National Police Anti-Corruption and Abuse Reporting Service launched

North Yorkshire Police and Police Fire and Crime Commissioner have joined all police forces in the UK to launch the Police Anti-Corruption and Abuse Reporting Service, which will be run by the independent charity Crimestoppers. 

 

The service was established to give the public an anonymous and confidential route to report concerns about criminal behaviour by individuals in policing. It will bolster the Force’s capability to take action against those who are not fit to serve.

 

The Police Anti-Corruption and Abuse Reporting Service covers information relating to officers, staff and volunteers who: 

 

• Provide information or influence in return for money or favours. 

• Use their policing position for personal advantage - whether financial or otherwise. 

• Cross professional boundaries or abuse their position for sexual purposes. 

• Abuse or control their partner, or those they have a relationship with. 

• Engage in racist, homophobic, misogynistic or disablist conduct, on or off duty, in person or online. 

Crimestoppers will take reports from the public about individuals employed by North Yorkshire Police, as well as any police force in the UK, regardless of whether the information relates to them whilst they are on or off duty, online or in person. Reports can be submitted online and telephone calls are free.  

 

When people contact the service, they can choose to remain 100% anonymous, or can opt to leave their details if they are willing for the force investigation team to contact them directly.    

 

Information received by Crimestoppers will be passed to North Yorkshire Police’s Professional Standards Department who will assess it. The Force may then pass the information to specialist detectives to begin an investigation, take steps to safeguard someone at risk or in danger, or record the information to inform future investigations. 

 

The service sits alongside North Yorkshire Police’s existing complaints procedure, and has been set up solely to take reports of corruption and or serious abuse committed by serving police officers, staff and volunteers.  

 

North Yorkshire Police’s Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Scott Bisset, said: “We know that the vast majority of our colleagues are professional, committed and passionate about safeguarding communities.

 

“That’s why we are united in our shared determination to rid policing of those who fall below the high standards we expect of each other, and that the public rightly expects and deserves. 

 

“The Police Anti-Corruption and Abuse Reporting Service will help us to operate with the trust and confidence of the public by providing a route to report wrongdoing, independent of policing.”

 

Zoë Metcalfe, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for York and North Yorkshire said:

"In order to tackle corruption and abuse in public life, the public themselves must have absolute confidence that they are able to report anything they encounter to people who will take their concerns seriously.

“I am really pleased to see this service being available here in York and North Yorkshire providing another way for safe, anonymous, and secure reporting to provide the police with the intelligence they need to remove those guilty of corruption from public office."