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Derbyshire PEEL 2017

Effectiveness

How effective is the force at keeping people safe and reducing crime?

Last updated 22/03/2018
Good

Derbyshire Constabulary is good at keeping people safe and reducing crime. It consistently provides a good service to its communities, and continues to have an effective approach towards protecting vulnerable people and supporting victims.

The force has a comprehensive understanding of the nature and scale of vulnerability in the community, helped by its strong working relationships with public-sector partner organisations, including local councils and charities. Frontline officers and staff, including those in the control room, are confident in their ability to recognise the signs that someone may be vulnerable and identify appropriate safeguarding measures. The force has improved the way in which it handles calls about domestic abuse. Officers in general conduct effective risk assessments at domestic abuse incidents, and an improvement in the quality of information that officers record underpins an effective referral process.

Two multi-agency safeguarding hubs operate in Derbyshire, where the force works alongside partner organisations to meet the needs of vulnerable adults and children. In addition, specialist officers and staff in two vulnerability units are effective in arranging support for vulnerable people and organising long-term safeguarding measures.

The force is committed to providing the best possible service to people with mental health conditions. Call handlers are trained to recognise mental health problems and are skilled in providing the best response to callers. Close co-operation takes place with mental health practitioners and expert advice is available to frontline officers while dealing with incidents.

Derbyshire Constabulary has the necessary arrangements in place to fulfil its national policing responsibilities and to respond in the first instance to an attack that requires an armed response. It has plans in place to test the effectiveness of this capability regularly.

Questions for Effectiveness

3

How effective is the force at protecting those who are vulnerable from harm, and supporting victims?

Good

Derbyshire Constabulary is good at protecting vulnerable people from harm and supporting victims.

Examples of effective practice include:

  • excellent relationships with partner organisations, to support vulnerable people and meet the needs of victims;
  • frontline officers and staff are confident about recognising the signs of vulnerability and identifying appropriate safeguarding measures;
  • the force has adopted an enhanced process for handling calls about domestic abuse; and
  • officers conduct effective risk assessments at domestic abuse incidents and record good quality information, which underpins an effective referral process.

The force is well organised in how it manages the risk posed by dangerous and sexual offenders. However, the specialist team would benefit from improved access to mobile technology. The force should consider accelerating its planned technology update for this team.

5

How effective are the force’s specialist capabilities?

Ungraded

National threats often require forces to work together, across force boundaries. These threats include terrorism, large-scale disorder and civil emergencies. We examined the capabilities in place to respond to these threats, in particular a firearms attack.

Most positively, the force:

  • works constructively with other organisations to build its capabilities to respond to national threats;
  • tests its skills in training exercises;
  • analyses major incidents and training exercises to identify improvements and best practice; and
  • has developed an adequate understanding of the threat to the public from an armed attack.