Concerns over Devon and Cornwall Police's performance
There are concerns about the performance of Devon and Cornwall Police, the police inspectorate has said.
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PEEL 2023–2025: An inspection of Devon and Cornwall Police
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Devon and Cornwall Police’s performance across eight areas of policing. It found the force was good in one area, adequate in three areas, requires improvement in two areas and inadequate in two areas.
HMICFRS said the force has a good approach to preventing and deterring crime, antisocial behaviour and vulnerability. There have also been improvements in the time taken to answer 999 calls and the number of calls abandoned has been reduced.
However, inspectors said they had concerns that the standards of the force’s investigations have deteriorated, with many investigations lacking a detailed plan or effective supervision. The inspectorate also said the force still isn’t attending incidents resulting from calls for service as fast as it should.
In October 2022, HMICFRS placed Devon and Cornwall Police into its enhanced monitoring stage, Engage. This process helps to provide additional scrutiny and support from across the policing sector to help Devon and Cornwall Police continue to make improvements.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke said:
“I have concerns about the performance of Devon and Cornwall Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime, and providing victims with an effective service.
“Since our previous inspection, the force has made significant efforts to improve in the areas we highlighted as causes of concern or areas for improvement, which is recognised. However, despite those improvements, more is required to place the force in a position where it is consistently providing a good standard of service to its local communities.
“The force has made considerable improvements in how it treats the people who contact it, from the quality of the initial call to the services the force offers. But the force still needs to improve the time it takes to attend incidents.
“I look forward to seeing how the force continues to work to improve its performance, which I will be closely monitoring.”
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PEEL 2023–2025: An inspection of Devon and Cornwall Police
Notes
- For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
- 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 the characteristics 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.
- Read more information about the new PEEL assessment framework 2023–2025.