For many in Sheffield, there is only one acceptable conclusion. “Scrap it and start all over with a new lot, the corruption’s too deep, no one trusts the police,” said John Anderson, 42, a decorator from the city’s northern suburbs. Directly behind him, its red bricks shiny in the driving rain, stood a derelict building that was once Sheffield’s Water Street police station. Some of the grimmest known episodes of violence and corruption within a British police force took place inside.

Within the station’s interview room, detectives brutally beat suspects with stolen weapons, including a “rhino whip”, and fabricated evidence to frame them. An inquiry into the “rhino whip affair” in 1963 found the leadership of the force was involved. The chief constable retired days later.

Suspended South Yorkshire chief constable David Crompton. Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

More than 50 years on, another chief constable of South Yorkshire police has been forced to step down after evidence was fabricated by the force. Suspended on full £193,000 pay before his retirement in six months, David Crompton was found to have presided over a strategy during the two-year inquest into the Hillsborough tragedy that involved recycling untruths against Liverpool supporters – a ploy to implicate fans over the deaths of 96 people killed at a football match in 1989.

On Tuesday the inquest jury concluded that the fans had been unlawfully killed and that police failings had contributed to their deaths. For the force it was a catastrophic verdict, which critics said illuminated a culture of impunity and unaccountability inside South Yorkshire police.

Dawn Copley, also forced to stand down after succeeding Crompton as acting chief constable.

A shambles followed. After Crompton’s suspension, a temporary chief constable was swiftly unveiled. Less than a day into the job, Dawn Copley was also forced to stand down when it emerged that her conduct at a previous force was under investigation. At the time of writing, the force has no official leader presiding over its 2,525 officers. South Yorkshire police said they could not discuss the issue or say when they expected to have a new boss. Even South Yorkshire’s police and crime commissioner, Alan Billings, has seemingly gone to ground. His media team are refusing to explain why he has failed to order a detailed review into why the force was allowed to peddle mistruths during the inquest.

Billings himself may soon be part of the past. This Thursday, he will stand for re-election as commissioner against three other candidates. The winner – given the power to fire the next chief constable – will inevitably prevail on an anti-corruption ticket.

Many of the 1.3 million residents of South Yorkshire have had enough. “I’ve heard people say it’s the worst public-sector organisation in the country. I can believe that,” said waitress Marjorie Richards, 42, cowering from the sleet outside the city hall.

Standing outside Sheffield’s Snig Hill police station, waiting for the 88 bus to Bents Green, Tara Newman, 38, from Hackenthorpe, admitted she did not know anyone who would go to the police to report a minor crime. “What’s the point? They wouldn’t do anything. I’d rather go to a friend.” Standing nearby was former council worker Ben Hughes, 67, who felt the force’s leadership was contaminated by a “few bad pennies who think they can get away with murder”. He was infuriated that the force, which has a £143m budget, has spent £24m on lawyers who on their behalf presented allegations that were found to be false throughout the Hillsborough inquest, suggesting that blame lay with innocent people. Each household in South Yorkshire eligible to pay council tax is estimated to have contributed £12 towards the force’s outstanding legal bill for the inquest.

Others believe that the force has become too disconnected from the citizens it serves. Many complain that officers rarely leave their vehicles. In Sheffield’s National Emergency Services Museum – dedicated to providing an insight into the workings of the police, ambulance and fire services – one staff member lamented a perceived remoteness in dealings with the public. “You hardly ever see them in pairs any more either. They might have upgraded the vehicles but they haven’t upgraded the people,” he said.

If the residents of Sheffield feel let down by their police force, in neighbouring Rotherham, the mood is one of outright antipathy: this town of 260,000 has been scarred by the failures of its police to challenge the widespread abuse of its youngsters. An ongoing investigation into how the force failed to tackle the sexual abuse of, according to one official report, at least 1,400 children in Rotherham has received more than 100 allegations against 42 named officers, some of whom are alleged to have had relations with offenders.

“There’s no trust towards the police. We need to fetch the broom,” said Susan Hayes, 62, a lifelong resident. David Parker, 21, said that many people felt they couldn’t rely on the police for protection. “There’s lots of crime in the area, people don’t feel safe.”

Twelve miles north is Barnsley, a town which also harbours a smouldering resentment towards South Yorkshire police. Thirty years ago, up to 12,000 miners worked in the town. Now there are none, but the tactics used by the police to break the miners’ strike of 1984 mean that the force remains a toxic brand.

Police in action during the battle of Orgreave. Photograph: Homer Sykes Archive/Alamy

The coking plant that once operated at nearby Orgreave was the scene of the defining 1984 battle between striking miners and police. More than 30 years later there continue to be calls for a public inquiry into police conduct during and after violent clashes that shocked the nation. Allegations of assault, perjury and misconduct in a public office against South Yorkshire Police officers refuse to go away.

Plenty of Barnsley folk say that the tactics used by the force in the wake of Hillsborough were developed and refined during the miners’ strike. Officers stand accused of collusion in making statements that saw picketing miners falsely charged and subsequent court cases dropped due to unreliable evidence.

The head office of the National Union of Mineworkers stands squarely in Barnsley town centre. The general secretary, Chris Kitchen, is keenly aware that the past behaviour of police makes it difficult for many to view the force as anything other than the enemy.

“There is no respect towards the police force because of their corrupt behaviour during the strike. People do not trust them, they need to be held accountable and show they are not above the law.

“Somebody forget to tell them after the strike: ‘You can’t do that now.’ Everybody in Barnsley knows how corrupt the police were. We need an in-depth investigation into what happened during the strike. Who took the shackles off South Yorkshire Police, letting them break the law as long as they got the results they were tasked to get?”

Worryingly for the force, he said that it was not just the miners and their peers who still felt animosity towards the forces, but their children and their grandchildren in turn.

After the drama of the last week, there are even voices now calling for South Yorkshire police to be disbanded. In the simmering towns of this former industrial heartland, there is a desire for a new kind of police force.