Merseyside Police congratulated for good performance

Merseyside Police has been congratulated for its overall good performance, although it needs to improve in some areas, the police inspectorate has said.

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PEEL 2021/22 – An inspection of Merseyside Police

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Merseyside Police’s performance across 10 areas of policing and found the force was ‘outstanding’ in one area, ‘good’ in eight areas, and ‘adequate’ in one area.

HMICFRS said the force was outstanding at disrupting serious organised crime.

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said:

“I congratulate Merseyside Police on its performance in keeping people safe and reducing crime. In particular, the force’s performance in dealing with serious and organised crime is outstanding. It disrupts gangs bringing in drugs from other areas in innovative ways and consults the public on how to use the money it seizes to benefit the community.

“The force is also performing well across most other areas of policing – this includes protecting vulnerable people, preventing and investigating crime, and supporting its own workforce.

“There are some areas where the force could improve, such as giving a better service to victims – for example, by recording why some victims withdraw their support for investigations – and responding quicker to priority calls.

“Merseyside Police should be applauded for its efforts to keep the public safe, and I will continue to monitor its progress as it makes further improvements.”

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PEEL 2021/22 – An inspection of Merseyside Police

Notes

  1. For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 07836 217 729 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk.
  2. 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 and this year has seen the most significant changes yet.
  3. We are moving to a more 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.
  4. We have also expanded our previous four-tier system of judgments to five tiers. As a result, we can state more precisely where we consider improvement is needed and highlight more effectively the best ways of doing things.
  5. However, these changes mean that it isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded this year with those from previous PEEL inspections. A reduction in grade, particularly from good to adequate, does not necessarily mean that there has been a reduction in performance, unless we say so in the report.
  6. More information about the new PEEL assessment framework 2021/22 is available on our website.