Bedfordshire Police HQ
Bridgebury House, Woburn Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK43 9AX
Email the OPCC
PCC@beds.police.uk
Bridgebury House, Woburn Road, Kempston, Bedfordshire, MK43 9AX
PCC@beds.police.uk
HMICFRS Reports
The Specified Information Order requires PCCs to publish the most recent HMICFRS force-level report on the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of the police force. It also requires PCCs to publish the summary assessment of the performance of the police force.
Annual report on the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of the police force
Since 2018, HMICFRS has issued a single report to forces, PCCs and the public, with gradings for force performance in those areas inspected. These integrated PEEL inspection reports are published on the HMICFRS website using the following link- http://www.hmic.gov.uk/publications/Â
In 2020/21, HMICFRS published a new police inspection programme and framework. If you would like to read more, please click the following link – Policing inspection programme and framework 2021/22: for consultation – HMICFRS (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk)
As part of this, they have moved to a two-year inspection and reporting cycle and will publish new PEEL force performance reports between late summer 2021 and end March 2023.
The Order requires that PCCs publish the PEEL report for their force on their website.
The inspection assessed how good Bedfordshire Police is in nine areas of policing and made graded judgments in eight of these nine as follows. HMICFRS also inspected how effective a service Bedfordshire Police gives to victims of crime. HMICFRSÂ do not make a graded judgment in this overall area.
Published on: 23 December 2021
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and HM Inspectorate of Prisons are reviewing and updating their Expectations for police custody.
We are consulting across the sector to obtain the views of our stakeholders on the refreshed Expectations and to inform any further amendments or changes that might be needed.
The Expectations were last updated in 2018.
This version of the Expectations addresses changes to the PACE Codes of Guidance â in particular PACE Code C for the detention, treatment and questioning of persons detained â and any changes made by College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice (APP) on Detention and Custody.
The proposed Expectations also reflect concerns raised by those with an interest in police custody, or where recommendations have been made to improve standards. We remain focused in our Expectations on achieving better outcomes for detainees.
The main changes reflect:
We have also taken the opportunity to clarify wording, remove duplication, and re-order some of the sections and indicators.
Published on: 17 September 2021
In March 2021, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majestyâs Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to inspect the effectiveness of police engagement with women and girls.
This report sets out findings from our inspection of how effectively the police respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG (PDF document)) offences. These are violent and high-harm crimes that disproportionally affect women and girls, such as domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking and female genital mutilation.
In July 2021, we published an interim report on our initial findings and recommendations. This was to inform work on the Governmentâs revised tackling VAWG strategy.
The interim report was based mainly on our review of evidence from our previous inspections and from our consultations with experts
Published on: 24 August 2021
On 19 March 2019, the Centre for Womenâs Justice made a super-complaint to HMICFRS.Â
This super-complaint is about the policeâs alleged failure to use protective measures to safeguard women and girls. It sets out concerns about four tools the police can use/are involved in:Â
The CWJ is concerned the police arenât using these tools enough and in the right way.Â
What is a super-complaint?Â
AâŻsuper-complaintâŻis a complaint that âa feature, or combination of features, of policing in England and Wales by one or more than one police force is, or appears to be, harming the interests of the publicâ (section 29A, Police Reform Act 2002).Â
The system aims to examine problems of local,âŻregionalâŻor national significance that may not be addressed by existing complaints systems. The process for making and considering a super-complaint is outlined in theâŻPolice Super-complaints Regulations 2018.Â
Super-complaints provide a voice for designated bodies to raise concerns on behalf of the public. They can include patterns or trends in policing that are, or appear to be, harming the interests of the public.Â
College of PolicingâŻand theâŻIndependent Office for Police ConductâŻ(IOPC)âŻare responsible for assessing, investigating and reporting on police super-complaints. We have collaborated on the investigation and on drawing conclusions.Â
Published on: 7 July 2021
On 26 March 2021, the Home Secretary commissioned HMICFRS to inspect how the police work with female victims, offenders and witnesses. The report was published in two sections. We published our interim report in July 2021. We published our final report in September 2021.
Interim report: Inspection into how effectively the police engage with women and girls
The interim report sets out findings and recommendations from one part of this inspection, which focuses on how effectively the police respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG) offences. These are violent and high-harm crimes that disproportionally affect women and girls, such asâŻdomestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, and female genital mutilation (FGM).
We published these interim findings before our main inspection report, so our evidence could inform the Governmentâs violence against women and girls strategy, which was published in July 2021.
HMI Zoë Billingham made three recommendations in this report:
Police response to violence against women and girls: final inspection report
This final report sets out findings and recommendations on how effectively the police respond to VAWG offences. It draws on the findings of new inspection activity, and on our work to gather the views of female victims and survivors themselves.
HMI Zoë Billingham made two further recommendations in this final report:
Published on: 5 August 2021
In 2018, the Home Secretary commissioned HMICFRS to carry out a thematic inspection of fraud.
We conducted our inspection between March and July 2018. In April 2019, we published Fraud: Time to choose â An inspection of the police response to fraud. In that report, we made 16 recommendations and identified 5 areas for improvement (AFIs).
We have revisited our previous inspection to see how the police service has responded to the recommendations and AFIs we made in that report. This report presents our findings on the progress that has been made.
Published on: 21 July 2021
This document is HMICFRSâs inspection programme and framework for policing for 2021/22.
The types of inspections we carry out are:
We have amended our organisational strategy. This inspection programme and framework complies with our statutory obligations and is designed to facilitate the achievement of our four strategic objectives.
