This year, for the first time, we have assessed leadership across the force. The assessment has led to a narrative rather than graded judgment, which is summarised below.
Read more about my assessment of Hampshire Constabulary’s performance this year, including where I would like to see improvements next year.
I am very pleased with the performance of Hampshire Constabulary in keeping people safe and reducing crime. Some of the improvements that the force has made are noteworthy.
Hampshire Constabulary is good at preventing crime, anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe. The force remains committed to keeping officers working in neighbourhoods and it continues to provide a visible presence in communities through dedicated neighbourhood officers. This helps the force work effectively with partners, tackling matters of concern to local communities, and identifying and managing the most serious repeat offenders.
Although the force generally supports vulnerable people well, I have some concerns about the force’s response to victims of domestic abuse: risk assessments are on occasions being completed over the telephone without an officer seeing the victim in person. I welcome the steps taken by the force to review this practice.
I would like to commend the force for the carefully considered innovation it has demonstrated this year. Through changes to its workforce model and how it provides support services, it has altered how it uses its resources to meet the challenges of policing the area with reduced funding. It is an efficient force with very well-prepared plans to achieve further savings.
I am pleased with the way in which the force engages and communicates with the communities of Hampshire. The force has an established set of values that promote ethical behaviour, which are well understood by the workforce.
Description of force area
Hampshire Constabulary provides policing services to the county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Although there are some areas of deprivation, Hampshire has areas of marked affluence. Around 1.9 people mainly live in the urban centres which include the cities of Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester, the towns of Basingstoke and Farnborough as well as the town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The population is increased by university students and the large numbers who visit, socialise in, or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure also includes major rail stations, an airport and major sea ports.
The proportion of areas in Hampshire that are predicted to present a very high challenge to the police is broadly in line with the national average. These are characterised by social deprivation or a concentration of commercial premises (including licensed premises), and in some cases both. Providing services across the entirety of the force area is hindered by the road network.
Working arrangements
The force works in partnership with Thames Valley Police, with one senior officer responsible for roads policing, firearms and public order capabilities for both forces. Similar plans to share contact management arrangements are well advanced, with some elements already in place.
Changes are being made to the chief officer team and a new chief constable will be appointed in early 2016.
The force shares support functions such as human resources, finance, and administration with Hampshire County Council and Hampshire Fire and Rescue.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Hampshire Constabulary to be good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. The force works well with local partner organisations to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour; it has dedicated resources to enable it to work within neighbourhoods to tackle issues of concern to communities. On the whole the force investigates crime well and generally supports vulnerable people well but there is room for improvement in the way the force deals with some vulnerable victims of crime. It has improved its approach to tackling serious and organised crime; and also works very well with partners to identify and manage the most serious repeat offenders to prevent re-offending and protect the public. This is the first year HMIC has graded forces on their overall effectiveness so comparison of their year-on-year effectiveness is not possible.
Efficiency
Hampshire Constabulary is very well prepared to face its future financial challenges. The force has a strong track record of making savings, robust financial management and well-developed plans to achieve further savings. It has introduced a new workforce model to manage within a reducing budget. In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the previous spending review period, Hampshire was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
The force has a well-established set of values promoting ethical behaviour, that the chief constable has championed personally. The workforce understand these values and the importance of dealing with the public in a fair and polite way. Hampshire Constabulary is effective in engaging and communicating with its communities. The force complies with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme and Taser is used fairly and appropriately by the force. This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
Hampshire Constabulary demonstrates strong and effective leadership at all levels of its workforce and has communicated a clearly-defined set of leadership principles which the workforce knows well. The ‘Leadership Programme’ is evidence of how the force develops its leaders to demonstrate the progressive, inclusive and responsive style of leadership necessary while the force changes radically its organisational structure and operating model. HMIC found in Hampshire Constabulary a strong sense of purpose, clear future plans and priorities and a workforce that chief officers both care for and about.
Insights from other inspections
HMIC undertakes other inspections in addition to the PEEL programme. Since the last PEEL assessment there have been seven reports published on inspections that included Hampshire Constabulary. More detail on some of these inspections can be found under the Other inspections section.
Looking ahead to PEEL 2016
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how the force responds to this assessment, and to the cause of concern and areas for improvement that HMIC has identified in the last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- the outcome of the review into the practice of conducting some risk assessments for victims of domestic abuse over the telephone and how the force’s response then improves;
- how the force ensures regular and active supervision of investigations, to check quality and progress; and
- how the new chief officer team takes this work forwards and the extent to which it improves the police service for the people of Hampshire.
In May 2016, like the majority of forces in England and Wales, the force will see the second elections for its police and crime commissioner.
