Hertfordshire PEEL 2015

Hertfordshire Constabulary is developing a good ethical culture. Its equality, ethics and integrity board, chaired by the deputy chief constable, effectively monitors this process. The chief constable has revised the constabulary’s mission and values. This helps ensure that the Code of Ethics is part of everyday working practice.

The constabulary has not conducted an all-staff survey since 2010, but planned to carry this out in autumn of 2015 in conjunction with Bedfordshire Police and Cambridgeshire Constabulary as part of a survey about collaborative working.

Staff are confident to challenge inappropriate behaviour at all levels, and arrangements are in place to support staff who report misconduct.

The research carried out to analyse psychological-related absences is encouraging, and the additional development provided to first-line managers to enable them to better support staff is positive.

There are different approaches to the initial assessment of how serious a misconduct allegation is dealt with for police officers and police staff. This could lead to police staff being dealt with more harshly than police officers. However, the constabulary’s professional standards department plans to standardise approaches for police staff and police officers.

This question has not been inspected or graded in 2015.

Officers and staff across Hertfordshire Constabulary engage well with the public and understand how this promotes police legitimacy. This approach is supported by most officers and staff, and leadership is provided by chief officers who promote the constabulary’s values set out in ‘The Herts Way’.

There is sufficient understanding of the communities it serves and this is developed through a range of methods including meetings, surveys, community impact assessments and a commitment to listening and providing feedback to the public.

Engagement with communities is tailored to their needs, and social media is also used appropriately to provide further opportunities for public engagement and involvement.

The public are encouraged to engage in policing activities through local meetings, open days and social media and there are opportunities for voluntary work with the police.

Call handlers and front-desk staff are generally polite, friendly and helpful and most officers and staff behave in a respectful and fair manner – an approach that is encouraged and supported by the chief constable and senior staff.

Hertfordshire Constabulary is not compliant with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme. There is a limited understanding of the scheme among frontline officers and supervisors. Training on the use of stop and search powers was last run in 2013, before the scheme was introduced. Officers report that they are not confident about using stop and search powers and not all officers use the National Decision Model when deciding to conduct a stop and search. There is a ‘ride-along’ scheme for members of the public and a process to identify and respond to community complaints about stop and search, and section 60 authorisations where reasonable suspicion is not required, have reduced.

There is a clear rationale for the deployment and numbers of Taser officers. Officers use Taser appropriately and there is a robust process for selecting Taser officers.

The constabulary has a good system for ensuring that Tasers are used appropriately.

As Hertfordshire Constabulary was not compliant in one or two aspects of the Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme in 2015, HMIC revisited the force in 2016 to assess improvements made since the initial inspection.

Best Use of Stop and Search letter – Hertfordshire Constabulary