South Wales 2018/19

Download the full report

PEEL: Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy 2018/19 – South Wales Police

Wendy Williams, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary

HMI's observations

I am pleased with South Wales Police’s performance in keeping people safe and reducing crime.

The force is good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour and understands the importance of working with its communities to do this. It investigates crime well and has a clear focus on identifying and protecting vulnerable people.

The force understands the complexity and scale of demand for its services. It is using this information to develop its financial and workforce plans to meet future needs. It is good at using resources to meet demand.

Senior leaders make sure the workforce understands the importance of treating the public and each other with fairness and respect. The force continues to uphold an ethical culture and promotes well the standards of professional behaviour it expects.

Overall, I commend South Wales Police for sustaining its positive performance over the past year. I am confident that it is well equipped for this to continue.

South Wales Police is good at preventing and investigating crime. Prevention is at the core of the force’s approach to reducing crime and keeping people safe.

The force recognises the importance of working closely with communities. Officers and staff understand the importance of treating people with fairness and respect. The force has a strong understanding of the threats facing its communities. It is good at protecting the public from harm.

The force is good at understanding and identifying vulnerability. Officers and staff are aware of the importance of identifying and handling vulnerability appropriately. Protecting vulnerable people is a clear priority for the force.

The force needs to improve the ways in which it provides ongoing support to vulnerable victims. It needs to find long-term solutions to the challenges it faces to effectively support victims of domestic abuse.

The force is effective in managing those offenders who are known to pose a risk to vulnerable people. It has achieved a positive reduction in the number of registered sex offenders awaiting assessment.

South Wales Police is good at investigating crime and tackling serious and organised crime. These questions were not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.

View the five questions for effectiveness

South Wales Police is good at operating efficiently and sustainably.

In 2017, we judged that the force’s approach to meeting current demand and using resources was good. We have carried over our judgment from the 2017 effectiveness inspection.

The force is good at planning for the future. It has used software to inform its Operation Morse change programme and managed demand accordingly. It is still developing its understanding of hidden and emerging demand.

The force is good at prioritising its use of resources, and at flexing resources to meet demand.

The force needs to improve its future workforce planning.

The force has a comprehensive medium-term financial plan, but this plan will not ensure a balanced budget through to 2023. The force will need to focus on value for money over the next four years if it is to sustain and improve operational effectiveness.

South Wales Police has good plans in place to improve the services it gives to the public. It is implementing several significant change programmes, from neighbourhood policing to the extension of mobile technology. These are likely to result in a more responsive, visible and accessible service.

View the two questions for efficiency

South Wales Police treats both the public and its workforce fairly.

The force recognises the importance of working closely with communities. Officers and staff understand the importance of treating people with fairness and respect. However, frontline officers and staff varied in their knowledge of unconscious bias.

The force needs to improve the extent to which it understands the use of force. It would benefit from analysing its data more effectively, to increase its understanding of how officers and staff use force. It also needs to give all officers feedback about their use of force.

The force is good at using stop and search powers. The force trains its workforce on the ethical use of stop and search tactics. Officers understand the need to apply these powers lawfully and ethically.

The force is good at developing and maintaining an ethical culture and has clear processes for promoting ethical decision making.

The force is good at identifying and managing corruption risks and is developing an overarching control strategy in line with the authorised professional practice for counter-corruption.

The force is good at treating its workforce fairly, and workforce wellbeing is a clear priority for its leaders.

The force needs to improve the management, performance and development of its officers and staff.

View the three questions for legitimacy

In addition to the three core PEEL pillars, HMICFRS carries out inspections of a wide range of policing activity throughout the year. Some of these are conducted alongside the PEEL inspections; others are joint inspections.

Findings from these inspections are published separately to the main PEEL reports, but are taken into account when producing the rounded assessment of each force's performance.

Complaints and misconduct file review 2018 – South Wales Police – published 25 January 2019

View other reports

Key facts – 2019/20

Force Area

803 square miles

Population

1.35m people

5% local 10 yr change

Workforce

89% frontline police officers

92% national level

4.16 per 1000 population

3.69 national level

9% 10yr change in local workforce

5% 10yr national change

Victim-based crimes

0.06 per person

0.06 national level

2% Local 5 year trend

9% National 5 year trend

Cost

66p per person per day local

59p per person per day national

South Wales 2018/19

Download the full report

HMI's observations

Effectiveness

How effectively does the force reduce crime and keep people safe?

Efficiency

How efficiently does the force operate and how sustainable are its services to the public?

Legitimacy

How legitimately does the force treat the public and its workforce?

Other inspections

How well has the force performed in our other inspections?

Other reports