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Statement from Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Jim Campbell

Northumbria Police

24 November 2010


I want to apologise to everyone who has been subject to criminal or inappropriate behaviour by Mitchell during his time as a serving officer with Northumbria Police
The public quite rightly expect that the officers and staff of Northumbria Police adhere to the highest possible standards of professional conduct and place immense trust in them. The actions and behaviour of Mitchell fall well below those standards. Mitchell let both the public and his colleagues down.
There is no place in the police service for such evil and manipulative behaviour. The actions of Mitchell are even more despicable as the public placed its trust in him and Mitchell chose to deliberately abuse this trust.
Mitchell’s case will now be heard by a disciplinary panel as soon as possible where the probable outcome is that he will be sacked. The force will also be pursuing an application under the Police Pensions Forfeiture Regulations in respect of his pension.
I want to pay tribute to the victims in this case and thank them. Without the courage and support of these women we could not have succeeded in bringing Mitchell to justice. It is to their credit that we have been able to bring this case to trial and we are indebted to them. While this verdict can never undo the terrible crimes that have been committed against them I hope that seeing justice done today will help them to move their lives forward.
Securing convictions in cases of sexual offences, especially those that are historic, can be difficult for a whole host of reasons but we would always urge victims to come forward.
If any good has come from this investigation it's a clear message to vulnerable victims that we will listen to their complaints and take them seriously - even if the potential offender is a police officer. We are committed to giving victims all the support they need to bring those responsible to justice.
I also want to pay tribute to DCI Chris Sharman and his team who have carried out a difficult and painstaking investigation. Their efforts have resulted in this case coming to court and the conviction of Mitchell.
I must also thank the Independent Police Complaints Commission for their support.
We acknowledge that this investigation has highlighted some failings within Northumbria Police at both the recruitment stage and when subsequent allegations were made during Mitchell’s service with the force.
Mitchell failed to disclose information which would have prevented him from being appointed as a Northumbria Police officer but this was not identified when he applied to join the force.
He was subject to investigations following complaints by three women about his conduct and criminality. Each investigation was conducted independently and, based on the available evidence, there wasn’t a strong enough case to prosecute. Had the complaints been investigated collectively, as was the case with this recent prosecution, then it is likely he would have been held to account at an earlier date.
However, we were still concerned about Mitchell’s potential misconduct and an internal discipline case took place in September 2007 in which Mitchell was required to resign.
He was reinstated in February 2008 following a review of his case by the former Chief Constable. This decision was made after an appeal made by Mitchell that certain procedures had not been adhered to correctly.
Though Mitchell was reinstated, clearly we were still concerned about his behaviour.
A number of restrictions were placed on his working practices effectively removing opportunities for him to come into contact with the public. A decision was also taken to review the allegations that had been previously made against him. It is this decision that has led to us here today.
We fully recognise and accept that this enquiry has identified some failings and shortcomings. As a result, and working in conjunction with the Independent Police Complaints Commission, we have reviewed many of our practices, and a number of pieces of work have been undertaken to improve systems and processes within the force. All these improvements have now been implemented.
I can only seek to reassure you that our systems and processes, particularly those relating to carrying out background checks on potential recruits and investigating potential wrong doing, are significantly more thorough and robust than when Mitchell was originally recruited and the original allegations investigated.
We take every possible action to ensure all necessary background checks are full and complete before anyone is recruited and we now have a very effective Counter Corruption Unit. There are now professionally trained Detention Officers in all custody areas, improving the supervision and regulation of prisoners, and CCTV cameras have been introduced in custody areas.
We have over 6,000 officers and staff working in Northumbria Police. The vast majority are professional and work to provide a service to protect and support the community. Only a tiny percentage are found to be involved in any criminal activity or unprofessional behaviour.  When we discover such wrong doing we do take robust action and will continue to do so.
Collectively we always strive to do the right thing but failing to quickly identify and prevent Mitchell from abusing vulnerable people is an example where we didn’t get it right. In mitigation, we discovered our mistake and when we did realise what he had done, we took every step we could to bring this evil man to justice.