arrangements for external scrutiny of its policing activities. However, there is still scope for improvement in its scrutiny of stop and search and use of force, particularly in terms of ensuring it is representative of local communities affected by the use of these powers – especially young people. Additionally, there is scope for improvement in the provision of training and guidance to ensure the external scrutiny group can provide effective challenge.

Durham Constabulary is good at ensuring its workforce behaves fairly and ethically. Leaders role model ethical behaviours and create an environment in which consideration of the ethical implications of decisions is encouraged. The constabulary has well-established ethics boards to promote and support ethical decision making in a non-punitive way. Overall, the workforce understands and values the constabulary’s commitment to ethical leadership.

The constabulary makes it easy for most members of the public to make a complaint, although it could do more to raise awareness of, and accessibility to, the process for those who may have less trust and confidence in the police. The constabulary supports members of the public who require additional assistance with making a complaint, and consistently provides informative updates to complainants in line with IPCC guidance. Members of the workforce have an excellent understanding of discrimination, and there are good systems in place for them to report such incidents. Complaints and allegations of discriminatory behaviour are quickly identified, properly recorded and thoroughly investigated by well-trained investigative staff.

Durham Constabulary is good at ensuring it treats its workforce with fairness and respect. The constabulary goes to great lengths to encourage challenge and feedback from its workforce through a range of methods. Officers and staff at all levels feel engaged with the chief officer team and comfortable about providing direct feedback and challenge. The constabulary is good at identifying and resolving workforce concerns, and is taking some action to improve the diversity of the workforce.

Workforce wellbeing is a clear priority for the constabulary; the services it provides to officers and staff are extensive and sometimes innovative, particularly regarding its provision for mental health. Officers and staff have effective training on how to identify wellbeing concerns in colleagues, as well as the skills to intervene at an early stage.

The constabulary’s PDR process is not used consistently for managing and developing individual performance, although regular conversations do take place between officers and staff and their supervisors. The constabulary provides development opportunities for its workforce, but it needs to do more to improve the openness of processes for promotion and identifying and selecting talent, to ensure they are fair and perceived to be so.