Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has praised Staffordshire Police for their ‘very robust’ approach to ensuring ethical behaviour of officers and staff is at the heart of policing in the county.
It comes on the back of a planned and extensive internal operation to make sure that police systems and information are not being used inappropriately by users. The work which started in January 2012 has now finished resulting in seven individuals facing disciplinary action for misconduct and breaches of data protection policy.
Mr Ellis said that Staffordshire having the most open and transparent police service in the country was an ambition he and the Chief Constable had agreed on soon after coming to office.
“Staffordshire Police started from a good position so the last year or so has been about raising the ethical bar even higher. Public confidence in policing has been dented by the actions of relatively few officers in relatively few police forces,” he said.
“It is right and proper that we expect police and others in important public positions to behave honestly and with integrity. Sometimes errors of judgement are made and sometimes things go beyond that leading to definitive action being taken.
“The seven individuals here fall into that category and the police service in Staffordshire has acted swiftly and decisively to ensure appropriate action is taken.”
Assistant Chief Constable Nick Baker, from Staffordshire Police, said “The communities we serve deserve and expect that everyone within Staffordshire Police will treat them and their information with the highest respect. It is vital that our officers and staff have access the information they need to make decisions that help us keep our communities safe, but we have to make sure information is accessed for appropriate purposes.
“We already had a very high level of monitoring in place, but we decided to undertake this extra work to ensure we maintain the confidence of our communities. Where we identify any potential issues or lack of knowledge of the standards expected we take action to address these, and where a serious or criminal breach of policy occurs we use the full discipline processes available to us to take robust action against our colleagues involved.”
New arrangements to support the drive for openness and transparency have been established by the PCC as well as additional safeguards being instigated by the police.
The Ethics Transparency and Audit Panel (ETA) established by Mr Ellis eight months ago and consisting of nine members of the public meet regularly to examine that specific aspect of policing.
New measures have also been put in place where PCC officials regularly monitor the quality and consistency of crime recording, complaints and ethical procedures.
