Information

This is His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary’s report to the Secretary of State, under section 54(4A) of the Police Act 1996. It contains his independent assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in England and Wales. It is based on the inspections we carried out between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

This report draws on findings from inspections of police forces in England and Wales, to provide an overall view of the state of policing.

A copy of the report can be downloaded here

PFCC Response

The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2023 report raises a number of vitally important issues which will require both PCCs and Chief Constables to provide clear and firm leadership and a commitment to robustly deal with any failings in the service.

There can be no doubt that rebuilding public trust and confidence in policing is essential and will be at the core of our work. There can be no denying that recent events in Northamptonshire Police have undermined the public’s view of our police force.

The publication of the Force’s vetting review which was undertaken in the wake of the sacking of the former chief constable of Northamptonshire Police was a vital step in improving public trust and confidence. The view identified the failures related to his vetting and the fact that inconsistencies were not picked up. The report makes a number of recommendations, including a tightening up and review of pre-employment qualification checks, dip sampling of vetting files and a requirement for detailed and comprehensive responses to HM Forces checks. We are implementing local change and I will be lobbying for additional changes at a national level.

Neighbourhood Policing is another vital aspect to improving public trust and confidence as well helping to drive service improvement. This is a key priority for me and the importance of a neighbourhood policing based model is reflected in the fact that in Northamptonshire overall neighbourhood crime at the end of July 2024 is showing a year-on-year decrease of 7% and most neighbourhood crime types are showing a year-on-year reduction. Most notably personal theft and residential burglary. We have also seen an improvement in year-on-year decreases in recorded crime further improves with a 6.1% decrease compared to the previous 12-months.

This performance has been made possible through the increases we have been able to make to the number of Police Officers in Northamptonshire, allowing us to double the Neighbourhood Policing commitment in the County. According to the latest data from the Home Office within the framework of the Police Uplift Programme, Northamptonshire Police currently boasts a 37% female officer representation, slightly up from 36.5% in Q4 22/23. The recruitment of female officers is steadily increasing, with aspirations for the force to align with the County’s female population representation, currently standing at 50.5%. Similarly, the force aims to reflect the county’s BAME population of 8.1%, but currently achieves 4.2% representation (up from 4.30% in September 2022).

Achieving both these goals represents a significant endeavour at both local and national levels, which may require several years to fully mirror the county’s demographic makeup. However, the Force, with the support of my office, has established a proactive positive action team dedicated to realising these aspirations. This approach underscores our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusivity within the force, ensuring it is reflective of the communities it serves.

A key measure of success in policing is victim satisfaction and currently in Northamptonshire, we have an overall satisfaction up to 70%. Although we have seen stability in satisfaction levels, the figure recorded in Northamptonshire has mirrored national trends and recent scandals in policing have clearly been impacted on people’s perceptions of policing. While different things there are clear links between trust, confidence and victim satisfaction and these important issues will form a central planl to my new Police, Fire and Crime Plan (Safe and Sound – A Community Safety Plan for Northamptonshire).

Another key driver to improving public satisfaction with policing is delivering a strong response to violence against woman and girls (VAWG). This is something that will also be a key priority in my police, fire and crime plan. In Northamptonshire, repeat domestic abuse crime is reducing and at a faster rate than peers and domestic incidents are broadly stable and in line with our peers.

In addition to this, more domestic abuse demand is being serviced through scheduled appointments rather than grade 2 responses which enables us to deliver better support and assistance to victims. This approach is important as Northamptonshire Police are delivering domestic abuse arrest rates that are above the national average.

Finally, it is important that delivering any service improvement is dependent on being able have an accurate and deliverable medium term financial plan. The current funding model is not fit for purpose as single year settlements undermine our ability to plan for and deliver investments and improvements into front line policing.

Delivering three-year settlements would increase our ability to develop and deliver a well costed medium term financial plan which would also allow us to present to residents a longer-term view of the council tax precept and the costs associated with it.