Humberside Police force wins top award after a five year transformation of the service

The force has been recognised as the Gold winner for the UK Police Service of the Year 2022 Award at this year’s Public Sector Transformation Public Sector Awards, which took place in London.

It comes after Humberside was the Silver winner in the 2021 Awards.

The award is given to a Police Force that shows outstanding transformation, with Humberside being recognised for its ‘outstanding service improvement, completely transforming the force over the last five years to promote an accessible presence and local based working.’

Humberside Police was also highlighted for its new approach in supporting those in mental health need.

Chief Con Lee Freeman said: "Members of our community who are experiencing mental health crisis need the same level of clinical support afforded to those who suffer physical injuries. What ‘Right Care, Right Person’ has done is put the individual right at the heart of our decision making and this means that a police officer is often not the right person to be providing this care. By working with partners and supporting them financially to remove barriers, we’ve are now supporting those individuals in a much more appropriate way.

“What this has meant is that more than 1,000 officer hours per month have been reallocated to enable us to focus on what our communities want us to be doing, that being proactive policing. Humberside Police arrest more suspects per police officer than any other force."

Since 2017, Humberside Police has grown its officer numbers by an additional 650 officers in the last five years.

Mr Freeman added: "Humberside Police has been on a transformational journey and we’re still on that path. When I took on the role of Chief Constable in 2017, it was clear that the fundamental culture of the force needed to change. This award is a recognition of five years of continued effort from across the entire team at Humberside Police."