Working with you to make Staffordshire a safer place

I’ve been in post for around four months now and it’s a real pleasure to be here and work with colleagues and partners and learn more about the challenges we face and the communities we serve.

While it’s a challenging time for policing we are making really great progress towards our aim of once again becoming an outstanding police service.

I am immensely proud of colleagues who continually go the extra mile to do the very best for our communities. This is seeing real benefits in many areas, detection rates are up, as are arrests and stop and search. This proactivity is seeing results in areas including vehicle crime, violence and drug seizures. We have both local policing and dedicated teams working on these crime types and you will see some of our recent successes in the media, a summary of which is included in this newsletter.

I am sure that you will have seen the recently released Angiolini Inquiry which examines how an off-duty Metropolitan police officer abducted, raped and killed Sarah Everard in 2021. I wanted to take this opportunity to share details of the work we’re undertaking around misconduct, standards and values in Staffordshire.

In addition to the historical data wash where all officers, staff, and volunteers were checked against the Police National Database (PND), we have a longstanding internal campaign called Know the Line which focuses on abuse of position, one of the most significant corruption threats facing policing today. Since being launched our Professional Standards and Anti-Corruption teams have seen an increase in referrals of inappropriate behaviour and abuse of position which are robustly investigated. It is extremely positive colleagues feel confident to report such behaviour.

There is a constant need for us to review and reflect on our behaviours, standards and values. Our Professional Standards Department are leading on further standards and culture work in line with the Code of Ethics which we seek to embed across all areas of policing.

Sadly, we have seen a number of misconduct hearings over the last few months where sexual misconduct is a central theme. This is disappointing and completely unacceptable. Two police officers were recently dismissed without notice after their actions amounted to gross misconduct.

The vast majority of our officers and staff are honest, hardworking and act with integrity. However, where misconduct is found, we will take swift action. We encourage anyone who has any concerns about the behaviour of an officer or staff member they have come into contact with to report it. Police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) have commissioned the independent charity Crimestoppers to run a service for the public to report allegations of corruption and serious abuse by police officers, staff and volunteers. The service was launched today as part of our ongoing commitment to reform police standards and culture. The contact number is 0800 085 0000.

I am delighted to be working with you to make Staffordshire a safer place.

Jon Roy
Deputy Chief Constable