Page 3 - Alive January 2016 Newsletter Flip Book

Force needs improvement, says HMIC
Bedfordshire Police has welcomed a report by a police watchdog, despite it criticising the Force for the way it keeps people safe and reduces crime.
The report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) into ‘effectiveness’ found Bedfordshire Police ‘required improvement’ overall in keeping people safe and reducing crime, a deterioration from the ‘good’ grade the Force received in 2014.
However, the Force was praised for its preparedness to tackle national threats such as terrorism, serious cyber crime and child sexual abuse.
And HMIC said it recognised that at the time of the inspection the Force was implementing a new policing model, designed to increase its capacity and capability to focus on crime and anti-social behaviour prevention.
The Force was graded as ‘good’ for how effective it is at investigating crime and managing offenders.
HMIC also made reference to the ‘funding challenge’ faced by the Force, commenting: “Bedfordshire Police deals with a range of complex policing challenges and serious criminality on a scale not normally experienced by a force of its size.”
Deputy Chief Constable Mark Collins said: “While it is disappointing to be graded as ‘requires improvement’, protecting people and improving our service to victims remains a priority for Bedfordshire Police and we have already made changes to address the concerns raised in the recent HMIC ‘vulnerability’ report.
“The report does praise a lot of the work being done across the Force – in particular around the readiness to deal with national threats and investigating crime. We are confident that our new policing model will address many of the concerns raised in this report – for example, tackling low-level anti-social behaviour and improving preventative work at community level.
“We are always looking at ways to improve the way we work and we are
pleased that HMI Zoe Billingham highlighted Bedfordshire Police for the work we are doing to increase our presence and engagement in our communities.”
Jim Mallen, chairman of Bedfordshire Police Federation, added: “This report highlights, once again, what we have been saying for some time. We are being stretched to the limit due to the funding cuts and as a result the service we are able to offer our communities is being affected.
“Police officers are doing their best to meet the public’s needs but there are only so many of them to go around. They are feeling the pressure of trying to maintain a quality service. We appreciate the Force is doing its best to make ends meet but there is only so much it can do.”
The report said the Force needs to address a number of areas for improvement as it implements the new policing model, and it is working hard to improve. It acknowledged the Force recognised that it has not yet assigned the right number of appropriately skilled police
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officers and staff to local neighbourhoods to focus on preventing problems from occurring or from escalating.
Its recommended areas for improvement include:
l the Force should ensure that its
community teams are adequately resourced and skilled to provide an effective policing service to their communities
l the Force should use evidence of ‘what works’ drawn from other forces, academics and partners to continually improve its approach to the prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour. there should be routine evaluation of tactics and sharing of effective practice.
Police and Crime Commissioner Olly Martins said: “The report highlights, once again, the paucity of our funding position. If, like Bedfordshire, you can only afford 169 officers per 100,000 population, when the average in England and Wales average is 232, but you face the type of serious crime challenges more commonly found within the larger urban police forces, it’s obvious that some areas of work will be seriously overstretched. The report recognises that.
“’Requires improvement’ should read ‘funding requires improvement’. If our funding was on par with the challenges we face, the report would inevitably have different conclusions. Even with the current level of funding, it references much of the good work being delivered, reinforcing the positive news in last week’s report on police legitimacy.
“HMIC finds Bedfordshire Police is ethical and well-led. There just aren’t enough of them and we would need at least 300 more officers to have the same resources as forces facing comparable challenges.”
THE REPORT HIGHlIGHTS, ONCE AGAIN, THE PAuCITy OF OuR FuNDING POSITION. IF, lIKE
BEDFORDSHIRE, yOu CAN ONly AFFORD 169 OFFICERS PER 100,000 POPulATION, WHEN THE AvERAGE IN ENGlAND AND WAlES AvERAGE IS 232, BuT yOu FACE THE TyPE OF SERIOuS CRIME CHAllENGES MORE COMMONly FOuND WITHIN THE lARGER uRBAN POlICE FORCES, IT’S OBvIOuS THAT SOME AREAS OF WORK WIll BE SERIOuSly OvERSTRETCHED.
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