'Insulting' Yorkshire police face tide of criticism

At least 2,300 complaints landed on the desks of Yorkshire's four police forces last year, officers' rudeness accounting for one in three cases in some areas.

North Yorkshire Police has promised to train its officers better after it saw a 27 per cent surge in complaints, including significant rises in allegations of incivility and failure in duty.

In a report to North Yorkshire Police Authority's professional standards sub-committee, senior officers claimed the increase last year from 392 to 496 cases was "a positive indication of the public trust and confidence" in the force's complaints system.

But worrying trends have been uncovered in a study into complaints about incivility commissioned by the force's deputy chief constable Adam Briggs, who is currently the subject of two misconduct investigations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

The study found one in five incivility allegations arose from traffic problems. Words commonly used in these complaints included "disregard", "arrogant", "unprofessional", "rude", "aggressive", "sarcastic", "threatening" or "provoking", "abrupt", "offensive" and "insulting".

North Yorkshire Police dealt with 71 per cent of its cases informally through "local resolution" between April 2009 and March this year. For the sixth year running, senior officers expect it to be the highest-ranked force in the country for handling disputes in this way.

The force's head of professional standards, Steve Read, said: "We aim to improve the service that North Yorkshire Police officers provide through the development of focused and enhanced communications training.

"The envisaged training will encourage our officers to speak to members of the public politely at all times, regardless of circumstances."

West Yorkshire Police has recorded a slight increase in cases, receiving 875 complaints between February 2009 and January 2010 compared with 856 during the previous year. The most common allegations related to assault, incivility, failure in duty and oppressive conduct or harassment.

But Michael Downes of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, said an increasing number of complaints did not necessarily equate to poorer behaviour from officers.

He said: "Police officers by the very nature of what they do attract a lot of malicious and unfounded complaints. It can be a confrontational role, dealing with difficult people in difficult circumstances, and people – especially perpetrators of crime – are sometimes not very happy about it."

South Yorkshire Police saw an increase of 176 cases between 2008-09 and 2009-10.

South Yorkshire Police's professional standards department recorded 661 complaints between October 2009 and March 2010. More than 200 related to neglect or failure in duty, while 132 accused police of incivility, impoliteness or intolerance.

Humberside Police's professional standards branch received 346 complaint cases between April and December last year, up slightly from 338 during the same period in 2008.

The force saw a sharp rise in complaints for oppressive conduct and failure in duty, but the total number of allegations fell from 565 to 554.