Chair expresses “deep concern” at damning HMICFRS report

2 November 2022

Nottinghamshire Police Federation chair Simon Riley said he was deeply concerned by a report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) which found poor vetting standards meant hundreds, possibly thousands, of corrupt officers may be serving in England and Wales.

The inspection, commissioned in October last year by then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in the wake of the Sarah Everard murder, looked at eight forces, including Nottinghamshire, and found a culture of misogyny, sexism and predatory behaviour towards female officers and staff and members of the public.

HMIC Matt Parr said this culture was prevalent in “all the forces we inspected”, which he branded a “depressing finding”.

Mr Parr said: “It is too easy for the wrong people to both join and stay in the police. If the police are to rebuild public trust and protect their own female officers and staff, vetting must be much more rigorous and sexual misconduct taken more seriously.”

Responding to the report, Simon said: “The HMICFRS findings make for deeply concerning reading. We utterly condemn any dishonest or inappropriate behaviour which taints the reputation of our members because the vast majority of them work tirelessly with dedication and professionalism and act with the greatest integrity and respect, in keeping the communities we serve safe from harm.”

“The HMICFRS report rightly highlights that ‘the majority of police officers and staff meet – and often exceed – the standards of behaviour the public have a right to expect’.”

Simon acknowledged there were huge problems within the vetting process and said too many individuals who should never have been allowed to join the police had slipped through the net.

But he said short-staffed vetting units did not have the capacity to cope with demand which had increased after the launch of the Police Uplift Programme recruitment drive and accused chief constables of taking their eye off the ball while focusing on meeting Government targets.

He said: “Forces have to take responsibility for not rooting out the rotten apples in the first place but also for failing officers who have been victims of misogynistic and predatory behaviour.

“HMICFRS said too many warnings had been ignored which suggests forces consistently and repeatedly failed to implement recommendations designed to tackle such behaviour.”

Chief constables and police leaders also came under fire from Mr Parr who accused them of failing to “appreciate the damage to their reputation and the danger to the public caused by not having a significantly more rigorous process for identifying who shouldn’t join and who shouldn’t stay”.

He said: “It’s something that I think that there has been a degree of complacency about and I think the lessons of the last few years have given ample warning of that.”

The watchdog looked at 11,277 police officers and staff, examined 725 vetting files, considered 264 complaint and misconduct investigations as well as interviewing 42 people.

According to the report, 131 cases were identified where inspectors described the decisions made as “questionable at best”. In 68 of these, they disagreed with decisions to grant vetting clearance.

National chair responds to report.