Delays reducing North Yorkshire Police’s ability to safeguard children, says HMICFRS

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said it was “concerned about delays” in the force’s digital forensic unit (DFU) and that some complex investigations into online sexual abuse of children were allocated to inexperienced officers.

“There are delays in some online indecent image investigations before referrals are sent to partner agencies. This means that these children can remain at risk unnecessarily,” said inspectors.

They also found there were “excessive delays” in obtaining digital forensic evidence.

“It takes too long for the force’s DFU to complete examinations and give the evidence to investigating officers,” said HMICFRS.

“This problem appears to have got worse since our last inspection and it now routinely takes at least 12 months before forensic digital examinations are started.

“In one case we reviewed, the lead time for the initial device examination was extended from six to 12 months.

“In many child protection investigations, digital evidence from suspects’ or victims’ computers or devices is critical to proving the offences. The delays in getting this evidence can lead to loss of victim confidence. Or, frustration with how the police and safeguarding partnerships protect children from harm.

“It may leave children at risk as the extent of the offender’s activity and abuse can’t be checked until the examination results are seen.

“DFU staff told us they can progress cases as a priority. But in the case records we reviewed, we didn’t see this process used or requested.

“In one ongoing investigation into the rape of a child, the forensic examination of digital devices hadn’t yet started six months after they had been submitted. Neither the investigating officer nor their supervisors had challenged or escalated this delay.”

North Yorkshire Police said it “fully accepted the findings”.

It said it has “invested significantly” in the training of officers and control room staff, was on track to complete examination of digital devices within 72 hours and was establishing specialist safeguarding teams.

However, Zoë Metcalfe, police, fire and crime commissioner for North Yorkshire, said progress “has been much slower” than she anticipated and the force had “let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down”.

HMICFRS’s findings were recorded in a post-inspection review published on Wednesday (May 3) after child protection failings were identified during an initial inspection in November 2021.

It returned in December 2022 to see if the force had made progress on the ten recommendations made in its North Yorkshire national child protection inspection report.

Inspectors found the force had made some “positive progress”, with staff reacting “positively to vulnerability training” and improvement in control room responses to calls where children may be vulnerable.

“After we published our 2021 inspection report, North Yorkshire Police made an action plan to coordinate work to improve its child protection services,” said HMICFRS.

“Leaders established a gold/silver/bronze structure to allocate management responsibility and strategic oversight for all aspects of the action plan. We found the force had made some positive progress but not all the actions were fully implemented and completed.”

While performance data about crime, incidents and responses is available on force systems, inspectors found managers were not making best use of this data to understand demand and allocate resources to deal quickly with problems.

“The latest force exploitation profile is dated September 2020. This means much of the information is too dated to be of use,” said HMICFRS.

“The lack of qualitative information from the force systems means leaders and managers can’t be sure of the progress staff are making against priorities. For example, in improving investigations or managing the risk of registered sex offenders.”

Inspectors found officers were not always using systems effectively to support routine operational work.

“For example, automated systems aren’t used to tell schools about pupils affected by domestic abuse incidents. And there can be delays in telling the local authority when a missing child is returned home,” said HMICFRS.

“We also saw officers completing paper booklets about risks to children who had run away from home, rather than using electronic systems so the information can be seen immediately by other staff.

“Staff have reacted positively to vulnerability training, and we found control room responses to calls where children may be vulnerable had improved.

“But not all decisions in the force control room about incidents with vulnerable children are fully supported by intelligence from force systems.

“This is because specialist intelligence officers aren’t included in the current control room arrangements. And it means some risk assessments are incorrect. So, there are delays in getting the right response to vulnerable children.

“This is also reflected in how some missing children investigations are allocated to area-based officers who don’t always have the resources to assess risk and act quickly.”

North Yorkshire Police has prioritised training to help its workforce understand why it is vital to speak to children and record their views.

“Staff we spoke to have enthusiastically adopted the AWARE principles – appearance; words; activity; relationships and dynamics; and environment – a checklist to encourage staff to develop their professional curiosity and record information about children’s vulnerability in a structured way.

“They told us it gave them a clear structure and helped them record their concerns in better detail. This approach is also praised by senior managers from both local authorities.

