Wiltshire PEEL 2018

This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.

This question was not subject to detailed inspection in 2018/19, and our judgment from the 2016 effectiveness inspection has been carried over.

Wiltshire Police is good at protecting vulnerable people.

Officers and staff understand how to identify and protect people who are vulnerable. Call handlers are good at identifying repeat victims, victims of domestic abuse and people experiencing mental health problems.

The force makes sure officers in its public protection team receive training and continued professional development.

Immediate supervision and support of control room staff is effective. But the force could improve how it assesses performance by sampling audio files, so that it can improve its service.

Wiltshire Police is good at responding to incidents involving vulnerable people. Officers attending incidents have the right information from call handlers and understand what to do to protect vulnerable people.

We saw good examples of how Wiltshire Police targets criminals who exploit vulnerable people.

The force works closely with local authorities and other partner organisations. This helps it work out where harm may occur in communities and how to support and protect vulnerable people.

Wiltshire Police uses its legal powers to protect victims of domestic abuse. Officers make referrals of domestic abuse victims to partner agencies without delay.

The force asks for feedback from vulnerable victims and others. It uses this information to improve its services.

Wiltshire Police needs to improve how it tackles serious and organised crime (SOC).

The force understands the threats from SOC. It now maps all organised crime groups promptly and checks them regularly.

It has developed an organised crime problem profile, which it shares with other partner organisations.

Officers work with partner organisations in MASHs. The force’s community-based work aims to tackle knife crime, child exploitation, youth violence, anti-social behaviour, street drug-dealing and running, and gang-related behaviour.

The force is good at keeping the public informed about its work on SOC.

Wiltshire Police still needs to improve its approach to lifetime offender management. It needs to make sure it uses civil orders consistently to manage and control the most serious offenders.

Although the force actively disrupts organised crime groups, it does not assess the impact of its investigations. It needs to use the 4P approach (pursue, prevent, protect and prepare) to make sure it learns what disruption activities work best. It also needs to make sure local community policing teams are consistently involved in work to disrupt organised crime groups.

We have previously inspected how well forces provide armed policing. This formed part of our 2016 and 2017 effectiveness inspections. Subsequent terrorist attacks in the UK and Europe have meant that the police service maintains a focus on armed capability in England and Wales.

It is not just terrorist attacks that place operational demands on armed officers. The threat can include the activity of organised crime groups or armed street gangs and all other crime involving guns. The Code of Practice on the Police Use of Firearms and Less Lethal Weapons (PDF document) makes forces responsible for implementing national standards of armed policing. The code stipulates that a chief officer be designated to oversee these standards. This requires the chief officer to set out the firearms threat in an armed policing strategic threat and risk assessment (APSTRA). The chief officer must also set out clear rationales for the number of armed officers (armed capacity) and the level to which they are trained (armed capability).