Vertical Markets

Police corruption call

by Mark Rowe

Police forces need to do more in case of corruption, and with a greater sense of urgency, according to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

In 2011, the Home Secretary asked HMIC to examine and consider “instances of undue influence, inappropriate contractual arrangements and other abuses of power in police relationships with the media and other parties”. HM Inspector of Constabulary, Roger Baker, said: “HMIC found that the police service is responding to our 2011 report, Without Fear or Favour, by making improvements to how it identifies, monitors and manages integrity issues; but we are concerned that this progress is inconsistent, and lacks a uniform sense of urgency. Integrity is fundamental to the core values of the police and what it means to be a police officer. As such it must be at the heart of every action carried out and word spoken by police officers and staff. HMIC will therefore continue to monitor and inspect the service‟s progress in order to provide the public with confidence that all forces are adhering to high standards in these respects.”

While the resulting report, Without Fear or Favour (published December 2011), found no evidence that corruption was endemic in police relationships with the media and others, it did not issue a clean bill of health. HMIC said it was concerned that few forces provided any policy or guidance in relation to key integrity issues, such as how the police should interact with the media, the acceptance of gifts and hospitality, what second jobs officers and staff should be allowed to do, and the use of corporate credit cards. The report made several recommendations to help the service tackle these issues.

In 2012, HMIC revisited all forces to assess progress against these recommendations. A report followed in December 2012, Revisiting Police Relationships: A progress report.

Without Fear or Favour provided police forces and authorities with recommendations in relation to the identification, monitoring and management of potential concerns and vulnerabilities in matters of integrity. While some progress has been made, according to HMIC, particularly by putting in place processes and policies to manage threats to integrity, more needs to be done. The pace of change also needs to increase, the inspectorate says, not least to show the public that the police service is serious about managing integrity issues.

In particular, HMIC’s findings show that more needs to be done by police to establish and intensify high degrees of conscious self-management of integrity issues. The newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) should assure themselves that they have effective governance structures in place to hold forces to account for their progress in making sound arrangements in connection with matters of integrity.

The report makes these recommendations:

The evidence shows that progress is inconsistent across forces and more needs to be done with a greater sense of urgency if the public is to have confidence that the service takes integrity matters seriously and is gripping them effectively. Therefore, in addition to scrutiny of chief officers by PCCs, there continues to be a need for independent external scrutiny by HMIC, including unannounced inspections.
There was little evidence of force professional standards departments checking and challenging chief officers in connection with issues of integrity. A more transparent and challenging environment needs to be created. PCCs may wish to assure themselves that their forces are nurturing such environments with effective internal scrutiny and challenge.
More robust and auditable corporate governance arrangements are required if the new accountability arrangements are to work effectively. These need to differentiate clearly the roles and responsibilities of chief officers and PCCs.
The College of Policing should quickly develop sound professional standards for training and development in connection with issues of integrity.

Commenting for the Association of Chief Police Officers, ACPO lead on professional standards Chief Constable Mike Cunningham said: “This report, in common with other independent analysis from bodies such as the Independent Police Complaints Commission, confirms that the majority of officers and staff, at all levels, seek to act with integrity. But when some officers and staff fail to meet the high standards required of them then they place at risk the police’s relationship of trust with the public. For this reason we treat these issues with the utmost seriousness and we must continually monitor and review our response.

“Since 2011 the police service has for the first time introduced national guidelines covering gifts and hospitality, relations with the press and secondary employment. These changes are now being bedded in across the 44 forces. We continue to trust our workforce to demonstrate sound judgment and to act with a strong moral compass: these are essential aspects of good policing. But we will also continue to look at how policy and guidance can support our officers and staff. ACPO will work with forces, Police and Crime Commissioners and the new College of Policing, to take this forward.”

A copy of the report Revisiting police relationships and individual force reports can be found on the HMIC website www.hmic.gov.uk

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