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14
Nov
North Yorkshire Police announces changes in response to Wayne Couzens findings
North Yorkshire Police has pledged to stamp out banter and surve female employees on sexist behaviour in the workplace as part of its response to the Wayne Couzens inquiry.
Metropolitan Police officer Couzens abducted, raped and murdered Sarah Everard in London in 2021.
Lady Elish Angiolini made 16 recommendations to police forces in February in the first part of her two-year inquiry findings.
Five force-specific recommendations were made to North Yorkshire Police. They were:
- To have a specialist policy on investigating all sexual offences, including so-called ‘non-contact’ offences, such as indecent exposure, by September this year.
- To observe a new vetting code of practice
- To convey to officers and staff that they must be held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability than members of the public, and that their right to privacy can be fettered in certain circumstances.
- To publicly commit to being an antisexist, anti-misogynistic, anti-racist organisation, including steps to root-out banter.
- To confront the barriers police officers and staff face when reporting sexual offences committed by a person that they work with or in the workplace.
North Yorkshire Police described the measures it was taking in a statement on its website in response to the recommendations.
They include developing a policy on non-contact sexual offences, pledging to eliminate banter and conducting a survey of women employees to better understand their experience of inappropriate or sexist behaviour in the workplace.
You can read the full response here.
Tim Forber, chief constable of North Yorkshire Police, said:
I am committed to ensuring that North Yorkshire Police is an inclusive workplace where everyone feels safe, valued, and has a sense of belonging. This means that we are anti-discriminatory in our approach, challenge inappropriate behaviour whenever we encounter it, and create an environment where people feel confident to report issues of concern. It is vital that all of us are upstanders rather than bystanders and become the allies of colleagues who are different than ourselves.
Sexism, misogyny, racist language and inappropriate sexualised behaviour are present in society, and it is naïve to think that such behaviours do not exist within North Yorkshire Police. This is totally unacceptable and I will not tolerate it. We cannot expect to keep our communities safe if we cannot protect our colleagues. I want to make sure everyone feels safe, supported and valued in North Yorkshire Police.
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