South Wales PEEL 2017
Effectiveness
How effective is the force at keeping people safe and reducing crime?
How effective is the force at preventing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe?
This question was not inspected in 2017. The grade and findings from last year’s inspection still stand.
How effective is the force at investigating crime and reducing re-offending?
This question was not inspected in 2017. The grade and findings from last year’s inspection still stand.
How effective is the force at protecting those who are vulnerable from harm, and supporting victims?
South Wales Police is good at protecting those who are vulnerable from harm, and supporting victims.
The force understands the nature and scale of vulnerability, and provides its frontline officers and staff with practical guidance on protecting vulnerable people.
Officers and staff understand the force’s definition of vulnerability, and are trained to recognise vulnerability.
South Wales Police is good at responding to vulnerable victims. It ensures its workforce takes a consistent approach to safeguarding.
To protect domestic abuse victims, the force makes good use of:
- powers of arrest and other legal provisions;
- safeguarding support; and
- body-worn video cameras to gather evidence.
The force has established good working relationships with partner organisations to support vulnerable people and provide appropriate safeguarding. This includes multi-agency safeguarding hubs and multi-agency risk assessment conferences.
However, the force should do more to support those experiencing a mental health crisis when they first contact the police.
In general, the force investigates crimes involving vulnerable victims well. However, we found a small number of stalking and fraud enquiries that were unsatisfactory.
How effective is the force at tackling serious and organised crime?
This question was not inspected in 2017. The grade and findings from last year’s inspection still stand.
How effective are the force’s specialist capabilities?
National threats often require forces to work together, across force boundaries. These threats include terrorism, large-scale disorder and civil emergencies. We examined the capabilities in place to respond to these threats, in particular a firearms attack.
Most positively, the force:
- works constructively with the South Wales Local Resilience Forum which brings together emergency services and other organisations with expertise in civil emergencies;
- tests its skills in training exercises; and
- has developed a good understanding of the threat to the public from an armed attack.