A transformative year for policing in North Yorkshire as report shows improvements in eight out of nine areas

The report, which follows from an Inspection which was completed in October 2023, demonstrates the positive transformation in the performance of the force and its service to the public of York and North Yorkshire.

The Inspectorate graded the force across nine areas of policing:

Good – Preventing crime

Good – Recording data and crime*

Good – Police powers and public treatment

Good – Protecting vulnerable people

Good – Managing offenders

Adequate – Investigating crime

Adequate – Responding to the public

Adequate – Developing a positive workplace

Adequate – Leadership and force management

* Now part of core PEEL inspection

Between the 2022 and 2023 Inspections, there has been an improvement in every area other than ‘Police powers and public treatment’ which was already graded as ‘Good’.

Speaking about the latest report Acting Chief Constable, Elliot Foskett said: “It’s been a transformative year for policing in North Yorkshire.

“We fully embraced the feedback from the Inspectorate at the end of the 2022 inspection and set to work, as a force, to address the multiple areas which were identified as needing to be improved.

“We put in place our improvement plan, which was challenging and tough for everyone in the force.

“We told you that the leadership team had a grip on the issues and that we would manage the plan tightly.

“We moved at a pace and have delivered on all fronts.

“We have worked hard over the past 12 months to bring the force to a level where the Inspectorate told us that the change has been phenomenal. At all times we have had our focus on delivering an exemplary service for the communities that we serve.

“We have invested significantly in our Force Control Room to ensure that when the public reach out for help that we are ready and able to pick up that call.

“Our average answer time for 999 calls was 16.2 seconds in January 2023 and this has improved to 10.2 seconds in January 2024 with 84.3% of these calls being answered within 10 seconds.

“The best way to keep the public safe is to prevent them coming to harm in the first place and we have prioritised prevention activities this year.

“A lot of that work is done through our neighbourhood teams, and it was gratifying to see in the Inspection report, that our level of investment in neighbourhood policing is over 9% above the average for our most similar group of forces.

“The Inspectorate noted that this was sustainable and that the force works well with its partner organisations.

“Our crime recording continues to improve and is just shy of being ‘outstanding’.

“This provides the public with the confidence that we are accurately accounting for the amount of crime occurring in their communities.

“The Inspectorate noted that our officers understand the importance of treating the public fairly and respectfully when using their police powers.

“We have a great framework of Independent Advisory Groups in place across the force and one of them scrutinises our use of police powers.

“Alongside this it is important that our officers have the confidence to use their powers when they judge it to be necessary.

“The inspectorate was satisfied, not only with the way we carry out our stop and search, but also the high degree of transparency through external scrutiny and low levels of disproportionality.

“We have done a lot of work this year to improve the quality of our investigations.

“We have invested heavily in the recruitment and development of detectives and have established a new Safeguarding Investigation Team, one on each command area, to focus on the most difficult and complex cases.

“The Inspectorate noted that we have improved our governance and oversight of investigations and pursue evidence-led prosecutions on behalf of victims whenever possible.

“The force has improved its approach to reducing vulnerability over the past year.

“We have improved our information sharing and the quality of referrals to our safeguarding partners as well as working with our officers to emphasise the importance of capturing the ‘voice of the child’.

“The Inspectorate noted the force’s high level and proactive use of domestic violence prevention orders to safeguard victims of domestic abuse.

“North Yorkshire Police still has one of the highest rates of arrest and positive action at incidents of domestic abuse.

“In the area of managing registered sex offenders, they note that the force has made a clear improvement in the quality of our offender management.

“Behind all the improvements made across the force over the past year are the officers, staff and volunteers who every day, dedicate themselves to keeping the communities of York and North Yorkshire safe, and feeling safe.

“It is not an easy job, and we know that we still have much more to do to bring our force to a level where the independent Inspectorate can rate us as outstanding.

“For myself as Acting Chief Constable, I know that as a force we will not cease in our efforts to continuously improve.

“We are one of the safest counties in England and this Inspection report shows that we are also now one of the best forces in England.

“The public of North Yorkshire and York deserve a police force they can trust and have confidence in.

“Policing has moved on and we needed to rebuild our foundations – they are now in place.”

The full report is available to read online at: https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/publications/peel-assessment-2023-25-north-yorkshire/