Gwent 2018/19

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PEEL: Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy 2018/19 – Gwent Police

Wendy Williams, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary

HMI's observations

I am satisfied with most aspects of the performance of Gwent Police, but the force needs to make improvements in its legitimacy to provide a consistently good service.

The force is good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour. Since our last inspection, the force has improved how it investigates crimes. It has also developed better ways to make sure it identifies and respond to people at risk. It works closely with other agencies to protect vulnerable people. However, the force should do more to provide a consistently good service in child protection investigations.

Gwent Police has a good understanding of current and likely future demand for its services. It is using this information to develop sustainable financial and workforce plans – which include increased collaboration with neighbouring forces.

The force recognises the importance of working closely with communities, but frontline officers and staff vary in their knowledge of unconscious bias. It understands how and when to use stop and search, but needs to improve how it monitors its use, and the use of force. Gwent Police also needs to improve how it identifies and manages the risk of corruption, and needs to do more to ensure all members of its workforce are appropriately vetted.

I commend the progress that Gwent Police has made and will continue to monitor its progress in areas where improvements are still needed.

Gwent Police is good at reducing crime and keeping people safe. It has made improvements in its approach to protecting vulnerable people and tackling serious and organised crime (SOC).

The force is good at investigating crime. It has introduced a new way of investigating crime, which prioritises investigations into crimes that cause the most harm to victims. The force trains and supervises officers and staff to carry out investigations, and victims are generally satisfied with the service they receive.

The force has improved its use of pre and post charge bail, released under investigation (RUI) and managing foreign national offenders. But it can’t be confident that appropriate checks for foreign nationals always take place.

Protecting vulnerable people is a clear priority for the force. Officers and staff are aware of the importance of identifying and responding to vulnerability appropriately.

Gwent Police has made significant progress to improve its response to domestic abuse victims since our last inspection. Better workforce training has increased the use of arrest and legal powers to protect victims of domestic abuse.

The force is good at understanding, disrupting and preventing SOC. But it could improve frontline officers’ awareness of it.

The force has built good working relationships with partner organisations. When planning to disrupt organised crime, it shares information with them to make sure victims are protected. With these partner organisations, it has also developed ways to intervene in situations and divert people at risk of being drawn into organised crime.

Gwent Police is good at preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour. This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.

View the five questions for effectiveness

Gwent Police is good at planning for the future and has used a wide range of information to understand future demand. It has used software to inform its future predictions. This links to its FMS, which it uses to test its predictions and build a better picture of gaps in future policing.

The force is improving its understanding of what the public expects, which will help it plan for future demand.

The force is good at prioritising resources, and adapting them to meet demand.

The force has predicted future retirements and staff increases. But it needs to consider changing requirements to ensure its workforce has the right skills for the future.

The force has a comprehensive medium-term financial plan (MTFP). This includes the longer-term financial issues facing the police service in Gwent.

The force’s plans for future joint working and collaboration are ambitious and based on a clear understanding of the benefits. Collaborative working has increased efficiency and created savings.

In 2017, we judged that the force’s approach to meeting current demand and using resources was good. We have carried over our judgment from the 2017 efficiency inspection.

View the two questions for efficiency

Gwent Police requires improvement at treating the public fairly and on behaving ethically and lawfully. It is good at treating the workforce fairly.

The force recognises the importance of working closely with communities. Officers and staff understand how important it is to treat people with fairness and respect. However, frontline officers and staff varied in their knowledge of unconscious bias.

The workforce understands how and when to use force and stop and search. The force needs to improve how it monitors the use of stop and search and use of force.

Gwent Police needs to do more to ensure all members of its workforce are appropriately vetted for the posts they hold. It also needs to monitor people who apply to see if they belong to certain protected minority groups.

The force needs to improve how it spots and manages risk of corruption. It also needs to make sure it has enough people and resources to do this work.

Gwent Police is good at treating its workforce fairly. This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2017 legitimacy inspection has been carried over.

View the three questions for legitimacy

In addition to the three core PEEL pillars, HMICFRS carries out inspections of a wide range of policing activity throughout the year. Some of these are conducted alongside the PEEL inspections; others are joint inspections.

Findings from these inspections are published separately to the main PEEL reports, but are taken into account when producing the rounded assessment of each force's performance.

Gwent Police – Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018 – published 5 December 2018

Gwent – National child protection inspection – published 27 June 2019

View other reports

Key facts – 2019/20

Force Area

600 square miles

Population

0.598m people

4% local 10 yr change

Workforce

81% frontline police officers

92% national level

3.73 per 1000 population

3.69 national level

9% 10yr change in local workforce

5% 10yr national change

Victim-based crimes

0.06 per person

0.06 national level

12% Local 5 year trend

9% National 5 year trend

Cost

66p per person per day local

59p per person per day national

Gwent 2018/19

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HMI's observations

Effectiveness

How effectively does the force reduce crime and keep people safe?

Efficiency

How efficiently does the force operate and how sustainable are its services to the public?

Legitimacy

How legitimately does the force treat the public and its workforce?

Other inspections

How well has the force performed in our other inspections?

Other reports