I am satisfied with most aspects of Staffordshire Police’s overall performance. However, there are some areas that the force needs to improve in order to provide a consistently good service.
I commend the force on the substantial progress it has made since my assessment last year on how it protects vulnerable people. In particular, the force has made marked and sustained improvements in the quality and quantity of its domestic abuse risk assessments.
However, there is still room for improvement in relation to how it manages incidents involving missing persons. The force works effectively with partner organisations to provide safeguarding arrangements for vulnerable people, but needs to improve the consistency of the actions taken by officers.
I am pleased that the force has also improved its approach to investigating crime and reducing re-offending. Most investigations are allocated appropriately and the quality of investigation, particularly among non-specialists, is improving. However, there are occasions when cases are not consistently supervised to check their quality and progress, which can affect outcomes.
The force makes innovative use of integrated offender management, which is helping it achieve consistent reductions in reoffending, but a lack of capacity is causing delays in routine visits to sex offenders.
Staffordshire Police is good at preventing crime and reducing anti-social behaviour, and it works collaboratively with local partner organisations.
I am concerned about the force’s approach to tackling serious and organised crime. It needs to build on the work done already to develop its understanding of the threat posed by organised crime groups operating in Staffordshire and how it disrupts them.
The force has a good understanding of current and future demand for its services, and it is developing its understanding of so-called hidden demands such as internet crime. Since our inspection in 2014, the force has made concerted efforts to improve the accuracy with which it records crimes, and it has made progress in placing the victim at the forefront of crime-recording decisions. The accuracy of its recording is very good in some areas, such as reports of rape.
The force’s financial plans are prudent, and it has a comprehensive understanding of the capabilities of its workforce. Its training and recruitment is planned to address gaps in the skills and knowledge of the workforce, and it has ambitious plans to strengthen its technological capabilities. The force has made a good start on planning for future demands on its service.
The force uses a broad and innovative range of techniques to seek feedback from the public and adjusts its approach to engage with those who may not have confidence in the police. However, the force could make better use of this feedback by taking a more structured approach to analysing it.
I commend the force’s clear focus on well-being, which its workforce believes has led to meaningful action: Staffordshire Police was the first force in England and Wales to achieve Workforce Wellbeing Charter accreditation. The force actively seeks new ideas and approaches, from the workforce and more widely. It is effective at identifying threats to the integrity of the organisation, including corruption, and has the necessary processes for intervening early. The force will want to press on further and develop a rigorous process for post-employment vetting.
In summary, I am heartened by the progress made by Staffordshire Police over the past year and am sure the force will build on this by addressing the remaining areas for improvement.
Context
Staffordshire Police provides policing services to the county of Staffordshire. Staffordshire has a high level of poverty, although there are some more affluent areas. The force area is home to around 1.1 million people, who mainly live within the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the towns of Burton-upon-Trent and Stafford.
The resident population is increased by university students and the large numbers who visit, socialise in, or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure includes 134 miles of motorway and trunk roads and major rail stations.
The proportion of areas in Staffordshire that are predicted (on the basis of detailed economic and demographic analysis) to present a very high challenge to the police is lower than the national average. The most challenging areas are generally characterised by a high concentration of people living, working, socialising, or travelling in the area.
Features that both cause and/or indicate a concentration of people include the number of commercial premises, including licensed premises and fast-food premises, public transport, and social deprivation. In some areas, these features are combined. The police force area is large, relative to other forces in England and Wales, and it takes a comparatively long time to travel across the area by road, which increases the difficulty of providing police services.
Working arrangements
Staffordshire Police has collaborative arrangements with public and private sector organisations, for example, a ten-year technology partnership with a private sector company.
Looking ahead to 2017
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how Staffordshire Police responds to this assessment and to the areas for improvement that HMIC identified last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- how it continues to improve the way it protects vulnerable people from harm;
- how it continues to improve its investigations of crime; and
- how it improves its approach to tackling serious and organised crime.
