Surrey PEEL 2018

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

However, we reviewed a representative sample of 122 stop and search records to assess if the recorded grounds were reasonable. Eighty-seven percent contained reasonable grounds. Our assessment is based on the grounds the searching officer recorded, not the grounds that existed at the time of the search.

In our 2017 legitimacy report, we recommended that all forces should:

• monitor and analyse comprehensive stop and search data to understand reasons for disparities;
• take action on those; and
• publish the analysis and the action by July 2018.

The force has met some of this recommendation. The force analyses comprehensive data. This includes how far rates are different across different types of searches. However, it doesn’t do that by ethnicity or separately identify find rates for drug possession and supply-type offences. It also doesn’t identify how often possession-only drug searches take place or how far they are in line with local or force-level priorities.

There is no obvious mention of analysis on the force’s website to understand and explain the reasons for disparities or any action taken.

Surrey Police works hard to promote a no-blame, ethical, learning culture guided by the Code of Ethics. The force has recently set up an ethics committee with a chair who is completely independent of Surrey Police, to improve transparency.

The force tells staff the standards they are expected to meet in several different ways. These include live webchats by the professional standards department (PSD) to answer questions. There are also discussion forums on the force intranet, video blogs and a PSD website that people use often.

Staff have different levels of knowledge about declaring business interests and notifiable associations (people in their lives who might compromise their position). The force needs to make sure that all officers, staff and volunteers know what a notifiable association is – and the steps they need to take when they find one.

The force is good at dealing with abuse of position for a sexual purpose and refers all cases to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). It has an effective counter-corruption strategic assessment and control strategy to combat any corruption.

The force has made lots of progress towards creating a more positive workforce by improving wellbeing. For example, it has reduced staff stress by making sure routine overtime isn’t considered a normal part of the job.

The force holds regular wellbeing events, including wellbeing weeks and wellbeing fairs. Through them, the force aims to support all staff and direct them to help if they need it. All new supervisors are trained in wellbeing to identify if staff have any problems.

The OHU’s service needs to improve. Staff are still waiting for a month to discuss their health and wellbeing concerns with a specialist. The service can also be inconsistent. This needs to be reviewed so staff get the right help.

The force appoints a welfare officer for staff facing misconduct allegations. However, the welfare support for officers and staff absent through maternity leave or sickness is variable.

It is positive that the workforce likes the more informal performance development reviews. The force needs to make sure it records them in some way to capture trends and make sure concerns are addressed.

Surrey Police’s promotion process is seen as fair and open for both officers and staff. The force also gets candidates’ views after each promotion process so it can get feedback.