A DAMNING report today strongly criticised the "mismanagement" of widespread changes introduced by Lancashire police under the leadership of Chief Constable Pauline Clare.

Government inspectors revealed that structural reforms to the force had been poorly managed, caused low morale among rank and file officers and led to a "loss of direction" between police headquarters and the county's six divisions.

The report has recommended that Lancashire police should call a halt to further structural changes until the faults have been rectified.

It says this should be done within 12 months.

The report also highlighted "worrying" crime trends across the county during 1997/98.

The annual report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary also said divisional commanders were overriding orders from headquarters and making their own adjustments to ensure local service was appropriately delivered.

It said CID had a lack of focus and there was concern detectives were reporting to inspectors who did not have the skills to manage them properly.

It added that the specialist skills of traffic officers were being "diluted" and different divisions had developed different styles of policing. And it said it appeared the views of loyal and committed staff who had something to offer had been ignored.

There was also the opinion among some staff that alternative views were not welcomed.

Mrs Clare, who became the country's first woman chief constable when she was appointed in June 1995, has been the driving force behind changes which have seen the force reduce from 14 divisions to six and move towards reducing the management structure to allow more bobbies on the beat.

The report said it supported the need for change, but attacked the speed at which the reforms had been introduced.

The inspectors also criticised the complaints and discipline department for lacking a "strategic approach" to improving performance.

Complaints have risen steadily during the past two years but "little" has been done to identify the causes, it says.

The report has made 12 recommendations and advised that there should be no further delays in carrying out appraisals of officers and that resources are freed up to complete the process.

The report has also recommended that "properly constituted" equal opportunities group is set up and that guidelines are introduced to create a "consistent" traffic service across the force.

Other recommendations include immediately recording complaints and that an investigation takes place to find out why there has been a decline in performance in responding to criticisms. The report said: "Her Majesty's Inspectors therefore have a number of concerns, some of which are attributable to the pace and scale of the necessary change process, but other problems have been caused by the mismanagement of the process.

"Indeed one could say that despite some points of criticism...divisional commanders have made their own adjustments to ensure local service is appropriately delivered despite some (not all) dictates from headquarters.

"While Lancashire Constabulary remains effective and efficient, there are grounds for improvement and much of this could be achieved through a change of management style, since some of the structural weakness may be a by-product of driving change in top gear, insufficient listening skills and not fully harnessing good solid advice and opinion at various levels in the force.

"Since most of the issues have surfaced in the last 12 months they are capable of correction within 12 months."

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