Dyfed-Powys PEEL 2018
Effectiveness
How effectively does the force reduce crime and keep people safe?
How effective is the force at preventing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe?
Areas for improvement
- The force should ensure it has a clear strategy for neighbourhood policing that is understood at all levels of the force.
- The force should ensure that there is sufficient capacity to carry out neighbourhood policing activities in line with its strategic approach.
- The force should adopt a structured and consistent problem-solving process to enable it to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour more effectively.
- The force should evaluate and share effective practice routinely, both internally and with other organisations, to improve its prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Dyfed-Powys Police requires improvement in preventing crime and anti-social behaviour.
It is still working on its future strategy for neighbourhood policing. We found some areas where the force has clear future plans. One example is rural policing, where it has developed a strategy and introduced rural crime teams. But other parts of neighbourhood policing do not have clear goals.
The force has an inconsistent approach to prevention work. It often takes neighbourhood officers away from prevention activities to cover response work. This is a way of providing the service the area needs. But it suggests the force doesn’t have enough officers doing neighbourhood policing.
The force is improving problem-solving and crime prevention through its crime and harm reduction units. We saw some good examples of problem-solving, but not in all parts of the force.
The force knows what threats its communities face and lists them in its control strategy. The force works well with other organisations. It meets with them regularly and carries out joint operations. This means it can protect the public effectively.
But we did not see the force checking prevention tactics to see how well they work so it may miss out on lessons about what works. The force cannot publicise effective practice if it does not know what works well.
Detailed findings for question 1
How effective is the force at investigating crime and reducing re-offending?
This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2017 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.
How effective is the force at protecting those who are vulnerable from harm, and supporting victims?
Cause of concern
It is a cause of concern to HMICFRS that Dyfed-Powys Police is failing to risk assess all incidents of domestic abuse. This means that opportunities to intervene and take appropriate action at the earliest opportunity are being lost; this includes missed chances to identify coercive and controlling behaviour, other persons at risk in the household such as children and escalation in the scale of violence.
This puts vulnerable people at risk.
Dyfed-Powys Police requires improvement in how it protects vulnerable people. We found that the force has made improvements since our last inspection. But the force needs to make sure it carries out risk assessments for all domestic abuse incidents, so it can protect people as soon as possible.
The force is good at understanding and identifying when people are vulnerable. Call handlers assess the caller’s vulnerability to decide how quickly the person needs help. We found the force makes the right decisions in these assessments.
Mental health practitioners and ambulance service staff work in the force’s communication centre. This means there is a joint approach to vulnerable people when they first contact the police.
The force exchanges safeguarding information with health services and other police forces.
Dyfed-Powys Police uses legal powers to protect victims of domestic abuse. The force has improved its use of domestic violence protection notices and domestic violence protection orders since 2017.
The force manages dangerous and prolific offenders well. It has introduced a public protection hub to improve information exchange and partnership working in offender management.
The force is good at supporting vulnerable victims. It gets feedback from them and uses this information to improve its services.
Detailed findings for question 3
How effective is the force at tackling serious and organised crime?
This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.
How effective are the force’s specialist capabilities?
We have previously inspected how well forces provide armed policing. This formed part of our 2016 and 2017 effectiveness inspections. Subsequent terrorist attacks in the UK and Europe have meant that the police service maintains a focus on armed capability in England and Wales.
It is not just terrorist attacks that place operational demands on armed officers. Threats can include the activity of organised crime groups or armed street gangs and all other crime involving guns. The Code of Practice on the Police Use of Firearms and Less Lethal Weapons (PDF document) makes forces responsible for implementing national standards of armed policing. The code stipulates that a chief officer be designated to oversee these standards. This requires the chief officer to set out the firearms threat in an armed policing strategic threat and risk assessment (APSTRA). The chief officer must also set out clear rationales for the number of armed officers (armed capacity) and the level to which they are trained (armed capability).
Detailed findings for question 5