POLICE in Worcestershire are using Tasers fairly but may not always have a good enough reason to stop and search people, an independent report has found.

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has assessed the 'legitimacy' of West Mercia Police including the level of public engagement, use of tasers and compliance with stop and search.

HMIC found a number of positives including the way the force engages with the public and the community but needs to do more to improve support for its staff and use of stop and search powers.

Overall West Mercia was among the five more poorly rated forces in England and Wales.

One force was judged to be ‘outstanding’, 37 forces to be ‘good’ and five forces to ‘require improvement’, including West Mercia. No forces were judged to be ‘inadequate’.

HMI Wendy Williams said: “Following our inspection, we found that West Mercia Police was developing an ethical culture, however it had more to do to provide sufficient wellbeing and welfare support for its staff.

"We were concerned about the initial assessment of misconduct cases, with too many being classified as gross misconduct, before being subsequently downgraded.

“The force was performing well in some areas, such as public engagement. HMIC found that in West Mercia Police there is a strong commitment to the community and good examples of initiatives and engagement, often with harder to reach groups.

"The force works with the public in a number of watch schemes, which are supported by a well-developed network of volunteers.

"HMIC found that people were treated fairly and with respect when they came into contact with West Mercia Police and the force understands and engages well with the people it serves.

"HMIC is also satisfied that the majority of taser use in West Mercia Police is both fair and appropriate.

“HMIC has a number of concerns with how West Mercia Police conducts and records instances of stop and search. Too many records do not contain sufficient reasonable grounds and these are not being sufficiently identified or addressed by supervisors.

"This needs to improve to ensure that the people of West Mercia are treated fairly and respectfully.”

West Mercia received 589 complaints against officers and staff, referring to allegations made by the public and finalised in the 12 months to March 31, 2015.

Of these, 61 per cent had been investigated and 23 per cent had been locally resolved.

After local investigation, West Mercia Police closed 359 allegations in the 12 months to 31 March 2015 .

Of these, 12 per cent were upheld - the service provided by the police officer or police staff did not reach the standard a reasonable person could expect.

This is less than the average of West Mercia's most similar group of forces of 14 per cent.

The force carried out 9,874 stop and searches in the 12 months to March 31, 2015. The force had a higher number of stop and searches per 1,000 people in the 12 months to March 31, 2015 to the average for a force of its size (7.9 compared to the average of 6.6).

The number of stop and searches has fallen by around a third (31 per cent) from the previous year which is in line with the average of other forces of a similar size to West Mercia (down 33 per cent).

The data suggested that black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people were statistically more likely to be stopped and searched by West Mercia Police than white people.

Of those who had been stopped and searched, BAME people were statistically more likely to be arrested than white people.

However, the report stressed caution about drawing assumptions, especially where data might appear to suggest that forces are unfairly targeting particular ethnicities in their use of stop and search powers.

Although that is one possible explanation, there are a number of other factors which could result in any disparity, including the 2011 ethnicity figures no longer being representative of the force’s local population.

For West Mercia Police the 2013 inspection showed that 79 of 200 records reviewed (40 percent) did not have sufficient reasonable grounds recorded.

West Mercia officers used tasers 197 times in the 12 months to December 31, 2014 in West Mercia, representing 1.6 times for every 10,000 people in the force's area. This was broadly in line with the average for West Mercia Police's most similar group of forces, which was 1.7 times per 10,000 population.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cullen of Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police said: "We value the HMIC report into legitimacy as it asks important questions and encourages us to continue to make further improvements to our culture and how this is reflected in our public engagement.

"We were pleased that HMIC found that "people were treated fairly and with respect" by West Mercia Police. The report also highlighted our "strong commitment to the community" and that protecting people from harm is at the centre of all that we do. We work hard to engage with our communities, particularly those in hard to reach groups, which has been highlighted in the report.

"The inspection suggested we need to make further improvements to the way we provide wellbeing and welfare support to our staff.

"This is an area that we ourselves have recognised as needing further attention and have made Health and Wellbeing a top priority for 2016.

"Whilst HMIC have found that we are "almost fully complying" with the best use of Stop and Search, we have invested a significant amount of time to improving our compliance and will continue to do so. We are working on reviewing our training programme to incorporate principles and national curriculum from the College of Policing and will also be producing a ‘Reasonable Grounds’ coaching pack for use by Local Policing Area supervisors and staff.

"We recognise that our existing arrangements for complaints and misconduct issues have not been consistent. Since the HMIC inspection, we are confident that our revised processes should help improve this inconsistency."

 

 

Unfair use of a taser

In two of the cases reviewed which both involved firing a Taser, HMIC considered the use to be inappropriate.

One involved firing a Taser at a man while he was running away, having hidden after committing an assault and pushing a police officer to evade capture.

At the point the Taser was fired the man did not pose a threat to the officer or anyone else.

The other case involved a man detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act who had locked himself in a room, threatening to attack police if they entered.

Police forced entry after five minutes of unsuccessful negotiation, the man promptly picked up a metal bar and an officer used the Taser.

Prior to police entry, the man posed no threat to himself or others and further negotiation may have resolved the situation without the need to use a Taser HMIC said. Despite these examples the HMIC said they were satisfied that the Taser was being used fairly and appropriately by West Mercia Police.