Staffordshire Police has improved – but still more to do, says HMICFRS

Staffordshire Police was moved into the engage monitoring phase last year because of concerns about its performance, specifically the service it provides to victims and how it investigates crime.

Following an inspection last month, the inspectorate found the force had made progress in some areas, including in giving victims appropriate crime prevention advice and recording risk assessments properly.

However, it said that while aspects of the force’s performance in investigating crime effectively had improved, they are “still not up to the required standard”. It found that:

• The force still is not providing adequate supervision throughout investigations and there has been no meaningful progress on this; and
• There has been some improvement on using investigation plans and recording consideration of evidence-based prosecutions, but the force is not doing either routinely yet.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said: “Since moving Staffordshire Police into our enhanced monitoring process earlier this year, known as engage, we have frequently and intrusively examined the force’s plans for improvement.

“As part of the engage process, we revisited the force last month and found it had made progress in some areas. We welcome these improvements – they are positive steps in the right direction.

“However, the force has not made enough progress yet. These improvements need to be sustained and become routine. In addition, we have not seen meaningful progress on providing adequate supervision throughout investigations.

“As a result, while I am optimistic for the future, Staffordshire Police remains in the engage process while we continue to closely monitor its progress.”

Staffordshire Police said its staff and leaders have been working hard to improve performance and address the causes of concern.

The original report found the force was ‘inadequate’ for how it investigates crime, manages offenders and suspects, and responds to the public.

The latest assessment shows “our efforts to improve are clearly moving in the right direction and we are seeing improvements across many areas”, said Staffordshire Police.

“However, there is more to do around attending emergency incidents within expected timeframes, producing quality investigation plans for every crime and ensuring that supervisors scrutinise investigations,” it added.

Chief Constable Chris Noble, said he was pleased that HMICFRS found his force had made progress, and noted improvements in many areas.

“However, they and I recognise there is more to be done,” he said.

“The engage phase monitoring provides us with a positive opportunity to be supported by HMICFRS and other national policing bodies and enables us to regularly share our progress on the areas for improvement, as we are doing now.

“Within investigations, we have been heavily focused on improving how we work and freeing-up time for our officers to dedicate to quality investigations. In the coming months, a crime admin bureau will be created to remove some of the administrative burden currently placed on officers, giving them more time on the frontline.

“Our training efforts will continue at pace. Having delivered masterclasses to hundreds of sergeants across the organisation, we are now looking to roll-out bespoke training to all constables and investigative officers to help push up standards and share best practice.

“We will also continue to invest in our force contact centre, recruiting more members of staff to enhance our service.

“A LiveChat function on our website has just been introduced to provide a quality service to the public, freeing up more staff to respond to 999 calls when required and helping us to identify and prioritise our service to the most vulnerable people.

“We remain focused on further improving our response to emergency and non-emergency requests for assistance, continuing with our triage function to direct those calls that can be dealt with by partner agencies or other means, and using analytical software to better predict seasonal patterns and help us to meet anticipated demand with more intelligent resourcing.”

Mr Noble added: “Many of our plans will not be possible without the support and guidance of key partners and stakeholders, but I am confident that together we can achieve our aims of protecting victims, safeguarding the vulnerable and preventing crime to secure safe and confident communities in Staffordshire.

“We have a proud and recent history of being one of the best performing forces in the country – and I’ve made it clear to my staff and the communities we serve that we intend to be back in that place and delivering the service that Staffordshire deserves.”