Northumbria PEEL 2018

Northumbria Police is committed to treating the people it serves with fairness and respect. Its values include being ‘proud to serve’, and this is often referenced in force documents, such as the community engagement plan.

However, some staff aren’t able to demonstrate an understanding of unconscious bias, or how their prejudices might unknowingly affect how they treat people. In 2017, we recommended that forces should make sure that all officers who use stop and search powers have been trained in unconscious bias. Northumbria Police hasn’t fully complied with this recommendation.

The force generally performs well on overall community engagement. It has community engagement teams (CETs) in each of the three area commands, and the force also consults local communities through a range of meetings and activities.

Northumbria Police lacks both internal and external scrutiny to make sure that officers and teams are using force appropriately. While its policies aim to make sure that any use of force is fair, it doesn’t analyse the data to check what is happening on the ground.

The force records and monitors information about stop and searches, and this data is thoroughly reviewed both internally and externally. There has, however, been a reduction in the number of stop and searches conducted by the force. Some officers told us they didn’t have time to conduct stop and searches because of other demands, and others said they were reluctant because of increased scrutiny. The force is working on developing new guidance for officers.

Northumbria Police’s policies and procedures comply with the national policing Code of Ethics and the Equality Duty. The force treats ethical behaviour as an issue for the whole organisation, and it is monitored by several boards and advisory groups.

The force has made a good start in promoting an ethical culture, particularly through a series of short videos on the intranet, which have also been used across the northern region because they were seen as a good learning tool. It is trying to promote a blame-free culture, in which the organisation can learn from mistakes.

It has made great improvements in vetting the workforce, with vetting either complete or in progress for almost all staff.

The force is good at tackling corruption and has improved how it assesses risk. It uses information it holds on its officers to help those at risk of corruption before force integrity is affected. But the force needs to review how it evaluates staff interventions.

Too few officers have a regular PDR that includes an integrity health check. And although there is a confidential reporting online and telephone system for staff, few officers we spoke to knew about it.

The force has the capacity and capability to react well to corruption enquiries but not enough to pursue corruption proactively. It has fully implemented its plan to address our 2016 national recommendation on abuse of authority for a sexual purpose.

This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2017 legitimacy inspection has been carried over.