In 2023–2025, we carried out a PEEL inspection of Cheshire Constabulary. PEEL stands for police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy.
We inspected how well the force performed in several areas of policing. Most of these areas were then graded as outstanding, good, adequate, requires improvement or inadequate.
Find out more about Cheshire Constabulary
More information about the PEEL assessments
Our inspection assessed how good Cheshire Constabulary is in nine areas of policing. We make graded judgments in eight of these nine as follows:
We also inspected how effective a service Cheshire Constabulary gives to victims of crime. We don’t make a graded judgment for this area.
We set out our detailed findings about things the constabulary is doing well and where the constabulary should improve in the rest of this report.
We also assess the constabulary’s performance in a range of other areas and we report on these separately. We make graded judgments for some of these areas.
In 2014, we introduced our police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections, which assess the performance of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Since then, we have been continuously adapting our approach.
We have moved to a more intelligence-led, continual assessment approach, rather than the annual PEEL inspections we used in previous years. Forces are assessed against the characteristics of good performance, set out in the PEEL Assessment Framework 2023–2025, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement.
It isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded in this PEEL inspection and those from the previous cycle of PEEL inspections. This is because we have increased our focus on making sure forces are achieving appropriate outcomes for the public, and in some cases we have changed the aspects of policing we inspect.
Our reports contain references to, among other things, ‘national’ definitions, priorities, policies, systems, responsibilities and processes.
In some instances, ‘national’ means applying to England or Wales, or England and Wales. In others, it means applying to England, Wales and Scotland, or the whole of the United Kingdom.
I congratulate Cheshire Constabulary on its excellent performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and giving victims an effective service.
I was pleased to find that the constabulary has improved or maintained its performance across all areas since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection. Four areas have received higher graded judgments. I congratulate the constabulary’s police officers, staff and volunteers for the hard work they have done to help achieve this success for the communities of Cheshire.
Since our 2021/22 inspection, chief officers have made considered changes to the constabulary’s operating model. They have also invested in resources and training to improve performance, and to meet current and future demand.
The constabulary has strong leadership, effective governance processes and a detailed performance framework. It also has clear strategic plans, supported by accurate, up-to-date information.
The chief officer team is highly visible, and it communicates and engages regularly with officers and staff. This has helped to bring about a positive culture in the workforce. Officers and staff feel valued, and they have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
I was particularly pleased to see the improvements in protecting vulnerable people and managing offenders. The constabulary has invested in resources and training in these areas, and it has improved its leadership, governance and scrutiny processes. We found that online child abuse investigations, the management of sex offenders and the safeguarding of vulnerable people was of a high standard and well supervised. We also found that all units and departments had a clear focus on vulnerability. Safeguarding vulnerable people is seen as a priority and as everyone’s responsibility – not just for those in specialist teams.
Cheshire Constabulary has introduced several changes to its force control centre. These have led to improved performance in the way it answers 999 and 101 calls and accurately assesses risk and vulnerability. The constabulary has more work to do on managing scheduled incidents, but it is positive to see that it has already acted on feedback by introducing new performance standards, governance procedures and IT changes. These are helping it manage scheduled incidents.
Cheshire Constabulary is committed to neighbourhood policing. It uses innovative ideas and digital solutions to help prevent and deal with criminality and antisocial behaviour. The constabulary communicates well with its communities. It listens to what residents say, and it acts on their information and concerns.
The constabulary has developed robust and effective governance structures to oversee crime investigations. It has introduced Operation Support to help less experienced officers, particularly those in area investigation teams (AITs). This is an improving picture, but the constabulary should continue to closely monitor workloads and the quality of investigations. This will help it make further improvements.
I am confident that Cheshire Constabulary will continue to make improvements based on the findings of this inspection and its internal scrutiny processes. I will continue to monitor its progress and I look forward to seeing the improvements it makes as a result.
HM Inspector of Constabulary
Using the College of Policing leadership standards as a framework, in this section we set out the most important findings relating to the constabulary’s leadership at all levels.
Cheshire Constabulary has a clear strategic plan, which guides its operational activity. The strategic plan influences the constabulary’s governance structures, and all other plans are aligned to it.
