Nottinghamshire 2018/19

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

Zoë Billingham, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary

HMI's observations

I am satisfied with most aspects of Nottinghamshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe and reducing crime. However, the force needs to continue to improve its efficiency in order to provide a consistently good service.

The force investigates crime well. I am particularly pleased that it has improved how it identifies and responds to vulnerable people and works effectively with other agencies to protect them.

The force’s understanding of its demand is improving. I am encouraged that this will allow the force to plan for the future more clearly, to make sure it uses its resources as efficiently as possible. But I have some concerns about the force’s decision to withdraw from collaborations with other forces in the region. This may limit its ability to achieve maximum efficiency.

Senior leaders continue to uphold an ethical culture and promote standards of behaviour well. But the force needs to improve how it deals with potential unfairness at work and how it looks after its workforce.

I am encouraged by the progress that Nottinghamshire Police has made over the past year. I am confident that the force will continue to make improvements in the year ahead.

Nottinghamshire Police is good at reducing crime and keeping people safe.

It is good at protecting people who are vulnerable. But it needs to improve how it prevents crime and deals with anti-social behaviour.

The force needs to get a better understanding of its local communities. It also needs to improve how it assesses and shares good ways of working. It should talk to the public more when it sets its priorities. It should also update them following consultation. But it works well with other organisations to solve problems, and protect and support vulnerable people.

The force has a new policing model that’s neighbourhood-based. It has recruited more officers to help with demand and is planning more training for local teams. It should try not to move neighbourhood staff to help in other areas, as this makes it harder for them to deal with local problems. It isn’t easy for it to understand which problem-solving methods work best, as it doesn’t always record results. This could lead to different levels of service.

Nottinghamshire Police is good at spotting vulnerable people when they first contact the force. It has got better at responding to them. But it should improve how it responds to incidents that are less urgent, so that officers can assess if someone is vulnerable more quickly. Officers and staff treat vulnerable people well. The force regularly gets feedback from vulnerable victims to help it improve its approach. This includes those who don’t support police action. The force makes good use of its powers to protect people. Officers and staff are good at assessing risk at domestic abuse incidents and respond well to people with mental health problems.

In 2017, we judged Nottinghamshire Police as good at investigating crime and at tackling serious and organised crime.

View the five questions for effectiveness

Nottinghamshire Police needs to improve how efficiently it operates and the sustainability of its services to the public.

It needs to improve how it meets current demands and uses its resources and how it plans for the future.

The force needs to get a better understanding of demand. It is getting better at assessing future demand, but needs to understand how demand is changing. It also needs to use more partnership data for this. It works with a range of organisations, which helps them all use their resources more effectively and provide better services. But it needs to understand the effect that pressures on other organisations have on its own demand. It has decided to come out of one collaboration, but it isn’t clear if this is a good decision. The force needs to review its systems to make sure they don’t accidentally hide demand or introduce delays. Planned recruitment of more officers will help it manage demand.

The force has good financial plans. It has linked these to its workforce plan and the priorities of the police and crime commissioner (PCC). It willingly tries new approaches. The new neighbourhood-based force structure will make police officers more visible and help with partnership working. The force should have a plan for using ICT to support its needs. It should check that it is getting the benefits of changes it makes and ensure it monitors how it reinvests savings. The force is getting better at understanding the skills of its workforce and how much its services cost.

But it needs to understand what skills it will need in the future and link workforce capabilities to financial plans. The force is trying to attract new talent through external recruitment. It is developing the skills of its leaders, but needs to find more ways to identify and develop talent in its workforce.

View the two questions for efficiency

Nottinghamshire Police is good at treating the public and its workforce legitimately.

It is good at behaving ethically and lawfully. But it needs to improve how fairly it treats its workforce.

The force has leaders who are good role models. Officers and staff understand the standards of behaviour the force expects. But it would be good if it had a separate forum where staff could refer ethical dilemmas. The force has vetted its workforce and makes sure vetting decisions are fair. It deals with corruption threats well. But is should make sure the action it takes to reduce corruption is working. The force may be missing opportunities to identify and deal with corruption, due to staff shortages in the specialist unit. It needs to develop better links with other organisations to encourage information sharing.

The force hasn’t made much progress in how it deals with potential unfairness at work. It doesn’t have a consistent way of dealing with workforce concerns. But it is improving its understanding of workforce wellbeing and is taking action to improve this. It reviews a range of data to understand patterns that might affect wellbeing, but it needs to help its managers spot the early warning signs. It needs to get better at managing performance and development. In particular, it should help its managers carry out performance assessments that help identify and develop talent. It should also bring in a talent-management system that is fair and open.

The force is good at increasing the diversity of its workforce. It attracts new recruits from groups that aren’t well represented and is good at making sure they remain with the force.

In 2017, we judged Nottinghamshire Police as good at treating the public 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.

Nottinghamshire Police: Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018 – published 2 October 2018

Nottinghamshire Police – Joint inspection of police custody – published 26 March 2019

View other reports

Key facts – 2019/20

Force Area

834 square miles

Population

1.17m people

8% local 10 yr change

Workforce

96% frontline police officers

92% national level

3.08 per 1000 population

3.69 national level

13% 10yr change in local workforce

5% 10yr national change

Victim-based crimes

0.06 per person

0.06 national level

7% Local 5 year trend

9% National 5 year trend

Cost

51p per person per day local

59p per person per day national

Points of context provided by the force

Nottinghamshire Police covers the county of Nottinghamshire, an area of 834 square miles. It currently has 1,995 officers and 1,465 staff, including PCSOs, around 192 special constables, 121 volunteers and 92 police cadets.
Around 1.1 million people mainly live in the urban centres which include the city of Nottingham, as well as the towns of Mansfield, Worksop and Newark-on-Trent.

Nottinghamshire 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