Dyfed-Powys Police told to improve

Dyfed-Powys Police has been told it “requires improvement” in the way it interacts with individuals and communities following a report released by an official watchdog.

It found that Dyfed-Powys Police “had not done enough to develop an ethical culture” following inspection of all 43 police forces in England and Wales by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

In response, the force said that the areas of concern are already being addressed but police and crime commissioner Christopher Salmon told the BBC that action must be taken.

“Dyfed-Powys needs to do more to develop an open and questioning culture. I want to see more progress on this,” said Mr Salmon.

“I have made clear to the chief constable that, as this report states, he has more to do.”

The force was one of five singled out for improvement after inspectors examined how officers interacted with individuals and communities.

“Following our inspection, HMIC considers that Dyfed-Powys Police had not done enough to develop an ethical culture, to incorporate the code of ethics into policy or practice, or to ensure complaints and misconduct cases were free of bias,” said HM Inspector Wendy Williams.

“That is why we have judged the force to 'require improvement' to be considered 'legitimate'.”

However, the force was rated good on issues of stop-and-search and its use of stun guns.

This morning, the force has issued an official response from T/Deputy Chief Constable Liane James who said:

“We welcome the learning from this report and, I am pleased to be able to say that almost a year on from this inspection being undertaken, very positive steps have been made to introduce the system improvements and processes that the HMIC refers to.

“We believe these will only enhance what is already a very victim focused culture here at Dyfed-Powys Police. We are also pleased that our work in the key areas of ‘Stop Search’ and use of Taser have been recognised and graded as ‘Good’ by the HMIC.”

“We will now go through today’s report in detail and ensure that all actions emerging from it feature prominently in all of our plans.

“We are working tirelessly to enhance a service that is already judged to be one of the best in the country according to our communities and, are very proud that we are still one of the few forces nationally continuing to attend every crime.

“Integral to our efforts to enhance our service is our on-going work to embed The College of Policing’s ‘Code of Ethics’. We have established an Ethics Committee; a diverse team of people from inside and outside of the organisation. The committee will deliver a plan which will make the ‘Code of Ethics’ a living set of principles and values, which all officers and staff will relate to and work by.”