We will:
PCC response to report
Published on: 21 July 2021
This is Her Majestyâs Chief Inspector of Constabularyâs report to the Secretary of State under section 54(4A) of the Police Act 1996. It contains his assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of policing in England and Wales based on the inspections we carried out between March 2020 and March 2021.
Published on: 23 June 2021
The United Kingdom entered the first national lockdown on 23 March 2020. Most of us were instructed to stay at home. This meant many victims of domestic abuse couldnât distance themselves from their abuser, safely contact the police for help or get support from family and friends. Forces started to work differently, recognising that the absence of a call to the police doesnât imply absence of abuse and harm. Many forces adopted innovative new practices to check on the safety of victims of domestic abuse, finding new ways to âreach inâ to them rather than waiting for victims to âreach outâ.
This review expands on the findings in our recent policing COVID-19 report, highlighting good practice and innovation. We have also made three recommendations aimed at ensuring forces continue to respond to the challenges of policing domestic abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
It is the fifth in a series of thematic domestic abuse publications since our first report in March 2014, Everyoneâs business: Improving the police response to domestic abuse. This review looks at how the police responded to the unique challenges the COVID-19 pandemic placed on preventing and responding to domestic abuse.
Published on: 20 April 2021
In July, we announced our intention to inspect the police response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our inspection took a snapshot of policing and assessed what happened from March to November 2020.
We consulted many interested parties about the aspects of policing that our inspection should cover.
Our inspection focused on:
Published on: 20 April 2021
In March 2020, we suspended all inspection work so that police forces, and fire and rescue services could focus on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our inspection took a snapshot of policing during the pandemic and looked at what happened from March to November 2020.
Our inspection assessed how policing:
Our report Policing in the pandemic: The police response to the COVID-19 pandemic was published in April 2021.
This report supplements the wider inspection with more detailed findings on how custody services operated in a COVID-19 environment. It aims to:
Published on: 25 March 2021
This document provides details of HMICFRSâs inspection programme and framework for policing for 2020/21.
The original consultation on our plans for policing inspection activity in 2020/21 was published on 6 March 2020 â just before lockdown restrictions were imposed as a result of COVID-19. One week later, we suspended appreciable inspection activity, and offered to return seconded officers and staff to their home forces, to better allow policing to focus on its response to the pandemic.
We revised our original plans for inspection in 2020/21 to ensure that they:
Our plans were kept under review throughout 2020/21 to ensure they remained right and relevant.
Types of inspection in 2020/21
Published on: 11 March 2021
In recent years, increasing amounts of police time and resources have been spent dealing with protests. In April and October 2019, Extinction Rebellion brought some of Londonâs busiest areas to a standstill for several days. The policing operation for the two extended protests cost ÂŁ37m, more than twice the annual budget of Londonâs violent crime taskforce.
Protests are an important part of our vibrant and tolerant democracy. Under human rights law, we all have the right to gather and express our views. But these rights are not absolute rights. That fact raises important questions for the police and wider society to consider about how much disruption is tolerable, and how to deal with protesters who break the law. A fair balance should be struck between individual rights and the general interests of the community.
We inspected ten police forces with recent experience of policing protests and consulted a wide range of other bodies, including protest groups and â through a survey of over 2000 people â the general public.
Published on: 26 February 2021
Over 35 years on from the introduction of stop and search legislation, we have found that no force fully understands the impact of the use of these powers.
When the police use their powers disproportionately â in differing proportions on different ethnic groups â it causes suspicion among some communities that they are being unfairly targeted.
This can undermine police legitimacy, which is a fundamental aspect of the British model of policing by consent.
For some, particularly Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, it can reinforce the perception that there is a culture of discrimination within the police. And, now that we have some long-awaited data on the police use of force, similar concerns are arising about this area of practice.
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:
We have also made two national recommendations.
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 âtraffic officersâ 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:
The control room is one of the engine rooms of a police force. If it doesnât have the right systems and processes in place, the force wonât 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 doesnât become overwhelmed.
This is Her Majestyâs Chief Inspector of Constabularyâs 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 yearâs 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.
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 is HMICFRSâs 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.
The Police Act 1996 requires Her Majestyâs 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.
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 offenderâs contact with children. The police service also has a significant role working with other agencies to ensure the childâs protection and well-being, longer term.
This inspection reviewed the progress made in Bedfordshire Police since the publication of HMICFRSâs Bedfordshire â National Child Protection Inspection in 2017. It is part of a rolling programme of inspections of all police forces in England and Wales.
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
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:
18th February 2016
As part of its annual inspections into police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL), HMICâs effectiveness programme assessed how effective the force is at keeping people safe and reducing crime and anti-social behaviour. This inspection focused on four aspects of policing: preventing crime and anti-social behaviour; investigating crime and managing offenders; protecting vulnerable people and supporting victims; and tackling serious and organised crime.
 View the report – https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/police-effectiveness-2015-bedfordshire/
 —
20th October 2015
This inspection looked at how well forces understand the demand for their service and how well they match their resources to that demand and provides an assessment of their efficiency.
 View the report – https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/publications/peel-police-efficiency-2015/
—
29th May 2015
This report sets out the progress made by Bedfordshire Police since the publication of the Policing in Austerity: Meeting the Challenge report was published in 2014.
 View the report – https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/our-work/article/value-for-money-inspections/policing-in-austerity-meeting-the-challenge/
Bedfordshire Police HQ
Bridgebury House
Woburn Road
Kempston
Bedfordshire
MK43 9AX
Tel: 01234 842064
© Bedfordshire Police & Crime Commissioner 2022
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