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 Sussex Police’s performance this year, including exceptional events and where I would like to see improvements next year.
I am very pleased with the performance of Sussex Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime.
Sussex Police has a clear commitment to preventing crime and anti-social behaviour with a good understanding of the demands it faces. I am impressed with the force’s continuing work with others to keep people safe, including protecting victims and the most vulnerable people.
The force is good at supporting vulnerable victims and has clear processes to identify them at an early stage. The concern I had last year about the quality of crime investigations has been addressed by the positive response from the force. The quality of crime investigation is now good. The force works well to stop re-offending and is good at tackling serious and organised crime.
The force has a thorough understanding of its current demand and its finances. The force’s plans for change build on a strong neighbourhood policing approach, and the preparatory work in designing the new operating model is robust. The force communicates well with its communities, particularly through effective use of social media.
The ethical culture, with a commitment to the wellbeing of the workforce in Sussex Police, is a testament to the strong and visible leadership provided by the chief officer team.
Description of force area
Sussex Police provides policing services to the areas of East, West and Mid Sussex. Although there are some areas of deprivation, Sussex is generally affluent. Around 1.7 million people mainly live in the urban centres, especially along the south coast, which include the city of Brighton and the towns of Bognor Regis, Hastings, Hove, and Horsham. The resident population is increased by university students and the very large numbers who visit, socialise in, or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure includes major rail stations, a major airport and major sea ports.
The proportion of areas in Sussex that are predicted to present a very high challenge to the police is lower than 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
Sussex Police, working with partner agencies, undertook a significant operation in response to the crash of an historic Hawker Hunter jet on to the main A27 road during the Shoreham Airshow in August 2015. In the region of 520 police officers and staff were deployed, along with additional officers and staff from other forces, to provide support to the families of the eleven victims, to undertake investigative work and to ensure that the A27 was reopened as quickly as possible.
Working arrangements
The force has developed collaborative arrangements with Surrey Police. Although the forces have recently decided not to progress collaboration in some front line operational policing areas, work continues to collaborate in many support functions. The force is also part of a collaboration to develop a south east contact centre, which also involves Surrey Police and the ambulance and fire services.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Sussex Police to be good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. The force is committed to preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, but recent changes in its neighbourhood policing teams means there is now less focus on crime prevention. It continues to work well with others to keep people safe, including protecting victims and the most vulnerable people. The quality of crime investigation is good, and the force works well to stop re-offending. It is good at tackling serious and organised crime and fulfilling its national policing responsibilities. This is the first year HMIC has graded forces on their overall effectiveness so a year-on-year comparison is not possible.
Efficiency
Sussex Police is well prepared to face its future financial challenges. The force has a thorough understanding of its current demand, its finances and its plans for change. Its direction of travel is one of improvement from an already strong base. The preparatory work in designing the new operating model is robust and gives the force a good understanding of demand. In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the previous spending review period, Sussex Police was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
The force is making good efforts to create and maintain an ethical culture. Decision-making by Taser-trained officers is fair and appropriate and the force is complying with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme.
This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
Sussex Police is a well led organisation and has a clear sense of its future direction. The force has a good understanding of the capacity and capability of its leadership at senior levels, though more work is required to better understand this throughout the force. The chief officer team values workforce wellbeing, and works hard to promote this.
Insights from other inspections
HMIC undertakes other inspections in addition to the PEEL programme. Since the last PEEL assessment there have been five reports published on inspections that included Sussex 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 the phased introduction of the new local policing model, including changes to the role of police community support officers, will enable the force to maintain its strong focus on neighbourhood policing and crime prevention.
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.