The constabulary has introduced an effective governance structure and a robust performance management process. It has achieved this success by continually explaining to leaders and supervisors ‘why performance matters’.
The constabulary uses data and analysis to understand its current and future demand. It has changed its structure and operating model to make sure resources meet the demand it faces.
The chief constable, chief officer team and other senior leaders are visible and communicate regularly with the workforce. The constabulary has various processes that help officers and staff give feedback, express concerns and challenge the organisation when they feel it is appropriate. Officers and staff know they will be heard, and that senior leaders will consider making changes. This has contributed to a positive culture, and to members of the workforce feeling valued.
The constabulary has comprehensive training for all levels of leadership. It has also invested in pledge events. The chief constable leads these events for sergeants, inspectors and police staff equivalent managers, setting out clear objectives and expectations, and promoting the constabulary’s culture of well‑being and inclusion.
Through performance and talent conversations, the constabulary has a clear picture of its leaders’ capability. It also uses a talent grid to assess leaders’ performance and potential.
The constabulary has introduced effective processes in its student management team to support new recruits. These are helping to bring about good levels of officer and staff retention.
More detail on Cheshire Constabulary’s leadership is included in the main body of the report.
The reducing crime assessment sets out what Cheshire Constabulary is doing to reduce crime and how effective this action is. This assessment doesn’t include police recorded crime figures. This is because they can be affected by variations and changes in recording policy and practice, which makes it difficult to draw comparisons over time.
The constabulary uses data well to help it understand its current and future demand. It has made problem-solving a priority to help prevent and reduce crime.
The constabulary focuses on tackling antisocial behaviour. It has analysed three years of data to inform hotspot policing of antisocial behaviour. It has also introduced an early warning system to divert young people, at the first opportunity, away from offending.
Neighbourhood teams ask for the local community’s views in order to understand their needs. They also work closely with partner organisations, such as health and social care services, on various initiatives.
The constabulary has increased its use of stop and search, which we found to be reasonable and proportionate. Effective use of stop and search helps to reduce crime.
Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has improved its call‑handling, and the way it assesses risk and vulnerability at the first point of contact. It should continue its efforts to consistently give crime prevention advice at the first point of contact.
The constabulary should continue to focus on improving the quality of investigations. Supervisors must provide oversight to make sure officers pursue all lines of investigation.
The constabulary uses bail well to protect vulnerable victims and reduce crime. It also makes effective use of ancillary orders such as Domestic Violence Protection Notices, Domestic Violence Protection Orders and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to reduce crime.
More detail on what Cheshire Constabulary is doing to reduce crime is included in the main body of the report.
This section describes our assessment of the service Cheshire Constabulary provides to victims. This is from the point of reporting a crime and throughout the investigation. As part of this assessment, we reviewed 100 case files.
When the police close a case of a reported crime, they assign it an ‘outcome type’. This describes the reason for closing it.
We selected 100 cases to review, including at least 20 that the constabulary had closed with the following outcome:
Where a community resolution has been applied.
Although our victim service assessment is ungraded, it influences graded judgments in the other areas we have inspected.
The constabulary has improved the time it takes to answer emergency calls. It has also reduced the number of non-emergency calls in which the caller hangs up because the call isn’t answered.
As part of our victim service assessment, we found that when the constabulary answered calls, it used a structured process that takes into the account the threat, harm, risk and vulnerability of the caller. Call handlers usually carry out checks to identify repeat victims, so the constabulary is fully aware of the victim’s circumstances when considering its response.
We found that call handlers were always polite, but they sometimes didn’t give victims advice on preventing crime or on how to preserve evidence.
The constabulary responds to calls for service appropriately in most cases. But it doesn’t always inform victims of delays. This means victims’ expectations aren’t always met. This may cause victims to lose confidence and disengage from the process.
In most cases, the constabulary carries out investigations in a timely way, but it doesn’t always complete relevant and proportionate lines of enquiry. It doesn’t always supervise investigations well or regularly update victims. Victims are more likely to have confidence in a police investigation when they receive regular updates.
A thorough investigation increases the likelihood of identifying and arresting perpetrators, giving the victim a positive result. In most cases, the constabulary takes victim personal statements, allowing victims to describe how that crime has affected their lives.
