In making this first PEEL assessment of Nottinghamshire Police I have taken into account the challenges in policing the area.
Nottinghamshire has a culturally and ethnically diverse population with a significant proportion of the total population living in the city. This number is further increased by a large number of university students. While the county’s economy features major companies, unemployment is above the national average and there are areas of severe social deprivation.
I have been impressed by the way the force works in strong partnership with others, such as local councils, to prevent crime. In particular the force works well with its partners in identifying and working with repeat offenders to prevent them from continuing to commit crime.
The force has good links with its communities and works well with them to understand local priorities. It takes joint action to identify and prevent the escalation of anti-social behaviour. It has also made good progress in reinforcing ethical and professional behaviour across the force.
However, I do have concerns about weaknesses in the way the force investigates offending. It cannot be confident that investigations are consistently carried out to the required standard. The force requires improvement in the way it gathers evidence and supervises investigations. Some staff investigating crimes do not have the appropriate levels of professional training. I am particularly concerned by the lack of capacity and investigative capability in the force’s public protection team, which deals with child protection and domestic abuse. The force has recently agreed a plan to increase the number of staff working in this vitally important area.
The efficiency of the force requires improvement. Earlier this year I found that the way in which the force was configured was increasingly unaffordable in the face of further cost reductions. I am now encouraged that the force has a plan for introducing an affordable and sustainable model of policing. However, I am concerned that if Nottinghamshire Police does not implement its plans without slippage, it will not be able to achieve future savings. This may have an adverse effect on the service the force provides to the public.
I also have concerns about the force’s approach to crime-recording, which is not as accurate as it should be.
The force is part of the successful East Midlands collaboration which provides a range of policing and support services including major crime, special branch, forensics and serious and organised crime. The collaboration aims to promote a more cost-effective provision of these important policing services through forces working together. At a local level, the force is innovative in how it works with the city council. It jointly manages council employees, officers and police staff to tackle anti-social behaviour and prevent crime.
Our intention is to examine leadership specifically as part of future PEEL Assessments, once criteria have been established. This will allow HMIC to take account of the College of Policing review of leadership that is currently underway.
In common with other forces, there is a need to build on its understanding of the changing demands for police services.
Over the past 12 months, there have been a number of inspections made of the force that have suggested that the capacity and capability of the public protection team who are responsible for domestic abuse and child protection is a recurrent issue.
I will be particularly interested to see how the force implements its new and affordable model of policing, and how well it responds to the other areas HMIC has identified for improvement in the next 12 months.
