Durham Constabulary responds to HMICFRS integrity inspection report

Durham Constabulary has announced details of a major investment to raise standards of police conduct and overhaul vetting systems.

The force’s Professional Standards Department has been expanded and reorganised, with extra resources for counter corruption and vetting teams.

The move follows an independent audit commissioned by the force in spring 2025 followed by an Integrity Inspection report published today by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, both of which identified failings in the force’s vetting regime.

Long term underinvestment in Professional Standards Department has led to issues such as inefficient IT systems and discrepancies in the data used by different teams, leading to delays in completing vetting processes.

Following the findings of the audit, Durham Constabulary launched a programme of investment and reorganisation to ensure the force was adhering to the highest possible standards of integrity.

That investment programme includes:

• An extra 12 officers and staff within Professional Standards
• A new dedicated conduct investigation team sitting alongside vetting, counter corruption and complaints teams
• More than £200,000 of new IT systems to tighten up monitoring
• The reintroduction of random drug testing for officers and staff
• New advanced training programmes for Professional Standards teams
• Improved operational security of Professional Standards’ working environment
• Structural reorganisation so the team now reports directly into the Deputy Chief Constable

The programme, which is already underway will address the inadequate performance identified in today’s HMICFRS Integrity Inspection report.

Chief constable Rachel Bacon said: Chief constable Rachel Bacon said: “Today’s report makes for very difficult, but not entirely unexpected, reading.

“The public rightly expects the highest possible standards of performance from their police.

“As referenced in the HMIC report, prior to this inspection and at my direction Durham Constabulary commissioned its own independent audit of vetting which identified areas for improvement, caused in part by a legacy of underfunding of the force, leading to underinvestment in our Professional Standards Department for many years.

“On taking over as chief constable, I introduced a broad programme of work to address a number of issues which the force faced: I prioritised initial investment on being there when the public really needed us, improving call handling and response times which had been amongst the slowest in England and Wales and increasing neighbourhood policing to drive down crime levels. Having turned around our operational performance I shifted that intensified focus to reform of supporting areas which includes our approach to professional standards.

“It is also clear that, for some time, the force had not adopted national policies and procedures and that a shortage of resources led to unacceptable delays in our vetting regime.

“These longstanding problems stem from decisions made over many years and the significant funding challenges faced by the force. They will not be fixed overnight but, from the moment our audit uncovered these issues, we have introduced decisive measures to address them.”

Chief constable Bacon added: “We are confident that the measures we have taken will ensure that the public can continue to have faith in the standards and integrity of Durham Constabulary.”