MORE than six months after changes were proposed to improve crime handling in York, no firm changes have taken place.

North Yorkshire Police's Investigation Hubs were set up in 2015 as a way for the force to tackle 'volume crime' - including burglary, criminal damage and theft - which make up about 80 per cent of crime in the region.

As reported by The Press in February, the police corporate performance delivery and scrutiny board heard the hubs - situated in York, Harrogate, Scarborough and Northallerton - were drastically missing their targets, "achieving about 50 per cent of volume crime across the force", and officials said they would look to shift changes and supporting the hubs with help from other teams.

More than six months after that report, The Press can confirm no changes to shifts have yet been made by the force to the structure of the hubs or their shift patterns, and the review into potential changes is still ongoing.

Detective Superintendent Stephen Thomas said the challenges faced by the hubs was not unique to North Yorkshire Police, and that the review was ongoing.

He said: "The intention of introducing the Investigation Hubs was to support the work within the areas of both volume crime and the Serious Crime Teams. The hubs consist of both PCs and Detective Constables, working together to manage demand and deliver outcomes for victims more quickly.

"The success of the Investigation Hubs is determined by the proportion of volume crime they are able to remove from frontline officers and staff, and also the capacity to support the workload of Serious Crime Team - this is a challenge not just for North Yorkshire Police but nationally."

February's meeting heard issues regarding staffing at the hubs had been raised by members of the teams, but most members felt the abilities of the members were more important than the number of staff.