Information

PEEL 2023–2025

HM Inspector’s summary
I am pleased with some aspects of Northamptonshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service. But there are areas in which it needs to improve.

Since our last inspection, the force has made a concerted effort to review and improve its performance. In particular, it has improved how it communicates with its communities to identify local problems and gather intelligence. The force has made improvements in most areas and I commend the force for the progress it has made. But I have concerns about how the force is investigating crime. We were concerned that offenders may not always be brought to justice and that victims weren’t always getting the most appropriate outcomes. For example, the force doesn’t always follow national policy on issuing community resolutions in cases of intimate partner domestic abuse. We alerted the force about this problem at the time of our inspection, and since then it has started work to address our concerns. We will continue to monitor performance in this area.

My principal findings are as follows:
• Officers understand the importance of appropriate behaviours, and they communicate effectively with the public. Supervisors and an external panel scrutinise and challenge use of stop and search effectively. In most cases, the force records reasonable grounds for using stop and search. While the force is increasing its use of this police power, it needs to make sure its officers feel confident in using it.
• The force works effectively in partnership with a wide range of other agencies to divert young people away from crime. But there are areas in which it needs to improve, including consistency in recording and evaluation of problem-solving activity.
• The force needs to improve how it responds to the public. The force isn’t answering 999 calls within the timescales set by national targets or attending non-emergency calls within set times. And we found that it didn’t always update victims about delays.

However, at the time of our inspection, the force had recently invested in its control room to improve how it responds to the public. It was also addressing surplus demand from another force. We will continue to monitor the force’s performance in this area.

The force also needs to make sure that it monitors performance effectively at all levels. It should regularly review its strategic decisions, policies and processes to assess whether they are effective and achieve their objectives. And it needs to make sure it has effective governance of its data systems to maximise opportunities to increase productivity.

In the months leading up to our inspection, there was an amount of instability in the chief officer team due to several vacancies and chief officer appointments. And a short time after our inspection, the chief constable was suspended pending the outcome of a misconduct investigation. We will closely monitor the how this affects the force’s performance and how it meets the public’s needs.

Roy Wilsher
HM Inspector of Constabulary

To download the full report please visit the HMICFRS website here