Police force told to improve safeguarding

Humberside Police needs to improve its safeguarding processes for children and adults at risk of harm, a watchdog has said.

In its report, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services also said not all reported rapes were correctly recorded by the force.

Despite the criticism, inspectors concluded the force was "outstanding" in preventing and deterring crime, "good" at responding to the public, and "adequate" in six other areas.

Jonathan Evison, the police and crime commissioner, thanked officers for their work before adding: "We must always strive to do better."

The inspectorate's latest report comes a year after the force appointed Chris Todd as chief constable following the departure of Paul Anderson in June 2024.

Michelle Skeer, the report's author, said she was "satisfied with most aspects" of the force's performance but found "gaps" in some of its safeguarding processes, which "required improvement".

"There are some areas I believe the force should have acted on much sooner. However, the speed of response hasn't been helped by a lack of stability in the chief officer team and other senior posts," she said.

"I am optimistic that its new permanent leadership team, together with its committed officers and staff, will continue its positive trajectory. We will continue to monitor its progress."

Inspectors found information was not being properly tracked, analysed or escalated to senior leaders, and safeguarding plans were not always followed through.

They also found issues with how the force managed its domestic violence and child sex offender disclosure schemes.

They said crimes against vulnerable people were not always recorded correctly. In one audit, inspectors found nine crimes had not been logged.

This was particularly worrying because similar problems were flagged in an earlier inspection, the watchdog said.

"The force records most crimes committed against victims of domestic abuse, but it doesn't always record rape crimes correctly from reported incidents of rape (N100s), or cancel rape crimes correctly," the report stated.

Inspectors said some positive steps had since been taken, including developing a new safeguarding strategy and the creation of a new detective chief superintendent role focused on safeguarding.

The report highlighted several areas of strong performance including answering calls and neighbourhood policing, in which the number of officers employed by Humberside Police was "higher than the average for forces in England and Wales".

Evison said: "Last year I appointed a new chief constable and, through my regular holding to account sessions, I have seen how steps have been taken to identify corrective measures.

"I agree with HM Inspector that progress has been made and that the force has the leadership in place to sustain this."

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