Leicestershire PEEL 2018
Efficiency
How efficiently does the force operate and how sustainable are its services to the public?
How well does the force use its resources to meet the demand it faces?
Areas for improvement
- The force should ensure it understands fully its workforce’s capabilities, so that it can identify and address any gaps. These should enable the force to be efficient in meeting current and likely future demand.
- The force should conduct a leadership skills audit that will allow it to understand leadership capacity and capability.
Senior leaders in Leicestershire Police have a clear understanding of the demands the force needs to meet. They use sophisticated techniques to measure, manage and plan how they allocate resources. The force also gathers information and feedback from the public using social media and online reporting.
A major re-organisation in 2017 improved the force’s efficiency. An appropriately-trained person now deals with an incident from the start, meaning fewer handovers between different teams.
Since our 2017 efficiency inspection, the force has improved its understanding of hidden demands, such as slavery and human trafficking. It has also improved how it allocates incidents to neighbourhood teams. The force collaborates well with other organisations.
Leicestershire Police does not have a comprehensive understanding of the skills and capabilities of its workforce. We identified this as an area for improvement in 2017 and we were disappointed to find that the force has made limited progress with this.
The force is looking at ways to work more efficiently. The ambitious BluePrint 2025 change programme aims to rationalise workflows, cut waste and create a more flexible workforce.
The force has been investing in technology. For example, it has issued frontline officers with mobile devices so they can research databases without having to spend time travelling to police stations.
How well does the force plan for the future?
Areas for improvement
- The force should improve how it identifies and develops talented people in its workforce.
Senior leaders in Leicestershire Police are improving their understanding of the demands that the force is likely to face in the future. The force has a well-led change programme, BluePrint 2025, which aims to improve its ability to plan.
New specialist teams are working on previously under-reported types of crime, such slavery and human trafficking, and crimes targeting vulnerable people. Their work will inform the force’s understanding of the scale and nature of these problems.
The force plans to continue investing in mobile technology and increasingly powerful digital applications, which its whole workforce can use. This will improve its efficiency.
It is good at allocating resources to what matters most to local communities. Neighbourhood teams contact and communicate with the public regularly and in a well-organised way. This helps the force to set priorities.
Over the next two financial years, the force plans to continue investing in increasing the presence of officers in neighbourhoods, investigating serious sexual offences, and tackling modern slavery and human trafficking. It plans to increase the size of its workforce. It has prudent medium-term financial plans.
However, the force has made little improvement in developing and managing talent in its workforce. This was also an area for improvement in 2017, and we are disappointed that it has made little progress.
Detailed findings for question 2