A force for change

crime - and a budget black hole.

WHEN Sergeant Nicola Lamb faced the press earlier this year, she became at a stroke a symbol of the way North Yorkshire Police had dragged themselves into the 21st century.

Here was the force which, in the early 1990s, had been dogged by allegations of bizarre initiations and sexual harassment at Harrogate police station - allegations which culminated in former Harrogate detective Libby Ashurst being paid a six-figure sum in settlement of an industrial tribunal - backing to the hilt an officer who had changed her sexual identity.

When she made that appearance in front of the cameras back in July, Sgt Lamb had already been with the force 26 years. What made her special was that until then, she had been a man.

It was only a few days earlier that fellow officers had learned the colleague they knew as Christopher Lamb would be returning to work after a short break as Nicola.

At that press conference, Sgt Lamb - who has gender dysphoria, the medical condition which leads to transsexualism - remained silent. But Kathy Anderson, the force's diversity officer, said: "It has been an extremely brave move for her and I feel so proud of her. She feels tremendously much happier as a woman than she did as a man."

Four months on, North Yorkshire chief constable David Kenworthy acknowledges that what Sgt Lamb did took 'incredible courage'. It would probably not have been possible even a few years earlier, he concedes. But it's what he says next that underlines his determination to ensure a force once rocked by claims of bullying and a 'canteen culture' will continue to change.

"The issue for the force is, although she has changed sex, what else has changed? She is still the same person doing the same job she had been doing as a male officer for 26 years, and she is still doing a fantastic job."

End of discussion. The message could not be clearer: as long as an officer can do his or her job, their sexual orientation, sex, or race doesn't matter. The hidden subtext is, woe betide anyone, police officer or otherwise, who thinks differently.

The truth is David Kenworthy's crusade to modernise the North Yorkshire police goes way beyond his outspoken support for Sgt Lamb. He admits in the past the police have been hide-bound and hierarchical, not only in attitudes to race and sex, but in terms of procedures, too. He is striving to change that.

He says the Stephen Lawrence case came as a wake-up call to police forces across the country. In North Yorkshire, he has encouraged the setting up of a lesbian and gay police association, a black police association, and a North Yorkshire group of the British Association of Women Police Officers. All are important, he says, to give officers from minority groups a greater feeling of confidence and belonging. He is also determined to recruit more women and ethnic minority officers. At the moment, just 16 per cent of the North Yorkshire force are women and there are only seven officers from ethnic minorities. That is partly because of the overwhelmingly white population of North Yorkshire. "But I want to recruit more people from ethnic minorities. We want to reflect society in general in our police. Black and ethnic police officers have a greater understanding of minority views."

Early next year, a programme of diversity training will begin for everyone working for North Yorkshire police. "It will be about raising awareness of the differences in people, about the effects that certain behaviour can have on people, about changing perceptions. My view is that unless you're treating your staff right, they are not going to treat members of the public properly."

Admirable in principle, but how popular such training will be among frontline officers remains to be seen. As well trying to change attitudes within the force Mr Kenworthy is also changing the way it operates. Selection procedures are being altered to try to ensure the right person is chosen for the right job, instead of the next person up for promotion simply being shoehorned into the first job available. Shift systems are also being reformed.

The chief constable's efforts at reform and encouraging 'diversity' earned him a prestigious award recently. But are they just an exercise in political correctness, or will they deliver results? Mr Kenworthy insists officers are now exercising more discretion in the way they deal with people from minority backgrounds. The proportion of people from ethnic minorities who are stopped who then go on to be arrested has risen, he says - indicating police officers are taking care to try to arrest people from minority backgrounds only when they have real cause.

Good news, if true. It certainly comes at a time when the force needs some. Because despite recruiting an extra 100-plus frontline police officers during this financial year - bringing the force to more than 1,400, its highest ever - recent figures show that crime is on the increase. In York and Selby, crime from April to October rose by more than ten per cent. Violent crime was 11 per cent up, burglaries up 13 cent up and car crime almost 14 per cent up.

The spin put on these figures was that police resources were stretched after a series of exceptional incidents, which included the aftermath of the floods, riots in Bradford and Bingley (North Yorkshire officers were seconded to help), the Great Heck rail disaster, foot and mouth, three high-profile murder inquiries - those of Michael Brolly and David Williamson and the 'body in a suitcase' murder - plus the fall-out from September 11.

Mr Kenworthy says while you will always get the occasional blip in crime figures, the underlying, long-term trend remains downwards. "Overall crime is very low in North Yorkshire," he insists. "It is still the safest place in England to live." But victims of crime may not necessarily agree.

Even more worrying in the long term is the parlous financial state of the force.

By the end of this financial year, it will be facing a £4 million overspend. More than £3 million of that will be because of the pensions bill. The budget will be balanced this year by dipping into reserves, says Mr Kenworthy - but there will be little left for next year.

At the moment, more than 18 per cent of the North Yorkshire force's operating budget goes on pensions - and that proportion is set to grow. Police officers, like anyone else, have a right to a decent pension: but it remains an enormous burden on the force's finances.

At a recent meeting with Home Secretary Jack Straw, Mr Kenworthy urged him to find a national solution to the problem of police pension payments, to reduce the burden on individual forces.

But until that happens members of North Yorskhire's police authority will face a stark choice: cut the number of front-line officers - something Mr Kenworthy is against - or increase council tax.

Neither option will go down well with the ordinary people of North Yorkshire the police are here to serve.

Updated: 10:21 Thursday, November 29, 2001