Kent 2018/19

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

Zoë Billingham, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary

HMI's observations

I congratulate Kent Police on its excellent performance in keeping people safe and reducing crime.

The force is good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour. It investigates crime well. It works effectively with other agencies to identify and protect vulnerable people.

I am particularly pleased with the force’s performance in recording crime. It has substantially improved its crime-recording accuracy since our 2017 inspection.

Kent Police is ambitious in its planning for the future and wants to be at the forefront of innovative practice. I am very impressed with its understanding of changing demand and how it links this to its future financial planning and workforce development.

Senior leaders make sure that the workforce understands the importance of treating the public and each other with fairness and respect. The force continues to be outstanding in this area. It clearly promotes the standards of professional behaviour it expects. This is well understood by the workforce.

Overall, I congratulate Kent Police for its excellent performance over the past year.

I am confident that it is well-equipped for this to continue.

Kent Police is effective at reducing crime and keeping people safe.

It is good at investigating crime. But it should quickly resolve the problems with its new information and communications technology (ICT) system. The force should also make sure it doesn’t close investigations too early.

The force is good at protecting vulnerable people. It works well with partner organisations to do this. It also uses its protective powers well. But it needs to make sure it has enough staff in its online investigation team to manage demand.

In 2017, we judged Kent Police as good at preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour and at tackling serious and organised crime.

View the five questions for effectiveness

Kent Police operates efficiently and provides services that it can maintain in the long term.

The force is outstanding at future planning. It understands how demand is likely to change. It uses a range of data and works closely with partner organisations to do this.

Kent Police communicates really well with the public. The force understands what matters to people. It knows what skills it needs to provide a good service.

The force has a good financial and people plan. It is good at identifying and supporting future leaders.

In 2017, we judged Kent Police as outstanding at meeting current demands and using resources.

View the two questions for efficiency

Kent Police treats the public and its workforce legitimately.

It is good at behaving ethically and lawfully. Force leaders model this and support a culture of learning. The force encourages officers and staff to think about how they would respond to ethical dilemmas.

The force has an anti-corruption plan. But it needs good monitoring systems to support this. And it needs to have more people working in this area. The force is making better links with groups that work with vulnerable people. This will help it manage corruption better.

In 2017, we judged Kent Police as outstanding at treating the public and its workforce fairly.

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.

Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to domestic abuse in Medway – published 3 August 2018

Kent Police: Crime Data Integrity re-inspection 2018 – published 15 January 2019

View other reports

Key facts – 2019/20

Force Area

1,444 square miles

Population

1.87m people

9% local 10 yr change

Workforce

94% frontline police officers

92% national level

3.56 per 1000 population

3.69 national level

2% 10yr change in local workforce

5% 10yr national change

Victim-based crimes

0.08 per person

0.06 national level

33% Local 5 year trend

9% National 5 year trend

Cost

49p per person per day local

59p per person per day national

Kent 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