Police beef up complaints team to boost damaged reputation

Twenty officers are being transferred to West Yorkshire Police’s professional standards department, which looks into complaints about the police, from other parts of the force.

The move is designed to address declining public confidence in West Yorkshire Police after revelations about its links with Jimmy Savile and the resignation of former chief constable Sir Norman Bettison over his role in the aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy.

The newly-strengthened professional standards department (PSD) will be led by Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Brennan, previously the head of West Yorkshire’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team. Senior officers say the changes will mean the unit has the best investigative standards in the country and could even become a region-wide resource for other forces needing outside help with “very sensitive and delicate investigations”.

West Yorkshire Police declined to reveal how many staff it currently has at PSD, but Chief Constable Mark Gilmore told the Yorkshire Post that the new arrivals would mean “a 15 to 20 per cent uplift” in staffing.

He said: “This is an investment that is really important for the reputation of the force and to make sure that we do the right thing. We think it is really important that all these investigations are conducted in a really timely way, in a really open and transparent way, and that we get to the decision-making process in a timely fashion.

“We have one of our most significant and nationally recognised leaders in there, Andy Brennan, so we recognise how important this is. If you look at the wider context, it is important up and down the country in terms of confidence in policing.

“We think it is really important for us and we are investing in it significantly. The investigative standards that will be involved will be the best in the country. He is recognised as one of the foremost investigators in the country.

“I would want to talk to the commissioner, as we go forward in the future, about whether there is the potential to collaborate with other forces, because that will be quite a specialist resource. People will come from the outside to get help with very sensitive and delicate investigations.”

Mr Brennan’s replacement at the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team will be the force’s head of crime, Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Knopwood, the author of the Operation Newgreen report into officers’ relationship with Savile, who abused at least 1,300 victims over more than 50 years.

A draft document released to the Yorkshire Post by the force under the Freedom of Information Act describes the “public trust and confidence challenge” as one of the issues to be addressed as part of the programme of change.

It said that public trust is “essential for the delivery of effective services” but that “public confidence in West Yorkshire Police has been decreasing since October 2012”.

It also talks about the challenge of “rebuilding the brand of West Yorkshire affected by historic matters” such as Hillsborough, Savile, and the payments made to “supergrass” Karl Chapman. It described the “need to re-brand both internally and externally”.

Police and crime commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson has called in Catherine Crawford, a former chief executive of the Metropolitan Police Authority, to carry out a review of police integrity in the county, focusing on how the force has dealt with complaints about officer conduct. The review, which will not look at historical cases, is expected to report back before the end of this year.