North Wales PEEL 2018

North Wales Police needs to make changes in how it operates to improve its treatment of the public.

Officers and staff throughout the force speak to local people every day and public confidence levels are good. The workforce understands the importance of fair treatment. However, the effect of local engagement work is inconsistent with no clear framework for officers and staff to follow. The force should be applying consistent methods to its engagement work and creating a two-way conversation with the public, both directly and through social media. This would allow the public to see that the problems they raise are being addressed through local policing activity.

North Wales Police gives officers appropriate training in how to use force in the course of their duties and stop and search powers fairly. Officers we spoke to understood and applied the rules on the use of force. However, more needs to be done to check that all officers are keeping records correctly after they have used force. Supervisors should be checking that forms submitted by officers are accurate. Without reliable data, the force cannot have a clear picture of how often force is being used. There should also be a forum where questions on the use of force can be debated with the wider community.

Officers understand the procedures on the use of stop and search powers. However they need to be more confident as to how best to use these powers. The quality of the grounds recorded by officers to justify conducting a search needs to be better. The force needs to build a full set of data for the use of stop and search. It also needs to make sure that external scrutiny of this power is effective.

North Wales Police has a clear focus on ethical and lawful behaviour in its workforce.

With strong leadership from senior officers, the force values high standards of ethical behaviour. New recruits are told what is expected in their roles. In-house training videos give the workforce practical advice that reflects on lessons learnt from real incidents. There is a clear drive to move away from past perceptions of a blame culture. Officers and staff are willing to challenge inappropriate behaviour. A new ethics committee offers a place to talk about issues affecting the force with people from the community.

Vetting checks on members of the workforce are handled well. There is a low overall backlog of checks to be carried out. More work is needed though to check whether diverse communities are being adversely affected by the vetting process.

The force understands the danger that corruption can pose to the work of policing. Officers and staff are told about the risks they can face carrying out their work. There are enough people to carry out routine anti-corruption work effectively, but there is limited capacity for proactive work in this field. The force is using the resources it has effectively to manage the risks of corruption that it faces.

North Wales Police is good at giving fair treatment to its workforce.

Senior officers are making changes to promote an open and approachable culture where officers and staff can talk to their leaders about their work. Face-to-face and online communication from senior leaders is positive and is producing results. The force is making wellbeing for officers and staff a priority, but in some areas high workloads remain a problem.

When complaints arise, the workforce feels the grievance procedure treats them fairly. There is a welcome focus to resolve more concerns early in the process, although the force should improve its analysis of complaints data. It should also make sure that its procedures are working fairly when dealing with complaints involving officers and staff with protected characteristics.

North Wales Police has further work to do before its workforce fully reflects the community it serves. There are signs of increasing diversity, for example the appointment of a female assistant chief constable. But in some areas, for example black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) recruitment, more progress needs to be made. The force has positive schemes for spotting and developing future leaders among the workforce.

The existing system for professional development review is seen as too complex. It is positive that a new system in this area has been designed after consulting with the people who work for the force.