Police Service of Northern Ireland needs to improve its crime prevention and management of offenders and suspects
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) needs to improve how it prevents crime and manages offenders and suspects, the police inspectorate has said.
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The Police Service of Northern Ireland: An inspection of police effectiveness and efficiency
The continued financial pressures facing the service, if unresolved, are likely to continue to affect the service it provides.
The chief constable, his officers and staff are clearly determined to provide a high-quality service, and to secure the trust and confidence of all communities.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded the PSNI’s performance across two areas of policing.
It found:
- the service is ‘adequate’ in preventing and deterring crime, antisocial behaviour and vulnerability; and
- the service ‘requires improvement’ in managing offenders and suspects.
HMICFRS said the service uses a range of techniques to prevent crime and antisocial behaviour. For example, neighbourhood policing teams have worked to build trust and confidence with young people to divert them away from paramilitary groups and offending behaviour. The service also works closely with retailers to tackle crime.
However, inspectors said that the service should make sure neighbourhood officers aren’t diverted from their main duties to cover gaps in response teams. Covering non-neighbourhood duties means officers can’t spend enough time carrying out visible patrols, working with local communities, or doing preventative and problem-solving work.
It is acknowledged that these decisions have been taken by the leadership of the service reluctantly and in response to reduced officer numbers.
The inspectorate also found that the child internet protection team doesn’t have enough personnel so can’t effectively manage its high workloads. As a result of this, it can’t manage the number of referrals it receives from the National Crime Agency.
Inspectors also said there was a lack of adequate support for officers who managed violent and sexual offenders or investigated offences involving children. The service didn’t have psychological screening for officers in the offender investigation unit or the child internet protection team. It needs to provide better support for child abuse investigators, offender managers and their supervisors.
HMICFRS said that financial pressures are limiting what the service is able to achieve. Inspectors said that the findings of this inspection highlight that the service’s capacity to provide a high-quality service to the public is under great strain.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Lee Freeman said:
”I have concerns about the performance of the service in keeping people safe, preventing crime and providing victims with an effective service.
“The service’s leaders told us they valued, and recognised the importance of, neighbourhood policing. But in our inspection, we found the current resourcing picture is stark. The service often took neighbourhood officers away from their core roles to cover response and other policing duties.
“The service must improve how it manages the risk posed by violent and sexual offenders. It must also make sure that it shares safeguarding information promptly with health and social care trusts.
“During this inspection, we found a worrying lack of adequate support for officers who managed violent and sexual offenders or investigated offences involving children. It needs to provide child abuse investigators and offender managers with more psychological support.
“However, the continued financial pressures facing the service, if unresolved, are likely to further affect the service it can provide. The chief constable, his officers and staff are clearly determined to provide a high-quality service and to secure the trust and confidence of all communities.
“The financial pressures mean, however, that the service is currently limited in what it is able to achieve.”
Get the report
The Police Service of Northern Ireland: An inspection of police effectiveness and efficiency
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.