Cambridgeshire Constabulary PEEL 2017

Cambridgeshire Constabulary has made good progress since 2016 towards understanding demand for its services. The force recognises that it needs to do more to achieve a good understanding of demand and has engaged external expertise and purchased analytical systems to improve its assessment of current, complex and future demand. The force identifies hidden demand well, prioritising resources to seek out demand that is more challenging for the force and partner organisations to identify.

The force has good systems for identifying inefficient processes and to improve how it operates. It identifies the right response to a reported incident using a risk-based approach. The force has a wide range of methods the public can use to contact it, including an online non-urgent crime-reporting option. However, the force recognises that it needs to do more to reduce the proportion of non-urgent calls that are abandoned, to ensure that demand is not being suppressed by calls not being answered.

The force has good processes to ensure that benefits from its change projects are realised and that unintended negative consequences are identified. It has a strong culture of innovation, particularly in information technology. The workforce is encouraged to make suggestions and put forward their ideas, which are listened to by leaders.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary uses and allocates its resources well to manage current demand. It has a good understanding of the cost and quality of current service levels and it prioritises resources to meet demand. The force is developing a new local policing model which aims to be more flexible and match resources to demand better. However, this is not yet in place and redirecting resources is having an adverse effect in some areas.

The force has a good understanding of its workforce’s operational skills and capabilities. It is identifying future requirements and has plans to allocate resources appropriately. The force could benefit from a more formal understanding of the interpersonal skills held by the workforce and from a better understanding of leadership skills, particularly below the rank of chief inspector and police staff equivalent.

The force has good investment plans and it is working well with other organisations to manage demand for services. It continues to develop the strong and well-established strategic alliance, regional and seven-force collaborations. The force can demonstrate that its collaboration with others reduces cost, and increases resilience and capacity.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary is improving its understanding of future demand, which is less well developed than its assessment of current demand. It has improved its analytical capability, engaging external consultants and purchasing new analytical software. The force has a strong focus on how crimes can be committed online with changing technology. It recognises that its workforce will need new skills to tackle online crime and is continuing to develop its capability at force, regional and national levels.

The force is training leaders for the future. The collaborative approach within the strategic alliance to recruitment and developing people’s skills should ensure greater opportunities to increase the diversity of teams and to recruit talented individuals from outside the force. However, the quality assurance process for performance development reviews needs to be improved.

The force faces financial pressures and has developed a realistic detailed plan for making changes. Its development of a new operating model has strong financial management and oversight. The chief constable and the police and crime commissioner are working closely with their counterparts in the strategic alliance and with local partner organisations to achieve greater efficiencies. The force is investing well in ICT and other technology and it is committed to invest to save projects that should increase its capacity and capability.