South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, has welcomed the national rollout of the Anti-Corruption and Abuse Reporting Service, following a successful rollout at the Met Police.

The public can anonymously or confidentially report corruption and criminality within policing via the new service which is to be run by the independent charity, Crimestoppers.

Reports can be made online or by calling 0800 085 0000.

Welcoming the national rollout, Dr Billings said: “I welcome this initiative by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.

“Trust and confidence in the police has been seriously damaged in recent years by revelations of  poor and, in some cases, criminal behaviour by serving police officers. This has to be restored.

“This is just one such essential measure. It means that the public can have confidence in reporting through an independent body, Crimestoppers.

“I also welcome the fact that all serving officers have now been screened and in this force will be subject to regular vetting going forward. This too is another necessary step in restoring public confidence.

“Our Chief Constable is the NPCC lead for counter corruption and I believe this also means that we in South Yorkshire can have confidence in our force in the knowledge that bad behaviour here will not be tolerated.”

When people contact the service, they can choose to remain 100% anonymous, or can opt to leave their details if they are willing for the force investigation team to contact them directly.

Information received by Crimestoppers will be passed to the relevant force’s specialist unit, such as Professional Standards or Anti-Corruption, for assessment. It may be passed to specialist detectives to begin an investigation, take steps to safeguard someone at risk or in danger, or record the information to inform future investigations.

The service sits alongside each force’s existing complaints procedure and has been set up solely to take reports of serious corruption and abuse committed by serving police officers and staff made by the public.