I am pleased with the progress that Cleveland Police has made since last year, and I am satisfied with most aspects of the force’s overall performance. However, there are still some areas that the force needs to improve to provide a consistently good service.
Cleveland Police now has an effective approach to preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, investigating crime and supporting victims. It is also effective in tackling serious and organised crime.
The force has made considerable progress in how it deals with vulnerable victims. It has changed its structures and processes, and established its first children’s safeguarding hub, which it runs with other organisations. I recognise and commend the force’s considerable effort in achieving these improvements, but further improvements are needed to some aspects of the services that the force provides to vulnerable people.
In particular, it needs to improve its assessment of whether a child should be categorised as missing or absent to determine the most appropriate response, and it needs to improve its processes so that all domestic abuse victims receive timely referrals to other services.
I am impressed by the force’s work in developing its understanding of the demand for its services, and by the way it has used that understanding to inform the reorganisation of its resources. It has reallocated resources and changed internal processes, including introducing a new shift pattern, to align its resources more closely with its demand for services. It has also worked well with its private sector partner to improve its response to calls for service.
Cleveland Police manages its resources well and collaborates effectively with a range of public and private sector organisations. It is working with partner organisations to develop its understanding of likely future demand and has set out its strategic intent up to the year 2020, along with medium and long-term financial plans, a people strategy and a recruitment plan.
I am pleased by the improvements we have seen since our inspection last year in the workforce’s awareness and understanding of the Code of Ethics, including the importance of treating people with fairness and respect, and I was reassured by the seriousness with which the force took the abuse of authority for sexual gain (that is, taking advantage of a position of power to exploit vulnerable victims of crime). However, the force could do more to raise awareness of warning signs of misconduct and corruption. The force’s counter-corruption unit is able to investigate allegations once they have been received, but it has limited capacity and capability to look for potential corruption.
The force uses several different sources to obtain the views of the public about how they are treated. However, it does not regularly seek feedback from those with less trust and confidence in the police. The ‘everyone matters’ project team has started work to address this.
Cleveland Police has sought the views of its workforce on whether they receive fair and respectful treatment, but it could do more to tell the workforce what action has been taken to address issues they raised. The force has a new well-being strategy and is working towards gaining national accreditation for its well-being provision.
In summary, I am heartened by the progress that the force has made in providing a good service to the people of Cleveland, but there are some areas where I would like to see further improvement.
Context
Cleveland Police provides policing services to the areas of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, and Redcar and Cleveland. Cleveland has a large amount of poverty, although there are some areas of affluence. The force area is home to around 0.6 million people, who mainly live in the towns of Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees. The resident population is increased by university students and the large numbers who visit or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure includes 36 miles of motorway and trunk roads and sea ports.
The proportion of areas in Cleveland that are predicted (on the basis of detailed economic and demographic analysis) to present a very high challenge to the police is broadly in line with 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.
Working arrangements
In 2010, Cleveland Police entered an outsourcing agreement with a private sector company to deliver the majority of the force’s back office functions. The force also has an outsourcing arrangement with a private sector company for the provision of custody services and the management of some of its police stations.
Specialist services such as armed response, roads policing, traffic management and police dogs are provided in collaboration with Durham Constabulary through the Cleveland and Durham specialist operations unit.
The force is part of a longstanding collaborative arrangement with Durham Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police, operating as ‘Evolve’.
Looking ahead to 2017
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how Cleveland Police responds to this assessment and to the areas for improvement that HMIC identified last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- how the work of the children’s safeguarding hub develops in assisting the force and its partner organisations to protect children better, and how this approach is extended to vulnerable adults; and
- how the force improves its approach to treating the public and its workforce with fairness and respect.
