North Yorkshire Police has made improvements in how it keeps people safe, reduces crime and provides victims with an effective service, the police inspectorate has said. 

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded North Yorkshire Police’s performance across nine areas of policing and found the constabulary was good in five areas and adequate in four areas.

HMICFRS said the force has improved its approach to protecting vulnerable people. It has an established domestic abuse scrutiny panel, which works to improve public confidence in the force’s approach to domestic abuse and rape, and it makes good use of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme.

Inspectors also said that the force has invested significantly in its control room, and observed improvements in call handling and how quickly it arrives at emergency and priority incidents.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said: “I have been impressed with North Yorkshire Police’s response to the findings of our last inspection in 2022. The force has worked quickly to improve the policing service it provides to the communities of North Yorkshire. Because of this, it has made progress in all the areas of improvement identified in our last inspection.

“Chief officers have made well-thought-out changes and investments to make sure the force has the resources to meet the public’s demands. The force’s management has significantly improved its services to the public, with the leadership of Chief Constable Lisa Winward playing a key role in the positive progress made. I wish her well in her retirement.

“There are still areas in which North Yorkshire Police must do better. However, I am optimistic that the force’s leadership and management will continue to build on the improvements that we have seen during this inspection.”

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The report, which follows from an Inspection which was completed in October 2023, demonstrates the positive transformation in the performance of the force and its service to the public of York and North Yorkshire, according to Acting Chief Constable, Elliot Foskett.

He said: "We fully embraced the feedback from the Inspectorate at the end of the 2022 inspection and set to work, as a force, to address the multiple areas which were identified as needing to be improved.

"We put in place our improvement plan, which was challenging and tough for everyone in the force. We told you that the leadership team had a grip on the issues and that we would manage the plan tightly.

"We have invested significantly in our Force Control Room to ensure that when the public reach out for help we are ready and able to pick up that call. Our average answer time for 999 calls was 16.2 seconds in January 2023 and this has improved to 10.2 seconds in January 2024 with 84.3% of these calls being answered within 10 seconds.

Acting chief constable Foskett added: "We have done a lot of work this year to improve the quality of our investigations. We have invested heavily in the recruitment and development of detectives and have established a new Safeguarding Investigation Team, one in each command area, to focus on the most difficult and complex cases.

“We are one of the safest counties in England and this Inspection report shows that we are also now one of the best forces in England. The public of North Yorkshire and York deserve a police force they can trust and have confidence in. Policing has moved on and we needed to rebuild our foundations – they are now in place.”

Zoë Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, welcomes the latest report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate highlighting that North Yorkshire Police have made improvements in how it keeps people safe, reduces crime and provides victims with an effective service.