Force told to improve care for children in custody

A police force should better protect the rights of children and improve safety in custody, an inspection report has concluded.

The findings about North Yorkshire Police (NYP), published by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), also raised concerns about answering non-emergency calls and supporting victims' needs.

However, the force had improved its leadership and support for the workforce, according to the report, which said NYP was "good" in six areas.

Deputy Ch Con Scott Bisset said NYP's performance had improved and that the force was "effectively keeping our communities safe, reducing crime and protecting victims".

The report was "positive" overall, said Michelle Skeer, His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary.

"What they're doing around neighbourhood policing, that is really positive, there are good problem-solving plans, tackling those local community issues and anti-social behaviour," she said.

But the force was graded as "requires improvement" in terms of providing a safe custody environment.

"It's around their quality assurance, making sure they've got the right governance processes in place," Skeer said.

The report also found the "rights and entitlement of detainees who are children" were not adequate.

In one instance, force was used on a 15-year-old child after an incident escalated because professional practice regulations were not followed.

Many children are released on bail before being interviewed by officers, as an appropriate adult often cannot be provided outside of office hours to advocate for the child, according to the report.

Skeer said NYP's "huge geography" was likely to cause challenges when contacting appropriate adults.

"North Yorkshire is not alone in this, you see this sometimes in other areas and certainly when you've got big geographies," she added.

"Promisingly, the force responded really well whilst we were in inspection and actually have already provided us with a really detailed action plan as to how they're going to address the issues that we've raised."

Areas to improve were also identified within NYP's responses to the public and investigating crime, which were both rated "adequate".

Specifically, Skeer said approximately 20% of non-emergency calls were abandoned.

"Some of that could be because the member of the public has taken another option as they've gone through the menu," she explained.

"But actually, the force couldn't tell us that, so we've said there needs to be some increased focus to make sure that members of the public are not just being let down."

Work also needed to take place to improve support for victims, especially identifying whether or not they are vulnerable or being intimidated, Skeer said.

However, the report praised NYP's work on areas including safeguarding, despite the force being criticised by one of the county's MPs earlier this year.

HMICFRS said "appropriate measures" were used to reduce the risk of harm to children and vulnerable adults.

Bisset said the six "very solid good gradings" demonstrated "excellent progress" and reflected the force's "hard work and commitment to public service".

"We are responding well to challenges and have demonstrated a focus on prevention, with a 9.5% reduction in crime over the last two years," he said.

"We are arresting more criminals more quickly, are third in the country for charging suspects and detect more crime than two years ago."

Bisset also highlighted reductions in answer times for both 999 and non-emergency calls in the last two years.

"But we are not complacent and have already started to put improvements in place for the small number of areas in the report where these are required," he added.

"One of these is an 18-point action plan we developed for our custody environment which is already being delivered.

"We will continue to work hard with our partners in this area, including on the provision of appropriate adults for children in custody."

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