When victims withdraw support for an investigation, the constabulary usually considers progressing the case without the victim’s support. This can be an important way of safeguarding the victim and preventing further offences from being committed. The constabulary records whether it considers using orders designed to protect victims, such as a Domestic Violence Protection Notice (DVPN) or Domestic Violence Protection Order (DVPO).
The Code of Practice for Victims of Crime requires forces to carry out a needs assessment at an early stage to determine whether victims need additional support. The constabulary doesn’t always carry out this assessment or record all requests for additional support.
The constabulary doesn’t always close crimes with the appropriate outcome type. It usually records a clear rationale for using a certain outcome and this is effectively supervised. It asks for victims’ views most of the time when deciding which outcome type to assign to a closed investigation. But it doesn’t always keep an auditable record of what victims say. The constabulary tells victims what outcome code has been assigned to the investigation.
Cheshire Constabulary is good at using police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.
All officers submit a vulnerable person assessment when they have stopped and searched a person under the age of 18. Officers in the vulnerability hub then carry out a secondary risk assessment, examining the wider intelligence picture and deciding whether to share the information with children’s social care and other partner organisations.
Under Operation Protected, the constabulary’s intelligence unit carries out further intelligence checks for all children who have been stopped and searched under section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. If the unit establishes that there is a potential risk to a child, it submits details to the local neighbourhood team. An officer can then review and consider visiting the home address, depending on the circumstances and intelligence.
We found numerous cases in which neighbourhood officers attended the home address of a young person who had been stopped and searched. Officers spoke to the parents and the child about the dangers of drug misuse, county lines and other exploitation, providing advice and guidance. Sometimes parents didn’t know their child was involved in drug misuse. Other parents were already very worried and weren’t sure what to do. Parents were very appreciative of the officers’ visits.
This process is governed through the monthly stop and search internal scrutiny meeting.
The constabulary has successfully set up youth community cohesion groups in three high schools, each with a different socioeconomic demographic. These groups scrutinise stop and search and use of force processes from a young person’s perspective.
The youth community cohesion group follows the same process as the main adult community cohesion group. Officers show the group body-worn video footage of a series of randomly selected incidents involving stop and search and use of force. The groups also examine hate crime reports. They ask the young people for feedback on the way the police use these powers. This is to help with learning and training.
These youth groups are making a positive impact by reaching many young people who previously had mostly negative experiences of the police. The groups allow those young people to scrutinise police actions. As a result, they now have a much better understanding of how the police approach hate crime, and of police powers in relation to use of force and stop and search.
Following the success of these groups, several other schools have asked to be included in the initiative. This is positive for youth interaction with the police. In addition, four students have asked how they can apply to join Cheshire Constabulary.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.
Cheshire Constabulary gives its officers and staff training on effective communication skills that is relevant to their role. This includes understanding conscious and unconscious bias, dealing with conflict, and understanding the impact of their communication style on others. The training takes place as part of mandatory officer safety training, first line leaders’ training, middle line leaders’ training, detective training, and force control centre training. Officers and staff said they felt this training was of value to them.
In relation to stop and search, the constabulary makes sure all officers receive initial training and annual refresher training as part of their public and personal safety training.
The constabulary has introduced a Hydra stop and search training course for officers who may lack confidence in using the power, or who need further development. Twenty-six officers have attended the training so far. The constabulary identifies the relevant officers from supervisory reviews and other scrutiny. After officers attend the Hydra course, the constabulary closely monitors the quality of their stop and searches until it deems them suitable to be signed off as competent. Officers who have attended the course told us they found it useful.
The constabulary is now looking to introduce more quality assurance reviews to make sure these officers show sustained improvement over a longer period.
Cheshire Constabulary took part in an Independent Office for Police Conduct stop and search youth panel workshop in May 2024. It focused on the lived experiences of young people, including those in attendance, who gave feedback about their experience of negative police interaction. The workshop also allowed officers to speak about their frustrations in policing young communities. It was a good opportunity to improve officers’ understanding of interactions with young people, and to improve the way they communicate.
