Police priorities

THE succession of scandals that continue to besmirch the integrity of British policing, both nationally and locally, need to be considered in a wider context. The vast majority of officers are upstanding individuals who hold true to the founding principles set out by Sir Robert Peel when he first established the police service in the 1800s.

Yet their exemplary conduct has been overshadowed by a series of high-profile cases that have prompted some to question the robustness of police disciplinary procedures.

West Yorkshire Police is not immune to this. Not only has the force had to come to terms with the resignation of Sir Norman Bettison over his role in the Hillsborough disaster inquiry, it has also been dealing with the fallout from its supergrass scandal and the repercussions of the cosy relationship between senior officers and disgraced presenter Jimmy Savile. Given this state of affairs, the force’s crime commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson and Mark Gilmore, its new chief constable, are right to ask the vastly experienced Catherine Crawford to instigate an independent review of the handling of misconduct complaints, and to judge whether complaints procedures need to be overhauled.

Though this will not involve the reopening of previous cases, her findings must be published and then implemented if this exercise is to command the widest possible confidence and demonstrate that the police are not above the law. A failure to do so will undermine the sound intentions of the two leaders who deserve credit for recognising that the public interest has not always been the police’s priority in misconduct investigations.