LONDON: Police chiefs have promised to acknowledge mistakes and not “defend the indefensible” as they set out long-awaited reforms in the wake of a report into the Hillsborough disaster.

Among the changes is a Charter For Families Bereaved Through Public Tragedy, which commits police leaders to acknowledge any mistakes and ensure “care, compassion, openness, transparency and accountability”.

All forces in England and Wales have signed up to the pledge.

Chairman of the Hillsborough Survivors’ Support Alliance, Peter Scarfe, called the five-year wait for a police response “way too long”.

He said: “It’s easy saying we’ve learned from it, we’re going to correct our mistakes, we’ll make sure accountability is there, we can’t cover things up – but without a law they can.”

The police response on the day of the 1989 stadium crush – and after it – has long been an open wound for families of the 97 dead and those who survived.

A 2016 inquest jury ruled the fans were unlawfully killed amid a number of police errors.

“Police failures were the main cause of the tragedy and have continued to blight the lives of family members ever since,” said Chief Constable Andy Marsh, head of the College of Policing.

“Descriptions of how the bereaved were treated by police officers in the immediate aftermath of the disaster make harrowing reading,” adds the introduction to today’s report.

“When compassion and leadership were most needed, the bereaved were often treated insensitively and the response lacked coordination and oversight.”

The reforms are in reply to the former bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, who made formal recommendations for ensuring the suffering of Hillsborough families was not repeated.

They were published five years ago, but the national police response could not be made public until legal proceedings and other matters were over.

Today’s report says Hillsborough must be “the touchstone for more ethical police leadership”.

Reforms include:

• Candour will become a key theme of the police’s updated code of ethics

• A supporting code of practice – which senior police must follow – to set out “a responsibility to ensure openness and candour within their force”

• New national guidance for the family liaison officers – the point of contact with relatives when somebody is involved in a tragedy such as Hillsborough

The former bishop said he welcomed the police response and its acknowledgment that the treatment of families was “harrowing”.

He also welcomed the NPCC’s new “duty of candour” and its view that bereaved families should have as much legal representation as public bodies after a tragedy.

He said the government must now make these two principles legally binding as “Hillsborough Law”.

Louise Brookes, whose brother Andrew Mark Brookes was a victim of the Hillsborough tragedy, said the police response was “34 years too late”.

“I don’t think it’s sincere at all to be honest with you,” she told Sky News.

“I feel that until actions change at the top level, I don’t think anything will ever change within the police service.

“My main issue has always been the reason why some of these police officers go to the lengths that they go to, to lie and cover up and to not ever be held accountable for their actions or lack of actions is because they know that they are protected by their forces, the government, the establishment. So it’s not in their interests to actually tell the truth.

“I would like people to be held accountable when they’ve done wrong.”

The government has yet to formally respond to the 2017 report – something a survivors’ group says is stopping families from being able to move on.

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