Humberside Police improvement sees force win Public Sector Transformation Award

Humberside Police is currently being hailed as a shining example to others.

It received national recognition as the overall winner in the recent Public Sector Transformation Awards.

The force is one of the leading performers for call handling and getting positive outcome rates for victims.

The path from ‘inadequate’ in 2015 to outstanding hasn’t been easy.

Putting hundreds more officers on the beat, making policing local and changing the way they look at mental health have all played a role.

The darkest moment for Humberside Police came in 2015 when Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary rated the force’s efficiency as Inadequate.

It was put into special measures shortly after.

The report highlighted ‘severe flaws’ in the command hub, noting many 101 callers faced long waits or simply gave up. Staff shortages meant the force wasn’t always possible to double-crew patrols, while staff protecting vulnerable people had excessive workloads.

Officer numbers were the lowest in its history by 2016 – just 1,420, compared with over 2,000 six years before. The number of PCSOs had also fallen by a quarter.

Austerity meant that central Government – where police forces get 70% of their budget from – which was cutting budgets for most public bodies.

Officers can’t be made redundant, but forces sometimes had no option to replace those who resigned or retired.

A fall in the quality of service was inevitable, Humberside Police’s website says. “It’s quite obvious that with such a reduction in staff numbers, Humberside Police could not deliver the level of service and protection it used to.”

Morale was also a serious issue at the time.

Nearly 85% of staff said they had low personal morale, according to a survey by the Police Federation.

Chief Constable Lee Freeman was appointed in 2017.

Together with Police and Crime Commissioner Keith Hunter, the policeman was determined to reverse the fall in numbers which was damaging performance and causing stress for remaining officers.

Today, more than 650 new officers have been hired.

Mr Freeman said: “This award is a recognition of five years of continued effort from across the entire team at Humberside Police.

“We should all feel proud for what we have achieved to date, it has been a complete cultural change at every level, and I’d like to thank the staff for their continued support, without which, the transformation we’ve seen would not have been possible.”