During our inspection, we reviewed a sample of 206 stop and search records from 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024. Based on this sample, we estimate that 85 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 4.8 percentage points) of all stop and searches by the constabulary during this period had reasonable grounds recorded. This is broadly unchanged compared with the findings from our previous review of records from 1 November 2020 to 31 October 2021, when we found 83.9 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 4.9 percentage points) of stop and searches had reasonable grounds recorded. Of the records we reviewed for stop and searches on people who self-identified as from an ethnic minority background, 18 of 22 had reasonable grounds recorded.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, Cheshire Constabulary carried out 11,943 stop and searches on people. This was a 99 percent increase in stop and searches compared with the year ending March 2022. Data from the constabulary shows that this has continued to increase.
The constabulary should continue to try to improve its find rate. This is the rate at which officers find the stolen or prohibited object that they are looking for when carrying out a search. In the year ending March 2023, the constabulary’s find rate was 21.5 percent. This is a normal value when compared to the average for forces in England and Wales, which is 24.6 percent. However, the constabulary told us its data shows a linked find rate in the year ending March 2024 of 26.8 percent, which is an increase.
We used ethnicity data from the 2021 census to understand how stop and search powers could have a disproportionate effect on people in Cheshire. In the year ending 31 March 2023, Cheshire Constabulary was 3.6 times more likely to search Black or Black British people than White people. For the same period, across all forces in England and Wales, police were 4.1 times more likely to search Black or Black British people. The constabulary continues to use its governance structures to try to understand disproportionality.
The constabulary has introduced a stop and search app, which was updated in July 2024. The app’s automated prompts help officers to:
It also records whether the stopped person is a resident in Cheshire or is from outside the county.
The constabulary requires supervisors to review all stop and searches, and to check officers comply with the constabulary’s expectations on recording use of force and using BWV. There are strong governance processes around these checks, and each week, the constabulary scrutinises the data. This helps supervisors understand how many stop and search records are approved or sent back to officers, and the reasons why. It also helps to inform training and continuing professional development (CPD).
We audited ten BWV recordings in which police powers were used. We found that in all cases, officers treated people with dignity and respect. They explained the purpose of the search and the grounds for carrying it out. We found that in four of the ten cases, the grounds recorded for stop and search were poor. The cases we reviewed in this audit took place before the constabulary introduced the improvements to the stop and search app in July 2024. This update was designed to help improve the way officers record stop and searches.
The constabulary has effective internal and external scrutiny systems in place to better understand officers’ performance and to identify areas for development.
Since the constabulary introduced the stop and search app, all stop and search records are reviewed by a supervisor, who gives feedback to officers when appropriate. The constabulary’s stop and search lead directly oversees this process.
In May 2024, the constabulary also introduced a use of force app. Local policing area sergeants now carry out ten use of force audits per month, including of BWV footage and associated documents. When appropriate, they provide direct feedback to officers.
The constabulary adopts a layered approach to internally scrutinising stop and search. The sergeant dedicated to stop and search also completes other audits, including an audit of all stop and searches of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. Inspectors dip sample records, and governance groups audit and review cases. The findings from these supervisory reviews feed into the constabulary-level procedural justice meeting, and wider learning is also shared through the organisational learning board to help inform future training for officers.
The constabulary has robust internal governance meetings in place for stop and search and use of force, including local stop and search governance meetings. There is also a quarterly police accountability meeting, chaired independently. Those present at the meeting review all data on stop and search and use of force. Some representatives of external organisations, including the Crown Prosecution Service, also attend. Stop and search and use of force are also discussed at the monthly force performance meeting and in quarterly performance reviews.
Each of the nine local policing units has a quarterly community cohesion group. They provide external scrutiny of hate crime, stop and search and use of force. We found that members of these groups were enthusiastic, well informed and willing to ask questions. Several panel members had observed officer personal safety training to improve their understanding of stop and search and use of force. Most of these groups are well established and well attended, but a few groups in smaller areas are less well established and have faced challenges in retaining members. The constabulary knows about this and aims to increase the membership of these groups and support their development.
Each group is chaired by a police chief inspector or inspector. The constabulary may want to consider introducing an independent chair to add further independence to the scrutiny process.
The quarterly procedural justice meeting, chaired by the assistant chief constable, examines updates from the nine community cohesion group meetings and from constabulary leads on hate crime, stop and search and use of force. The chair of the independent advisory group also provides an update. Those present at the meeting also examine learning from other forces, as well as from our inspections.
