Hundreds Of Hampshire And Isle Of Wight Police Officers And Staff 'Not Properly Vetted'

Hundreds of people working for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary were not properly vetted at the time of a recent inspection.

Months after being told its officer and staff vetting ‘requires improvement’, the police force said it is recruiting relevant personnel and introducing automated technology.

Vetting for 252 employees of the constabulary had expired when it was inspected by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

Inspectors documented their findings in a report into the effectiveness of integrity arrangements at the force, published in May.

Their vetting concerns included the constabulary’s force vetting unit (FVU) having insufficient staff to meet demand and the constabulary failing to manage its process for higher-level management vetting (MV) effectively.

Management vetting is required by people working in more sensitive roles, according to HMICFRS.

Analysts were processing 223 vetting applications at the time of the inspection and a further 462 applications were waiting to be dealt with.

The FVU had also failed to ask 203 people with ‘expired recruitment vetting’ to submit renewal forms.

Inspectors said:

“The constabulary told us there were 313 personnel who don’t hold current vetting or the correct level of vetting for their role.

“At the time of our inspection, there were 252 people in the constabulary whose vetting had expired.

“This means they didn’t hold a valid vetting clearance for their role. Of these, 49 were in posts designated for a higher level of vetting, MV.

“A further 61 were in designated posts but had never been cleared to that level.”

Designated posts are those which require vetting when the role ‘involves working closely with vulnerable people’, according to HMICFRS.

The inspectorate gave the constabulary ‘adequate’ ratings for ‘upholding the standards of professional behaviour’ and ‘tackling potential corruption’.

Its report said public interest in police behaviour is ‘high’, with the government and police service ‘increasing their focus on improving vetting, challenging misconduct and tackling corruption’.

Asked for an update on what improvement steps it has taken in response to the May report, a constabulary spokesperson said:

“We had already identified and responded to the challenges around our vetting arrangements, particularly around ensuring we had sufficient resources to meet demand.

“We were pleased the report recognised our efforts to increase capacity within the team and we have recruited a further 12 staff since the inspection.

"We’ve since added a further post, which has continued to increase capacity.

“We have also been able to introduce automated technology for appropriate tasks to help boost efficiency.

“We’re already seeing the results of this continued investment into the department, with the time it takes to complete vetting continuing to reduce, which will allow us to continue to prioritise officer recruitment to meet the needs of our communities.”

They said it was “crucial” to recognise the vetting checks are “vitally important” to help keep communities safe by only enabling those “most suitable” for policing to join the constabulary’s ranks.

In addition, the spokesperson said the force was committed to “ensuring these processes remain robust and thorough”.