North Yorkshire Police has defended a decision by an officer to file a safeguarding report on a family after being called to reports of a burglary at their farm.
Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake criticised the force after receiving a complaint about the incident from a constituent.
While at the home, police say the officer noticed a “strong odour” and that the home appeared unclean, with sticky and dirty surfaces and floors.
The officer decided to submit a public protection notice (PPN) following the visit due to children being in the house, an action which can trigger a multi-agency safeguarding response.
Mr Hollinrake, who is also the chairman of the Conservative Party, described this as “utterly disgraceful”.
He said: “I just want the police to focus on their day jobs, which is chasing criminals, prosecuting, charging them and making sure they’re prosecuted and put in jail. That’s what should be happening.”
In response, Catherine Clarke, Assistant Chief Constable for Local Policing & Safeguarding at North Yorkshire Police, confirmed an officer attended a property in response to reports of an attempted burglary.
She said: “The officer followed appropriate lines of enquiry to enable an investigation to follow.
“Whilst at the address, the officer became concerned about the living conditions and possible health implications for children living there and, in line with their training, displayed appropriate professional curiosity to explore their concerns.
“The officer checked on the children in person as they are trained to do, before submitting a balanced PPN explaining their concerns about living conditions and possible health implications, but also stating the children appeared well cared for.”
ACC Clarke added: “Any officer submitting a PPN would not be aware if children were already known to social care. The PPN process exists so that such concerns can be logged and reviewed by those with access to wider information.
“Our officer did the right thing in this circumstance and this is an example of the safeguarding system working as intended. The officer correctly identified and documented a possible concern, raising it for our specialist safeguarding team to review.”
She said: “We fully appreciate that Police Officers asking questions about the welfare of children may feel intrusive, however we would never apologise for taking a child-centred approach and for being proactive in ensuring that the wellbeing of children is protected.”
North Yorkshire Police said the PPN was not escalated to other agencies after being reviewed by its vulnerability assessment team.
The force said it had spoken to the family to explain why the officer took this action and had been in contact with the MP to “offer clarification in relation to his comments”.
