Bedfordshire Police HQ
Bridgebury House, Woburn Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK43 9AX
pcc@beds.police.uk
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Transparency / HMIC Reports
HMIC Reports
The Police and Crime Commissioner has a statutory obligation to comment on reports published by HMIC regarding policing matters.
The HMIC website contains all their publications:
http://www.hmic.gov.uk/publications/
The reports relating to Bedfordshire can be found below, together with the relevant responses.
PEEL spotlight report: The Hard Yards – Police to police collaboration
Many police forces across England and Wales collaborate with neighbouring forces to share resources and core functions. These collaborations were brought in to help forces create efficiencies and provide a better service for the public. However, nationally forces are spending over a quarter of a billion pounds on collaborations every year without achieving the desired results.
As part of the annual 2018/19 PEEL assessments, HMICFRS inspected the 43 forces in England and Wales. During the reporting process, we identified themes around force to force collaboration, and drew them together in this report. These findings were supplemented by six specific case studies, covering 27 forces.
Our findings highlight some good practice and areas for improvement. The findings fall into four themes:
- purpose;
- benefits and cost analysis;
- leadership and governance; and
- skills and capabilities
We have also made two national recommendations.
Roads Policing: Not optional – An inspection of roads policing in England and Wales
Before 2013 there were sustained reductions in road deaths in England and Wales. Since then the number of road deaths has levelled off and there are signs of an upturn. Yet, we found that the importance of roads policing has been in decline for some years. There has been less enforcement of drink/drug driving and not wearing seatbelts, with an increase in deaths attributed to these offences.
Roads policing has evolved from ‘traffic officers’ who were mainly focused on enforcement of road traffic legislation, and dealing with road traffic collisions, to a wider concept of policing the roads. This includes the use of roads policing resources to target criminals who use the road network for their criminal purpose.
In this inspection, we examined how effectively the road network of England and Wales is policed. We sought to establish:
- are national and local roads policing strategies effective?;
- does capability and capacity match demand?;
- do the police engage effectively with the public and partners?; and
- how well police officers are trained to deal with roads policing matters?
A call for help – Police contact management through call handling and control rooms in 2018/19
The control room is one of the engine rooms of a police force. If it doesn’t have the right systems and processes in place, the force won’t have an accurate picture of demand. This will affect its ability to respond to calls and investigate crimes effectively.
In this report, our findings highlight the challenges that the police service faces in handling calls with smaller budgets and fewer people. It finds that as the demand on control rooms increases, careful management is needed to make sure that the police service doesn’t become overwhelmed.
State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2019
This is Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary’s report to the Secretary of State under section 54(4A) of the Police Act 1996. It contains his assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in England and Wales based on the inspections we carried out between May 2019 and March 2020.
This year’s assessment starts with initial observations on the quality of the police response to the public health emergency created by COVID-19, and the wider demands the police faced during 2019.
Bedfordshire Police – Joint inspection of police custody – 21 February 2020
This report describes the findings following an inspection of Bedfordshire Police custody facilities. The inspection was conducted jointly by HM Inspectorate of Prisons and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services in October 2019, as part of their programme of inspections covering every police custody suite in England and Wales.
PEEL: Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy 2018/19 – Bedfordshire Police
PEEL is HMICFRS’s annual assessment of police forces in England and Wales. Forces are assessed on their effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy.
In 2018/19, we adopted an integrated approach to our existing PEEL inspections. Integrated PEEL Assessment (IPA) combines into a single inspection the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy areas of PEEL. These areas had previously been inspected separately each year.
HMICFRS
State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2018 – Annual reports — 4 July 2019
The Police Act 1996 requires Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary to report each year on his assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in England and Wales. The assessment covers the full breadth of policing work inspected by HMICFRS, and an overview of police forces in England and Wales. As required by that section, it contains his assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in England and Wales based on the inspections we carried out between April 2018 and May 2019.
Bedfordshire – National Child Protection Post-Inspection Review – 11.04.2019
Protecting children is one of the most important tasks the police undertake. Only the police can investigate suspected crimes, arrest perpetrators and monitor sex offenders. Police officers have the power to take a child who is in danger into a place of safety, or to seek an order to restrict an offender’s contact with children. The police service also has a significant role working with other agencies to ensure the child’s protection and well-being, longer term.
This inspection reviewed the progress made in Bedfordshire Police since the publication of HMICFRS’s Bedfordshire – National Child Protection Inspection in 2017. It is part of a rolling programme of inspections of all police forces in England and Wales.
Bedfordshire – National Child Protection Inspection – November 2017
This inspection examined child protection in Bedfordshire Police in July 2017. It is part of a rolling programme of inspections of all police forces in England and Wales
PEEL: Police effectiveness 2017
As part of our annual inspections of police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL), HMICFRS assessed how effective the force is at keeping people safe and reducing crime. This inspection focused on five areas of policing:
- How effective is the force at preventing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and keeping people safe?
- How effective is the force at investigating crime and reducing re-offending?
- How effective is the force at protecting those who are vulnerable from harm, and supporting victims?
- How effective is the force at tackling serious and organised crime?
- How effective are the force’s specialist capabilities?
