This year, for the first time, we have assessed leadership across the force. The assessment has led to a narrative rather than graded judgment, which is summarised below.
Read more about my assessment of Leicestershire Police’s performance this year, including exceptional events and where I would like to see improvements next year.
I am very pleased with the performance of Leicestershire Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime.
The force is good at keeping people safe and tackling crime, including managing serious and organised crime. It has invested in specialist teams to protect vulnerable people, and it has constructive partnership arrangements to improve the service it provides to victims. Our inspection found that the force could do more to improve the safeguarding of domestic abuse victims who are not deemed to be at the highest risk by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of those involved. I am reassured that the force is taking steps to address this.
I welcome the work of Leicestershire Police in introducing a new way of organising itself, which is aimed at improving performance while reducing costs. The force understands the demands it faces and is well prepared to face its future financial challenges.
I am pleased that the force understands and successfully engages with the people it serves, through effective neighbourhood policing. It also communicates well with the public, making good use of social media.
The chief officer team emphasises the importance of giving careful consideration to ethical matters, and there are appropriate arrangements in place to support the wellbeing of the workforce.
Description of force area
Leicestershire Police provides policing services to the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. Although there are some more affluent areas, Leicestershire has a high level of poverty. Around one million people mainly live in the urban centres which include the city of Leicester and the towns of Loughborough, Market Harborough and Melton Mowbray. The resident population is ethnically diverse, with 22 percent from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, and is increased by the very large number of students who study in the area’s universities and those who visit, socialise, or travel through the county. The transport infrastructure includes rail stations and an airport.
The proportion of areas in Leicestershire that are predicted to present a very high challenge to the police is higher than the national average. These are characterised by social deprivation or a concentration of commercial premises (including licensed premises), and in some cases both.
Exceptional events
In March 2015, five days of events and activities across the county marked the re-interment of King Richard III.
Working arrangements
Leicestershire Police works well with other forces within the East Midlands and is part of a successful collaboration that provides policing and support services, such as major crime, special branch and serious and organised crime and forensics.
The force is also part of the East Midlands Operational Support Service, a collaboration between Lincolnshire Police, Northamptonshire Police and Nottinghamshire Police that is responsible for managing and deploying resources including firearms, dog sections, search and roads policing units.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Leicestershire Police to be good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. The force is committed to preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, investigations are of a good quality and the force works well at tackling serious and organised crime. However, in the important area of protecting vulnerable people, the force needs to improve. This is the first year HMIC has graded forces on their overall effectiveness so comparison of their year-on-year effectiveness is not possible.
Efficiency
Leicestershire Police is well prepared to face its future financial challenges. It has balanced the budget and has a good track record of achieving savings. The force has recently introduced a new way of organising itself based on a detailed analysis of demand. In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the first spending review period, Leicestershire Police was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
The chief officer team is fully committed to the need for an ethical and inclusive workforce. There are appropriate arrangements in place to support the wellbeing of officers and staff. Local teams have a good understanding of their neighbourhoods and engage positively with the public. Taser is used fairly and appropriately by officers who are well trained but the force is not compliant with all aspects of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme.
This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
Leicestershire Police is a well led force. Its chief officer team has taken positive steps to understand its leadership capabilities and develop a clear leadership strategy and training plan. It has put in place effective processes to understand the views of its workforce.
Insights from other inspections
HMIC undertakes other inspections in addition to the PEEL programme. Since the last PEEL assessment there have been six reports published on inspections that included Leicestershire Police. More detail on some of these inspections can be found under the Other inspections section.
Looking ahead to PEEL 2016
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how the force responds to this assessment, and to the areas for improvement that HMIC has identified in the last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- how changes the force is already making improve its compliance with the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme;
- the outcome of efforts to stop delays in the allocation of some investigations, including those involving vulnerable victims; and
- how the force continues to develop its response to repeat victims of domestic abuse and child sexual exploitation.
In May 2016, like the majority of forces in England and Wales, the force will see the second elections for its police and crime commissioner.
