Humberside Police Authority

Humberside Police Authority is an independent body of 17 members with statutory duties – nine elected members from the four Unitary Authorities, three local magistrate members and five independent members representing local interests. It holds four meetings per year plus a fifth which is dedicated to setting the annual police budget of around £150 million. Meetings are also held through the year of its sub-committees dealing with specialist areas. Its meetings are open to the public except when confidential matters are being discussed.

Councillor Graham Stroud, an elected member from East Riding of Yorkshire Council was appointed Chair on 21 June 2005. Councillor Stroud was Vice Chair of the Authority for the previous 3 years and Chair of the Authority’s Personnel Committee on which he oversaw the secretariat staffing structure and the creation of these two new posts.

Its chief role includes:-

The Authority is responsible for publishing an annual policing plan and annual report. It monitors complaint handling and deals directly with complaints against the Chief Police Officers. It also deals with appeals from police officers, support staff and traffic wardens and manages the Custody Visiting Scheme which monitors the treatment of people kept in police cells.
In discharging these duties, the Authority works in a tripartite relationship with the Home Secretary and the Chief Constable. The Chief Constable is accountable to the Authority for the Force’s performance but retains operational independence. They must, however, have regard to the Police Authority’s local Policing Plan and carry out duties required by legislation or the Home Secretary.
Although Humberside Police Authority has been in existence since 1996, it has only really begun to formulate its identity during the last three years. The Authority attracted a very high media profile last year when the Chief Constable was suspended over the Soham case. This resulted in constitutional issues of national significance which both tested and illustrated, in sharp focus, the tripartite relationship between the Force, Authority and Home Secretary.

The Authority is supported by an enthusiastic team of officers, under the leadership and direction of Shahin Ismail, Chief Executive, and is moving in exciting and innovative areas. The Secretariat provides Authority Members with independent scrutiny of Force activity, working closely with the Force’s Chief Officer Team to add value to policing for Humberside. The Authority is seen as an influential and credible organisation by its partners and is raising the profile of the Force and the Authority with the people of Humberside, who the Authority serves, by extensive public consultation forums.

Humberside Police

The Humberside Police Force motto is ‘Protect, Help, Reassure’. It also has a mission statement – ‘Our purpose is to make the Humberside policing area safer’.

In response to public concern Humberside Police is committed to reducing crime and disorder and road casualties’. It follows a ‘Quality of Life Policing’ style, very much in line with the National Policing Plan’s ‘Citizen Focused Policing’ model. In developing the policing plan, the Humberside Force and the Police Authority have worked closely with the four local Crime and Disorder Partnerships, the local Criminal Justice Board, and directly with the community.

The five key priorities in the current policing plan are to:-

Humberside Police employs 2,230 police officers and 1,012 support staff. They are supported by 235 special constables and 50 cadets. Additionally, the force has approval to appoint 22 police community support officers.

The Chief Officers of Humberside Police are:

For more details of the policies and performance of Humberside Police Force, you can visit www.humberside.police.uk/Publications/pagefive.htm

Here you will also find links to the four three-year Divisional Plans, first published in 2004.