September 9, 2021 11.56 am This story is over 30 months old

Humberside Police hailed ‘best in UK’ as it wins national award

Four years ago the force was told to make improvements

Lee Freeman is the Chief Constable of Humberside Police.
By Local Democracy Reporter

Humberside Police has won the silver award at the UK Police Service of the Year awards after having the lowest rate of abandoned 999 and 101 calls in the country.

The Humberside force cover communities in Hull and East Yorkshire, as well as North and North East Lincolnshire, and were celebrated with a silver award in the police service category at the iESE Public Sector Awards in London on Wednesday night.

The award is given to a police force that shows outstanding transformation, and Humberside joined Essex and South Wales as the three finalists, after a rapid improvement project from 2017 to 2021.

In the past four years, Humberside Police has gone from requiring improvements after inspections, to being graded good across all areas.

In total, 600 additional officers have been recruited since 2017, and its call handling has been hailed as the best in the whole country, surpassing all national expectations and benchmarks.

Humberside Police has also gone from having the lowest morale levels across all 45 UK police services to being the best of the lot in that four year period.

Chief Constable Lee Freeman said: “When I took on the role of chief constable in 2017, it was clear a period of challenging transformation was ahead of us. The force needed to better support its staff and better serve its communities.

“While we are still very much on that journey, this award is recognition that we’re doing the right thing and making headway in becoming the outstanding force I know we can become.

“This accolade is the culmination of efforts from across the entire team at Humberside Police. We should all feel proud for what we have achieved to date, it has been a complete cultural change at every level, and I’d like to thank the staff for their continued support, without which, the transformation we’ve seen would not have been possible.”

On the award win, Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Evison, said: “I am delighted with the news that Humberside Police has received a silver award. Winning this award is a well-earned result for the hard work and dedication of all officers and staff in the organisation and mirrors the passion and professionalism I see on a daily basis.

“This will give a huge boost of confidence to the region and prove that the commitment people have within the force has been well founded and will continue to drive achievements going forward. A big well done to everyone.”