The former chair of Bedfordshire’s Police’s community scrutiny panel has received a commendation from the Chief Constable.
Montell Neufville became the chair of Bedfordshire’s community scrutiny panel in 2016, a role he held until the end of 2021.
When he stepped down he became one of only a handful of people to receive a Chief Constable Commendation for helping Bedfordshire Police become the best in the country in two areas as measured by the police inspectorate.
During that period the force showed the lowest rates of disproportionality in the country – although Montell says there is still more work to do to eradicate this altogether and also the highest rates of reasonable grounds in the country.
What does having high rates of reasonable grounds mean and why is it important?
“Reasonable grounds is a really important measure,” said Montell.
“It balances the need for officers to investigate if a person may have an illegal item on their person with the liberty and rights of individual citizens. These powers are very easy to abuse if they are not managed with fairness.
“This is something many officers now do in Bedfordshire. It’s called the Procedural Justice approach”
In a 2021 report, inspectors found that Bedfordshire police had a 95.8 % compliance rate where the average for police forces was 81.7%.
Montell said: The reason why this is important is we want our police officers to use their powers to protect the public and to fight crime. We want them to arrest criminals but we also know it’s really easy to abuse these powers. We have seen cases across the country where the grounds are weak or non-existent.
“In addition, everyone wants to be treated fairly and to understand why the officer suspects them of having something. The approach to members of the public must be as polite and professional as possible given the situation and circumstances.”
Bedfordshire Police Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said: “Montell has overseen significant improvement in independent scrutiny during his time at the helm of our valued community panel.
“Without his expert input and the work of his volunteer colleagues, the issues surrounding stop and search and police use of force would be less known across both the force and wider public of Bedfordshire.
“He has helped to raise the profile of our work to improve effective and fair use of stop and search, taking our force to be recognised as best practice nationally.
“I would like to thank Montell for the countless hours he has contributed to working both with officers, staff and the community to build bridges and increase mutual understanding about these necessary, but often controversial, powers.
“His tireless work and clear passion for transparency and equality have been absolutely invaluable to us as a force and we look forward to continuing his good work with the panel into the future.”
Montell will now set up and lead another panel that will look at policing powers across Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
Kimberley Lamb the former vice-chair of the Bedfordshire scrutiny panel and head of Bedfordshire’s violence and exploitation reduction unit, said: “During my four years on the board, it was my privilege to experience Montell’s passion for improving how members of the public viewed the police as legitimate, and although there is clearly still more work to do, its pleasing to see that the work of the board continues to support the increase of trust and confidence in our Bedfordshire police service.”
