Chief’s response to the publication of our latest HMICFRS inspection

The latest publication of His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue (HMICFRS) police efficiency, effectiveness, and legitimacy (PEEL) inspection report into Cambridgeshire Constabulary has been published today (Tuesday 12 March).

The purpose of the inspection is to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the force, supporting internal reviews and continuous learning and improvement to ensure the residents of Cambridgeshire are receiving a good standard of policing. It is important to note that a direct comparison with any previous grades, or to a certain extent other forces, cannot be made.   

Following an inspection visit in autumn 2023, today’s report highlights a number of areas where the Force is showing both progress and in, some cases, leading the way in terms of good practice.

Chief Constable Nick Dean said: “We welcome today’s report from HMICFRS as it’s an opportunity for us to reflect on the service we provide, celebrate what we are doing well, and look at what we need to improve to provide an even better service for the people of Cambridgeshire.

“I highlight once again that the backdrop to the Constabulary’s work and this inspection is that we remain one of the poorest funded forces in the country which is a factor that cannot be lost on anyone.  

“So to be the only force in the country to receive an ‘outstanding’ grade for how we use police powers, especially given how much scrutiny this area of our business has quite rightly come under from the government and the public, is testament to the innovative work we have put in place to ensure fairness and transparency at every opportunity.”

The force also received ‘good’ gradings for preventing and deterring crime, antisocial behaviour and vulnerability, and building, supporting and protecting the workforce, and adequate for investigating crime and protecting vulnerable people. We have made considerable progress in improving policing across the county which the Constabulary is proud of.  

HMIC highlighted several areas of good practice in a variety of areas of the Force’s business, including:

• The use of technology to market and recruit people who have been subject to a stop search by officers, to join the community scrutiny panel.  The use of a QR code on a card that explains why they have been stopped and searched allows people to sign up to the panel, encouraging young people and a more diverse group of people to scrutinise and challenge our activity, that could help to improve policy and practice, as well as strengthen community relationships.
• Operation Farmington is a multi-agency initiative focusing on reducing repeat callers, flagging to the local neighbourhood team and local authority ward manager when there are three calls in 30 days from the same address into the demand hub, which triggers the relevant agencies to work together to find a resolution to the cause of the problem and reduce unnecessary demand.
• The ‘Court Project’ is an early intervention activity with partners to divert people at risk of committing further crime or antisocial behaviour (ASB).  Working with Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), court staff and other criminal justice professionals, the ‘Court Project’ is an early intervention activity with partners to divert and deter people at risk of committing further crime or antisocial behaviour (ASB). Offenders are invited to join scenario-based events held at a decommissioned magistrate’s court building and expert role players guide offenders through real-life outcomes such as court and custody to illustrate the implications of criminal behaviour.
• Victims and witnesses are supported through the criminal justice process by a specialist team who provide a bespoke service to all victims and witnesses going to court. The victim and witness hub manages victims and witnesses on a wide range of crimes and not only offer support on the criminal justice process, but also signposting and practical support, such as food bank vouchers.  The impact of providing tailored and intensive support to victims and witnesses is a reduction in criminal justice attrition rates as less victims and witnesses drop out or retract from the court process. 

Since the previous inspection in 2021/22, HMICFRS concluded that while the Force is performing well in some areas, it still needed to improve performance across a few areas and that further improvement is required, in particular in call handling and emergency response times, managing suspects and offenders and in certain areas of leadership and management.

Chief Constable Dean added: “We are aware there are areas in which we need to improve and since the inspection last year we have implemented changes in processes and increased our resources in those areas and we are already seeing significant improvements.

“For example, in our demand hub we have, at peak times, deployed police officers to support call handlers in order to increase call answering capacity, until we are able to get new police staff through the recruitment and training process.

“This means that despite the number of calls into our 999 lines having increased by 27% compared to pre-covid figures, in February (2024), we were answering 91.8% calls in in 10 seconds, meaning we now sit 13^th in the country for call pick up times. This is an improvement from when we were inspected in November last year. The report praised call taking staff for their politeness and knowledge, despite the challenging job that they do.      

“The report also recognises the Constabulary has implemented a number innovative leadership programmes supporting specialist areas, as well as the investment in frontline supervision, including under-represented groups.  

“We have also increased resources, welfare support and leadership into our online child abuse team and the team that manages registered sex offenders.  These are both areas of business that have grown significantly in the past few years, and two areas that carry significant risk, so it was imperative that we acted before today’s report came out. The risk within these areas has now significantly reduced.

“This action has already demonstrated positive results including clearing a backlog of checks that needed to be made and visits that needed to be carried out.  We now need to ensure these changes are maintained, to ensure the trust, confidence and safety of our community.”

For the full report go to the HMICFRS website