North Yorkshire: Deputy chief admits force's handling of complaints 'is not good enough'

DCC Scott Bisset said they were making improvements after the force was graded “requires improvement” for its professional standards and anti-corruption arrangements.

It follows an inspection last July by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue which found it needs to improve how it responds to complaints and allegations. The report graded the force “good” at vetting police officers.

It said public complaints – expressions of dissatisfaction about the police - rose 25 per cent in the last financial year, while allegations of improper police conduct rose 93 per cent.

The watchdog, the Office for Policing, Fire, Crime and Commissioning passes the more serious complaints onto the police’s professional standards department (PSD).

At the time of the inspection the OPFCC had a backlog of 630 complaints and receive around 120 new complaints a month. The PSD had an “unsustainable” workload - more than 400 live complaints.

Because of delays in the OPFCC passing complaints on there was a risk important evidence could be lost.

In one case an investigator inquiring into a complaint about the use of force wasn’t to able to access custody CCTV.

The report said some officers and staff said they only found out about the result of misconduct investigations on the grapevine or social media. The force only publishes cases where the individual is dismissed.

It also highlighted that the force doesn’t continue with a misconduct investigation where a member of police staff resigns before it is completed.

Inspectors found three corruption-related cases where this had happened. In one case a staff member had “used their position in the police to contact vulnerable people multiple times”.

The report added: “We strongly urge the force to review this approach”.

DCC Bisset said: “The handling of public complaints is not good enough and falls short of what we and the public should expect.

"For those areas that have been identified as requiring improvement, a plan is in place and we are taking the necessary action to address the issues."