Humberside Police ‘most improved force in the country’ with over 2,000 officers

PROUD: Keith Hunter, Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner

Humberside Police now has more than 2,000 officers for the first time in 10 years and is seen as the most improved force in the country, the Police and Crime Commissioner has said.

Keith Hunter, in delivering his annual report for 2019 to the Humberside Police and Crime Panel this week, said the force has seen a marked improvement in recent years.

As well as having additional officers, he stressed morale and partnership working have improved, and communities now “have a voice”.

Referring to 2016, Mr Hunter said: “Humberside Police had sufficient funding for about 1,550 officers but had actually only 1,420, down from a height of over 2,200.

“It had been graded as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ by the independent inspectorate repeatedly, officer morale was the lowest in the country, neighbourhood policing had been decimated, people could not get through on the 101 call system, partnership working had been largely ignored and communities had no voice.

“The result was the confidence of communities in the force had been massively undermined and crime was on the way up. That was only four years ago.

“Now, thanks to the intensive recruitment programme using the funds I made available to the Chief Constable, the force had around 1,950 officers at the time this report is based on.

“More officers are currently being recruited as part of the national uplift programme, which has taken our total back over the 2,000 mark.”

ON THE BEAT: Humberside Police now has more than 2,000 officers

The report looks at the work Mr Hunter and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) have undertaken in the year up to and including March 2020, which marked the start of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Mr Hunter said: “The story this report presents is a really positive one of continuing progress, improvement and delivery from the OPCC, Humberside Police and the other services we commission and support in our efforts to deliver safer communities and support victims.

“Humberside Police is seen as the most improved in the country, with well-embedded neighbourhood teams working to priorities identified by the people in those communities, with OPCC engagement officers ensuring the community voice features in community safety decisions, a ‘best in class’ call-handling capability and every indicator shows the confidence of the public in the force is growing.

“But now is not the time for complacency and during the past year my mind has been on how we move to the next level, to become recognised as being outstanding.

“Merely having that realistic ambition for the force is illustrative of the scale of the change we have seen in Humberside Police.”

The full report can be read here.