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 Kent Police’s performance this year, including exceptional events and where I would like to see improvements next year.
I congratulate Kent Police on its performance in keeping people safe and reducing crime.
The force works well with partner organisations to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour. The quality of crime investigation is good and the force works well to stop re-offending. The force is good at disrupting organised criminality, and I welcome the steps it is taking to improve its capability further.
The force has demonstrated robust financial management and has responded well to the financial challenges it has faced. It understands demand on its services and matches resources to meet demand. I am particularly pleased by the force’s commitment to continuous improvement, demonstrated through its approach to reducing demand and the development of the Kent Operating Model. The new operating model has successfully reduced spending and is enabling effective planning.
I commend the way in which the chief officers have created an organisational culture that is extremely positive and supports the legitimacy of the force. The care given to the wellbeing of the workforce is evident. Members of the workforce feel empowered to challenge decisions perceived to be unethical; and complaints and misconduct allegations are dealt with robustly and fairly. The strength of the culture within the organisation is reflected in the outstanding way in which the force engages with the people of Kent. It uses a variety of means of communication to aid its understanding of communities’ priorities.
Kent Police has demonstrated commitment to protecting the most vulnerable people in its communities. However, frontline officers’ knowledge of child sexual exploitation should be improved. The force also needs to take steps to understand and address its very low charge rate for domestic abuse cases, ensuring more perpetrators are brought to justice. I am encouraged by the force’s recognition of these issues and the hard work that is already being undertaken to address them.
Description of force area
Kent Police provides policing services to the areas of Kent and Medway. Although there are some areas of deprivation, Kent is generally affluent. Around 1.8 million people mainly live in the urban centres which include the city of Canterbury as well as the towns of Maidstone, Gravesend, Ashford, Margate, Dartford and Folkestone. The resident population is increased by university students and the very large numbers who visit or travel through the county each year. The transport infrastructure also includes major rail stations, the channel tunnel, and major sea ports.
The proportion of areas in Kent 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.
Exceptional events
The force’s response to a number of cases of congestion on the approach routes to the channel ports, known as Operation Stack, is noteworthy. Working closely with partner agencies, the force’s professional and effective response to significant incidents in France helped to reduce the impact on the public and minimise disruption to cross-channel travel.
Working arrangements
I am pleased that the force’s collaborative arrangements with Essex Police continue to develop. This collaboration has led to continued financial benefits and increased capacity and resilience for both forces. More recently, the focus for the development of the collaboration has been on information technology.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Kent Police to be good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. The force has an effective approach to crime and anti-social behaviour prevention and it works well with others to keep people safe and protect victims, although improvements are needed in the important areas of protecting vulnerable people. The quality of crime investigation is good and the force works well to stop re-offending. The force is good at disrupting the activity of organised crime groups and it is improving its capability to do this even more. 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
Kent Police is well prepared to face its future financial challenges. Through robust financial management and a commitment to continuous improvement, it has continued successfully to reduce its spending and is planning effectively for future financial challenges. It understands demand on its services and matches resources to meet demand. In last year’s value for money inspection programme, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the previous spending review period, Kent was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
The force has successfully established the Code of Ethics, which sets and defines the exemplary standards of behaviour for everyone who works in policing. The wellbeing of the workforce is thoroughly understood and provided for and complaints and misconduct allegations are dealt with robustly and fairly.
The force engages positively with communities. It has adopted the principles of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme and its use of Taser is fair and appropriate.
This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
Kent Police is a well led force. Its chief officers have communicated a clear and compelling sense of the force’s future plans and priorities that the workforce understands. We found that Kent Police understands the current state of its leadership at senior and middle levels, with work ongoing to better understand that at lower levels.
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 Kent Police. 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 areas for improvement that HMIC has identified in the last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- how Kent Police improves its response to child sexual exploitation;
- how the force improves its understanding of the crime outcomes of domestic abuse cases to ensure that they are appropriate; and
- the effectiveness of the force’s decision to move from the South Eastern region of forces to the Eastern region by 2017, and the way in which a smooth transition is achieved.
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.
