Dyfed-Powys Police told to improve treatment of public

The way Dyfed-Powys Police treats the public "requires improvement", an official watchdog has said.

The findings follow inspections of all 43 police forces in England and Wales by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).

Dyfed-Powys Police "had not done enough to develop an ethical culture", said inspectors.

The force's police and crime commissioner Christopher Salmon said action must be taken.

"Dyfed-Powys needs to do more to develop an open and questioning culture. I want to see more progress on this," said Mr Salmon.

"I have made clear to the chief constable that, as this report states, he has more to do."

The force was one of five singled out for improvement after inspectors examined how officers interacted with individuals and communities.

"Following our inspection, HMIC considers that Dyfed-Powys Police had not done enough to develop an ethical culture, to incorporate the code of ethics into policy or practice, or to ensure complaints and misconduct cases were free of bias," said HM Inspector Wendy Williams.

"That is why we have judged the force to 'require improvement' to be considered 'legitimate'."

However, the force was rated good on issues of stop-and-search and its use of stun guns.

The other three Welsh forces were all rated as good overall, with both South Wales and Gwent Police given outstanding rankings for the way they engage with the public.

South Wales Police's Assistant Chief Constable Richard Lewis said: "Overall this is a very pleasing report. What it shows is we are listening to and working together with our communities, which is central to everything we do."