West Yorkshire 2018/19

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

Phil Gormley, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary

HMI's observations

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

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

The force is outstanding at planning for the future. I am impressed with its understanding of changing demand and how it links this to its financial planning and workforce development. Its leaders are ambitious and want to be at the forefront of innovative practice.

It treats the public and its workforce fairly. And it continues to uphold an ethical culture and promote the standards of professional behaviour it expects.

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

There remain some areas for improvement. It needs to improve the quality and supervision of criminal investigations, particularly those involving very vulnerable victims. The force also needs to increase its capability and capacity to effectively and proactively counter potential corruption within its workforce.

Overall, I commend West Yorkshire Police for sustaining its positive performance over the past year. I am confident that it is well equipped for this to continue.

West Yorkshire Police is good at reducing crime and keeping people safe.

The force provides a good service to victims of crime. It has processes in place and good supervision to keep victims up-to-date on the progress of investigations.

However, investigation quality requires improvement. A shortfall in detective capacity and capability is reducing the effectiveness of investigations, particularly those involving specialist safeguarding.

West Yorkshire Police is good at protecting vulnerable people.

The force’s policies provide unambiguous direction for safeguarding children, young people and adults. It shows a good understanding of the nature and scale of vulnerability due to mental health. It works closely with partner organisations and is good at sharing information when vulnerability has been identified.

The force is outstanding in its use of tools, data and information to identify complex threats and risk, prioritise activity and project demand for its services over the next four years.

It pays great attention to its victim satisfaction rates for domestic abuse, which show the force achieving an overall satisfaction rate of 84.4 percent in the 12 months to April 2018/19.

In 2017 we judged West Yorkshire Police as good at preventing and tackling anti-social behaviour. In 2016, we judged it as good at tackling serious and organised crime.

View the five questions for effectiveness

West Yorkshire Police is efficient in the way it operates, and its services are sustainable.

The force excels in planning for the future. It links plans and priorities to data and information to understand demand and risk. Its holistic approach makes it a proactive and forward-thinking organisation – everywhere from workforce and resource planning to financial management and succession planning.

In 2017 we judged West Yorkshire Police as good at meeting current demands and using resources.

View the two questions for efficiency

West Yorkshire Police treats the public and its workforce fairly.

The Code of Ethics is understood throughout the organisation. The workforce is also well acquainted with the principles of ethical decision making. However, the new ethics committee is not widely known about. Nor does it appear to have established efficient processes for responding to queries.

The force complies with the national vetting code and has met our 2016 recommendation to update its vetting assessments.

The force needs to invest more in counter-corruption activity. Its counter-corruption unit is understaffed. It does not have the capacity or capability to effectively gather intelligence and investigate potential corruption, which is a major risk to the organisation.

In 2017 we judged the force as good 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.

West Yorkshire Police – Crime Data Integrity inspection 2018 – published 16 May 2019

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Key facts – 2019/20

Force Area

784 square miles

Population

2.35m people

6% local 10 yr change

Workforce

91% frontline police officers

92% national level

4.22 per 1000 population

3.69 national level

4% 10yr change in local workforce

5% 10yr national change

Victim-based crimes

0.08 per person

0.06 national level

9% Local 5 year trend

9% National 5 year trend

Cost

59p per person per day local

59p per person per day national

Proposed fire and rescue services inspection programme and framework 2025–27: For consultation

West Yorkshire 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