Inspectors found there has been a “notable increase in the quality and number of referrals for children to the local authorities”. But even so there are no delays in the system.

“The force’s own review of all these reports means that good quality information about risk and vulnerability is shared with the safeguarding partnership at an earlier stage. This is promising practice,” said HMICFRS.

It said the supervision of most investigations has improved and the force has introduced a new template to structure this.

“But more work is needed to make sure that investigations remain focused on the best results for the children involved and that all safeguarding concerns are addressed,” it added.

“The force’s offender management unit hasn’t improved its operational practice enough.

“Registered sex offenders in the community need careful and professional management by the police and statutory partners. The force follows national guidance and College of Policing approved professional practice. But we found significant weakness in the way this team operated.”

Assistant Chief Constable Scott Bisset, North Yorkshire Police’s vulnerability lead, said throughout the past year it has worked across all the areas that HMICFRS previously highlighted for improvement.

“While our action plan has not been fully delivered we have made progress in all areas. Our objective is to ensure that the improvements we put in place to better protect vulnerable children are truly embedded and sustainable in the long term,” he said.

“We have invested significantly in the training of our officers and control room staff and the report notes that this is working and that they found a much-improved approach to identifying risk and providing the right level of response to help vulnerable children and focus on the voice of the child.”

Mr Bisset added: “Our DFU was highlighted in the report as causing delays in the safeguarding of children. We have invested £400,000 to reduce the backlog and the unit is currently on track to deliver a standard turnaround for the examination of digital devices within 72 hours, which will make a significant difference to the timeliness of our investigations.

“We have invested £1.17 million to increase the specialist roles in our central safeguarding team, with a focus on child protection. We are also establishing specialist safeguarding teams within each of our three command areas which will help us to develop a more specialist response to child safeguarding.

“We are grateful to our safeguarding partners, particularly in the local authorities, for their support in the improvements that have been made, and welcome the Report’s statement that good quality information is being shared with them at an earlier stage.

“We know that there is still further work to be done and are fully committed to delivering and completing the actions in our improvement plan.

“We know that this work is a priority for every vulnerable child in our communities and we will continue to apply and embed a child-centred response in our work.

“HMICFRS will be returning to the force at the end of 2023 and we expect to be able to demonstrate further improvements in our protection and care for vulnerable children.”

Ms Metcalfe said: “I acknowledge the areas where improvement has been made, specifically changes to training of staff about understanding vulnerability, the notable increase in the quality and number of referrals for children to the local authorities, and the force control room response to calls where children may be at risk.

“However, my focus must be on the areas which do not deliver for our most vulnerable and to understand why the highest standards are not currently being met.

“North Yorkshire Police have had a year to progress their action plan following the first HMICFRS report on child protection. My team and I were regularly assured that all concerns would be tackled head on and improvements made at a significant pace but instead, 12 months later, the force is not in the position I expected them to be in.

“Not enough has been done and there is simply no excuse – North Yorkshire Police have let the public and the most vulnerable in our society down.”

The North Yorkshire police, fire and crime commissioner fadded: “As commissioner and a mother of two children, one of whom is vulnerable and has complex needs, I share the frustration, deep disappointment and upset many people will be feeling.

“I know that it is my responsibility to increase the accountability of and pressure on the chief constable, to demand answers and not accept anything other than immediate and significant improvement.

“Whilst a debrief provided by the inspectorate in preparation for this report revealed North Yorkshire Police still had areas to progress, this progress has been much slower than anticipated – as a result, I am making arrangements for an additional layer of scrutiny – I expect evidence in relation to any assurances I am given.”

Ms Metcalfe was due to hold a specially arranged online public meeting on Wednesday in which she will “publicly hold the chief constable to account for this slow progress”.

“During the meeting I will also request a detailed plan from the chief constable on how the force will complete their original schedule of improvements, with associated timescales for achieving all outstanding recommendations,” she said.

“Subsequent regular online public meetings will follow a new structure to incorporate updates on all HMICFRS independent inspections and will require extensive evidence of progress in all areas of improvement.

“The reinspection report recognises that North Yorkshire Police work well with safeguarding partners and are sharing good quality information. I want to thank our local authorities, external agencies and the victim support services I commission for the work they do in partnership with the force to support and protect vulnerable children.”