Essex PEEL 2014

Essex Police has a made a comprehensive assessment of demand and of the challenges it faces. There is strong evidence of resources being allocated to match policing priorities. The force successfully reversed some of the adverse effects on the service it provides arising from changes made early in the spending review. However, there is scope to improve further the quality of service by working more smartly. Since 2010/11, the force has reduced crime but not to the levels achieved by other forces. The level of victim satisfaction in Essex remains steady throughout this period. However, the force continues to achieve lower overall crime levels than elsewhere in England and Wales.

The force has sound plans to achieve savings in 2014/15 thereby achieving the £47.3m savings required over the spending review. It is progressing plans to achieve a further £9.5m of savings in 2015/16. The force has assessed its future savings requirements to 2017 and has started to develop plans to meet this challenge. The force needs to invest in its infrastructure to support the way it will provide policing in the future. The force needs to plan to achieve future savings without over-reliance on reserves. Investing in its infrastructure will help the force to meet longer-term challenges.

The force plans to increase the proportion of the workforce allocated to frontline roles while meeting its savings requirement over the spending review. After a shaky start at the beginning of the spending review the force is now developing better plans for providing local policing. This will see 500 officers from response, patrol and other specialist functions aligned to local policing. The force’s collaboration with Kent Police is strong; it has achieved savings with opportunities to extend it further. The force is bearing down on non-pay and is successfully protecting frontline police officer crime-fighting roles while also making the necessary savings.