Northamptonshire Police has made improvements in most areas, but
the force still needs to improve how it investigates crime, the
police inspectorate has said.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue
Services (HMICFRS) graded Northamptonshire Police’s performance
across nine areas of policing and found the force was outstanding
in one area, good in one area, adequate in six areas and requires
improvement in one area.
HMICFRS said the force has improved in most areas, particularly
in how it communicates with its communities to identify local
problems and gather intelligence.
However, the inspectorate said the force needs to improve how it
investigates crime. The force has good governance structures and
aims to make sure its officers have sufficient skills, but the
inspection found that offenders may not always be brought to
justice and that victims were not always getting the most
appropriate outcomes.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher
said:
“I am pleased with some aspects of Northamptonshire Police’s
performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing
victims with an effective service. I commend the force for its
concerted effort in making improvements since our last
inspection.
“However, there are some areas where the force needs to improve.
The force isn’t answering 999 calls within the timescales set by
national targets or attending non‑emergency calls within set
times. And we found that it didn’t always update victims about
delays. Although, at the time of our inspection, the force had
recently invested in its control room to improve how it responds
to the public.
“In the lead up to our inspection, there was instability in the
chief officer team due to several vacancies and chief officer
appointments, and shortly following our inspection, the chief
constable was suspended pending the outcome of a misconduct
investigation. We will continue to closely monitor how this
affects the force’s performance, and how the force meets the
public’s needs.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The Northamptonshire Police PEEL 2023/25 report (police
effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy) will be published on
the HMICFRS website at 00:01 on
Friday 16 February 2024.
- In 2014, we introduced our police effectiveness, efficiency
and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections, which assess the performance
of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Since then, we have
been continuously adapting our approach.
- We have continued our intelligence-led, continual assessment
approach, rather than the annual PEEL inspections we used in
previous years.
- We have also changed our approach to graded judgments. We now
assess forces against thecharacteristics of good
performance, and we more clearly link our judgments to
causes of concern and areas for improvement.
- It isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the
grades awarded in this PEEL inspection and those from the
previous cycle of PEEL inspections. This is because we have
increased our focus on making sure forces are achieving
appropriate outcomes for the public, and in some cases we have
changed the aspects of policing we inspect.
- More information about the new PEEL assessment framework
2023-2025 is available on our website.
