State of Policing: the annual assessment of policing in England and Wales 2012/13. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) 2014, pp. 204 (ISBN: 978-1-78246-335-1)

01 March 2014

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This is the first full report by HMIC head Thomas Winsor, and he finds that policing in England and Wales has been “damaged” (but not broken) by a series of scandals that have disclosed – or threaten to disclose – police wrongdoing.

He identifies a number of incidents linked to police malpractice and / or corruption that have led to trust in the police being severely shaken:

“It is very much to be regretted that the confidence of the public in their ability to trust the police has been so severely shaken by controversies which have recently achieved public prominence, and ones which have been the subject of public concern and criticism for many years.

"They include those concerning Hillsborough, Orgreave Colliery, the investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence and how police conducted themselves afterwards, the enforced resignation of a Cabinet Minister as a result of the actions of at least one dishonest police officer [`Plebgate’], the sexual deception of citizens who trusted undercover police officers, and others.”

He concludes that it is the responsibility of police leaders to repair the damage and that the police service needs to be “as ruthless and uncompromising with officers guilty of discreditable and dishonest conduct as are professions such as law and medicine.”

The report is available here (pdf).

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State of Policing: the annual assessment of policing in England and Wales 2012/13. Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) 2014, pp. 204 (ISBN: 978-1-78246-335-1)

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