Improvements needed to Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s performance
Avon and Somerset Constabulary is good at preventing and deterring crime, but it must improve its performance in some areas, including in how it responds to the public and protects vulnerable people, the police inspectorate has said.
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PEEL 2023–2025: An inspection of Avon and Somerset Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Avon and Somerset Constabulary’s performance across eight areas of policing. It found the constabulary was ‘good’ in two areas, ‘adequate’ in one area and ‘requires improvement’ in five areas.
HMICFRS said the constabulary was good at using police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully. For example, it has made efforts to better understand how and when officers use handcuffing, incorporating the learning outcomes into frontline officer training.
The constabulary has piloted a scheme where women show police community support officers the locations where they feel unsafe as part of its efforts to prevent and deter crime.
However, the inspectorate said there are several areas where the constabulary needs to improve, including some areas which had not improved since the constabulary’s previous inspection.
The constabulary needs to improve its response to the public, including answering 999 calls more quickly and reducing the number of non-emergency calls abandoned. It needs to make sure it consistently achieves appropriate outcomes for victims, and carries out timely investigations into all reported crimes, ensuring officers take all investigative opportunities.
Inspectors also said that the constabulary needs to improve how it identifies and prioritises vulnerable people for referral to other agencies, and its management of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme. As well as improving its offender and suspect management, the inspectorate found that there was little oversight of wanted people at a constabulary-wide level, and the way in which they were prioritised for arrest was unclear.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said:
“I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of Avon and Somerset Constabulary, but there are areas in which the constabulary needs to improve. And some of the areas for improvement are identical to those we identified in the last inspection.
“The way the constabulary treats the public and manages its use of powers such as stop and search remains positive. So does the way the constabulary prevents and deters crime, and how it communicates with the public. We saw progress in the constabulary’s approach to problem-solving and its provision of bespoke training for neighbourhood policing teams.
“However, the constabulary needs to make sure it properly allocates, plans and supervises investigations, so that victims get the service they deserve. It also needs to make sure that crime investigations are given the correct outcome when they are finalised. And more investigations result in offenders being brought to justice.
“We also found that the leadership and governance of the constabulary could be improved in terms of its overall management structure and operating model, its use of data, and how its leaders communicate and work with their workforce.
“I look forward to seeing how the constabulary brings about positive change in these areas. I will be closely monitoring this in the months ahead.”
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PEEL 2023–2025: An inspection of Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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 PEEL assessment framework 2023-2025.