North Yorkshire PEEL 2017

North Yorkshire Police requires improvement in some aspects of how it treats the people it serves with fairness and respect. Last year, we assessed the force as good in respect of how it treats people with fairness and respect. The force communicates its values and standards to both the community and its workforce, and these are underpinned by the Code of Ethics and procedural justice. Through a variety of means, the force actively seeks feedback from the community to identify areas of concern to the public; it has listened to their concerns and made changes to the service it provides. However, it could make more effective use of its independent advisory groups and encourage more external scrutiny and challenge.

The force monitors data in relation to the use of force and stop and search, although the monitoring of stop and search could be more comprehensive and there is a lack of structured external scrutiny in respect of stop and search. The force should also do more to ensure that officers and supervisors understand what constitutes reasonable grounds for stop and search and how to record them.

North Yorkshire Police continues to be good at ensuring that its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully. HMICFRS found that the force has maintained its commitment to developing an ethical culture for its workforce in the provision of its policing services. The force has processes to oversee ethical decision making, ensures that policies are in line with the Code of Ethics, and has provided training in ethical decision making to its workforce. There is internal scrutiny through the force inclusion and diversity board, and the force carries out consultation and equality impact assessments to inform policy. It uses peer reviews and academic research to challenge its decision making. The force makes the complaints system accessible for the public, but it should improve the way it records updates to complainants, witnesses and those who are the subject of allegations. The force is good at identifying, responding to and investigating allegations of potential discrimination in line with IPCC guidelines for handling allegations of discrimination.

North Yorkshire Police continues to treat its officers and staff with fairness and respect. The force maintains its commitment to understanding what affects workforce concerns, and leaders recognise that they need to seek more challenge from the workforce beyond formal consultation. The workforce are encouraged to report concerns they might have, and HMICFRS has found that the force clearly makes a determined effort to manage grievances effectively, to maintain open communication with those making complaints, and to identify opportunities for resolution. The force has made a concerted effort to be more representative of the community it serves and has increased the number of police officer applications from its BAME community.

The force has repeated its consultation on wellbeing with the workforce through a staff survey and has improved the wellbeing programme for its workforce since the last inspection. Staff and supervisors generally feel supported by the provision for force wellbeing.

The new force performance development review (PDR) process is becoming a valuable tool for the development of staff, and it has been well accepted generally. The force recognises that it could do more to identify and develop its future senior leaders, but it provides opportunities for supervisors and leaders to understand, develop and improve their leadership styles.