HMIC’s decision to rate the Force as ‘requiring improvement’ is unfair and does not reflect its performance, says Jim Mallen, chairman of Bedfordshire Police Federation.
The police watchdog has carried out Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (PEEL) reviews on all forces in England and Wales and the latest report, released today, concentrates on effectiveness.
Bedfordshire is the only Force in this round of inspections to receive an overall grading of ‘inadequate’.
“This report is very disappointing,” says Jim, “I don’t think it does reflect the true situation. The Force is improving and that is down to the hard work of police officers and police staff who day in, day out, despite the difficulties of meeting increased demand with reduced resources, are doing their best to provide an effective policing service for the people they serve.
“What I find very interesting is that the inspectors do highlight the fact that we face a huge financial challenge, something we have raised as an issue time and time again.
“Perhaps now that the Government’s own inspectors have identified this problem something will be done to ensure that the Force is properly funded in the future.”
HMIC assessed the effectiveness of forces by inspecting their approach to the most important of their responsibilities and has found that Bedfordshire Police is:
- inadequate in preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour;
- requires improvement in how it investigates crime and reduces re-offending;
- is inadequate in how it protects people who are vulnerable from harm, and supporting victims; and
- requires improvement in how it tackles serious and organised crime.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Zoë Billingham said: “I am disappointed with Bedfordshire Police’s performance following our latest police effectiveness inspection. It is the only force in England and Wales to be judged to be inadequate in its effectiveness in keeping people safe and reducing crime. The Force’s performance has deteriorated since last year.
“I recognise that Bedfordshire Police faces particular challenges – it has a relatively low level of funding compared with other forces and faces unusually high levels of serious threats and criminality in some places, like Luton. This represents a significant operational challenge for a small force with very stretched resources.
“However, despite repeated assurances that it would do so, at the time of our inspection, beyond isolated pockets of good practice, the Force had still not put in place effective and consistent preventative community policing across the Force area.”
Of the other forces, 13 require improvement, 28 are good and one is outstanding.
