Police in Cornwall are good at treating the public with respect but the force still needs to address issues around ethical and lawful working, a report has found.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, which oversees the UK's police forces, has assessed how legitimate Devon and Cornwall Police is at keeping people safe and reducing crime, as part of its annual PEEL inspections.

HMIC considers a police force to be legitimate if it has the consent of the public, and if those working in the force consistently behave in a way that is fair, ethical, and within the law.

To assess this, HMIC has inspected how well forces treat the people they serve; ensure their workforce acts ethically and lawfully; and treat their workforces with fairness and respect.

Inspectors found that Devon and Cornwall Police is committed to treating people fairly and with respect, but has some improvements to make to ensure its workforce operates ethically and lawfully and it demonstrated that it takes workforce wellbeing seriously, with mental health and personal resilience being of particular importance.

This inspection also included, for the first time, an assessment of how well forces tackle the problem of abuse of authority for sexual gain by members of its workforce. This serious form of corruption betrays the trust of the public and, while HMIC identified some examples of good practice, there remain significant areas where forces must improve. The service needs to be more proactive in seeking out and preventing this form of corruption, and referring cases of abuse of authority to the IPCC.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said: “I have judged Devon and Cornwall Police as 'good' following our inspection into its legitimacy. Last year we also judged it as 'good'. It is clear to me that Devon and Cornwall Police is committed to treating people fairly and with respect, and it makes changes to how it operates based on feedback from the public.

"Whilst the force is also committed to clarifying and reinforcing acceptable and unacceptable standards of behaviour, it has some improvements to make in how it operates to ensure its workforce operates ethically and lawfully. In particular the force has identified that it has over 300 individuals who are not vetted to the existing national police vetting policy standards. Although these staff do have vetting in place, the force didn't have a clear plan for ensuring their vetting was up-to-date. It has also not responded to all the recommendations we made in our 2014 integrity and corruption report. I was pleased to find that the force sees the abuse of authority for sexual gain as serious corruption.

"The force uses a range of methods to determine what is important to workforce in relation to its treatment. Although it uses this information to make positive changes, it knows it needs to do more to communicate the changes it is making as a result. I was impressed by the extent to which Devon and Cornwall Police was able to demonstrate that it takes workforce wellbeing seriously, with mental health and personal resilience being a particular focus."