Cleveland Police fails to keep people safe and preventing crime isn’t a priority, says damning report
Cleveland Police is failing to keep people safe and failing to reduce crime, according to a highly critical report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services.
It is the first force in the country to be rated inadequate across all areas examined by inspectors.
The watchdog says things have deteriorated since their last inspection.
The report gives a scathing list of criticisms including:
Crime prevention isn't a priority
Doesn't do enough to catch criminals
Failing to protect vulnerable people
Doesn't treat public fairly enough
Doesn't treat communities with respect
High levels of complaints
Discriminatory behaviour
Harassment
Intolerance
Richard Lewis, who in April became Cleveland’s fifth chief constable in just six years, and third in 10 months, is “unable to trust the information he receives from within the force,'' the report says.
Cleveland Police is also failing to proactively tackle corruption and doesn’t treat its workforce with fairness and respect, not giving them opportunity to voice their concerns.
The force is good at tackling serious and organised crime, but needs to improve the way it investigates less serious crimes, and has good financial management.
Inspectors says the force received “significantly” more complaints from the public than other forces, with 460 allegations per 1,000 officers in the 12 months to December 2018.
That's compared with the England and Wales average of 271 per 1,000 officers.
Responding to the Inspectorate's findings, Cleveland Police’s chief constable Richard Lewis said,
In response the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland, Barry Coppinger says,
Inspectors say that the chief constable recognises the issues they have raised and is assembling a team to put it right, and they hope there will be improvements going forward.
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