A HIGHLY critical report has been published into North Yorkshire Police performance.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) has today (March17) published its PEEL Inspection into North Yorkshire Police, and the force has been told it must make urgent improvements to help keep people safe and reduce crime.

The inspectorate said North Yorkshire’s performance requires improvement in terms of responding to the public, investigating crime, protecting vulnerable people and building and developing its workforce. 

And the force’s use of resources was graded inadequate.

The report also pointed out that the force was well below the national standard for answering and responding to emergency calls, with only 41.9 percent of 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds when it was inspected.

Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said: “I have concerns about the performance of North Yorkshire Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime. 

“In particular, I have serious concerns about its strategic planning and organisational management.

“Senior leaders in the force need to ensure they have effective oversight of its enabling services, such as IT and HR functions. Failures in these areas impact the service the force provides.”

The report said: “Until the force improves its strategic oversight and implements its performance framework, it will not be able to reduce crime effectively.”

PEEL stands for police effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy and the inspection was completed in October 2022.

Chief Constable Lisa Winward said that the report highlighted a significant number of areas that require improvement relating to the “corporate capacity and capability of the organisation”.

Ms Winward said: “They told us that while the right actions might be taking place on the ground by our people, they were not able to find sufficient evidence of how this was directed and overseen through our governance structure.

“The inspectors told us that every single person they spoke to was committed, fully engaged in their work and doing a really good job in difficult circumstances.”

She said the force has been through a significant period of change since the last inspection, in 2018, and said a major control room investment had already seen a stark improvement in the percentage of 999 calls being answered within 10 seconds.

Ms Winward said: “As the safest place in the country, I can assure the communities of North Yorkshire and the City of York that we remain absolutely committed to keeping you safe, and feeling safe.”