Promotion candidates ‘should work with vulnerable’

POLICE officers who want promotion should spend at least a year working in units that support the vulnerable, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary has said in its annual report.

In the report, released this week, HMIC criticised the fact that three-quarters of forces “are failing adequately to protect the most vulnerable in our society”.

As a result of what the report regarded to be a serious failing, it recommends changing the police promotion system “to ensure that in all but exceptional cases police officers preparing for advancement should spend an appreciable amount of time working in units which support vulnerable people, including children”.

HMIC also predicted a further 6% fall in police officer numbers in England and Wales. It said overall numbers could fall to 115,400 by March 2018.

However, the report did emphasise “the strong dedication, professionalism and bravery of the vast majority of police officers and police staff in England and Wales, who work hard and in some of the toughest and most hazardous conditions, achieving public protection and the apprehension of offenders despite, rather than with, the assistance of advanced and reliable technology, which in too many respects is still poor”.

The report also “recognises that the police service has met many of the expectations of the public over the last year while achieving spending reductions, which have meant lost jobs”.

But HMIC criticised the police service for “contributing to an indefensible mosaic of inconsistent practices and standards – by refusing to learn from one another, or to adopt the practices of the best-performing forces”.

It added: “This wastes money and imperils public safety.

“There is no reason why people in one police area should receive an inferior service for reasons only of geography.”