PCC: “Casey-style” inspection coming for South Yorkshire

SOUTH Yorkshire Police must undergo a full “Casey-style” inspection if it is to restore public confidence, its Policing and Crime Commissioner has said.

Dr Alan Billings (pictured) made the call after it was alleged the force knew hundreds of young girls were making claims of sexual abuse in Sheffield but did not act. He said: “Public confidence in South Yorkshire Police has been severely damaged by these most recent allegations that the force failed to listen to hundreds of abused young people in Sheffield as we know they failed in Rotherham.”

“If I am to do my job, I need to be sure that everything that can reasonably be known about the past is known. This is the first and crucial step if the Force is to get itself into a better place. However, in the light of what has now been revealed I cannot be certain that we are at that point.”

Dr Billings said a full “Casey-like” county-wide inspection of South Yorkshire Police is necessary to understand the past and whether things have change.

Louise Casey inspected Rotherham Council after it emerged that 1,400 children had been abused since 1997.

Dr Billings added: “I believe the only authorities that can commission such an inspection are the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Home Secretary. Therefore I am now commissioning such an inspection.

“The inspection needs to be thorough but not drawn out, sufficiently resourced, and recognise the investigations currently being conducted by the Independent Police Complaints’ Commission and National Crime Agency. The inspection needs to proceed alongside work the Force is already doing with partners to address recommendations in the Professor Jay and Louise Casey reports. It also needs to work alongside the group I have established to listen to the views of victims, survivors and their families which I am feeding into the Force in relation to reports of CSE now.”

However, Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said he was not convinced by the plans.

He said: “This is all very well but does a civil servant know how policing works? We have already got the National Crime Agency and the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigating that particular crime within the force. How a Casey review would be applicable to the force is a question I would like answered.”