Agenda item

The Police and Crime Panel considered the report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services entitled ‘PEEL: Police effectiveness 2017 – An inspection of Leicestershire Police’ published March 2018. A copy of the report, which was circulated in a supplementary agenda pack and marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

In presenting the report the PCC emphasised that Leicestershire Police had been rated as ‘Good’ in all areas that the force had been assessed against and no areas had been identified for improvement. However, it would be ensured that the Force did not become complacent and continuing improvements would be made. The PCC cautioned that in future this level of performance would always be expected with the level of funding that was available.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

(i)        Members commended Leicestershire Police for the positive report and hoped that it provided some reassurance to the general public and served as a motivating factor to police officers. The improvements around protecting vulnerable people were particularly welcomed.

(ii)       HMICFRS had received positive feedback from Leicestershire Police’s partners regarding the force’s response to persons with symptoms of mental ill-health.

(iii)      One of the few areas where HMICFRS had not been fully satisfied with Leicestershire Police was the arrest rate for domestic abuse cases. However, the PCC and Chief Constable submitted that arrest was not always the most appropriate course of action in these cases.

(iv)      With regard to crimes where the investigation had been completed but no suspect had been identified, Leicestershire Police was marginally higher than the average for England and Wales. The Chief Constable explained that the perpetrators of some crimes were not detectable and Leicestershire Police were now recording some types of incidents as crimes which they had not been doing previously hence the increase in recorded offences where no suspect had been identified.

(v)       With regard to crime outcomes, whilst 9% of crimes dealt with by Leicestershire Police were recorded as charged/summonsed, this figure did not include community remedies so the actual amount of crimes with a positive outcome was higher than 9%.

(vi)      In response to a question regarding how District Councils could provide greater assistance to the Police, it was explained that CCTV was of varying quality and some organisations had invested more funding in it than others. The Strategic Partnership Board was investigating what further actions could be taken with regard to CCTV. There was a need to improve the Force’s digital capability to enable CCTV to be downloaded more efficiently.

(vii)    As there were 23 vacancies for detectives in Leicestershire Police it was questioned whether the Force had problems with recruitment and retention. In response it was explained that some of these vacancies were due to retirement or officers moving to regional posts. It was acknowledged that there had not been as much recruitment over the past year as there could have been and the numbers required had been slightly underestimated. However, there were currently 34 officers training to become detectives and when that training was completed those officers would be posted to the most critical vacancies. Consideration was being given to whether to introduce direct-entry level detectives in Leicestershire Police as some people with the potential to become good detectives did not want to become ordinary police officers first.

(viii)   In response to a question regarding Anti-social Behaviour, it was explained that the National Crime Survey found that overall crime was decreasing although some offences such as burglary and vehicle crime were increasing. Reports of Anti-social behaviour had halved over the previous decade though there had been a recent increase.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report and presentation be noted.