In February 2024, the constabulary set up another external scrutiny group with help from the University of Chester. This group consists of seven law students, an independent advisory group member and a representative from Child Action Northwest (the appropriate adult service). The panel has received training on stop and search and use of force. Members have also attended officer personal safety training to better understand what officers are taught so they can effectively challenge performance.
This panel meets monthly online, and it reviews three randomly selected stop and search records and three use of force records. It also examines relevant documents and BWV. The constabulary, including individual officers, receive the panel’s feedback. Any wider learning opportunities are passed on to the training department through the organisational learning board. In response to this feedback, the constabulary produces ‘You said, we did’ feedback so panel members can see how the constabulary acts on their feedback.
The constabulary has a BWV policy in line with guidance from the College of Policing. The policy tells officers to record on BWV all incidents in which they use police powers. The constabulary completes supervisory reviews and qualitative audits to make sure officers follow the policy correctly. The most recent supervisory reviews showed that some stop and search records weren’t compliant. These were incidents in which plain-clothes officers didn’t record the stop and search on BWV.
At the time of our inspection, the constabulary couldn’t produce comprehensive compliance rates for its use of BWV for stop and search and use of force. But it hopes that the new stop and search app will help provide more accurate data.
By examining how many arrests a force makes, we can estimate how many use of force incidents there are likely to be. Arrests usually involve use of force. We would expect the number of use of force incidents to be greater than the number of arrests.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, Cheshire Constabulary recorded 12,365 use of force incidents. This was a 1.2 percent decrease compared with the previous year. Based on the number of arrests, we estimate that Cheshire Constabulary under‑recorded use of force incidents by 5,755.
As part of its internal scrutiny processes, Cheshire Constabulary told us it reviewed 678 domestic abuse arrests from between 21 January and 18 February 2024, in which 63 percent had a use of force form recorded. It examined the remaining 37 percent of cases in detail and found that almost all cases didn’t require a use of force form as the suspects were fully compliant, and no force was used or needed. This has caused the constabulary to revise its expectations that all arrests would generally involve the use of force.
In May 2024, the constabulary introduced a use of force app to help officers record use of force more accurately. This app accompanies the stop and search app. Custody sergeants also create task reminders to prompt officers to submit use of force records. Officers told us they find this useful.
The constabulary told us that in July 2024, quality assurance thematic testing audits showed a compliance rate for use of force submissions of 58 percent. The use of force app will help the constabulary to have a stronger governance of this process and a more detailed understanding of compliance.
Cheshire Constabulary is good at prevention and deterrence.
The constabulary uses retrospective facial recognition (RFR) to tackle organised retail theft, and to identify off-road bikers and suspects in sexual assault cases. It also uses it to review outcomes from closed investigation reports.
The constabulary’s facial recognition team reviews every crime that has been filed without a suspect identified, looking for identification opportunities. It looks for partial facial biometrics, and other identifying features such as markings on hands or trainers. It successfully uses RFR to identify offenders and deter crime and antisocial behaviour.
The constabulary told us that between June and August 2024, the team reviewed 873 cases, from which they identified 126 suspects.
As part of Operation Stinging, which addresses off-road and e-bike antisocial behaviour, the RFR team uses drones to help identify riders.
The constabulary also told us it had plans to use RFR as part of Operation Treacle, which addresses youth antisocial behaviour over Halloween and Bonfire Night.
The antisocial behaviour alert process aims to tackle antisocial behaviour at the earliest opportunity, focusing on children up to the age of 16. If a child comes to police attention for low-level antisocial behaviour, a flag is added to the Niche system. Antisocial behaviour co-ordinators and police community support officers monitor the system, and they send letters to the children’s parents or carers. These letters are recorded on police systems.
If a child is involved in three incidents of antisocial behaviour in six months, they are invited, with their parent or carer, to attend a meeting at their local police station. Depending on the circumstances, partner organisations such as housing, education or children’s social care may also be invited to attend.
If, after the meeting, the child is involved in further antisocial behaviour, they are issued with an acceptable behaviour contract. This is the starting point for formal antisocial behaviour legislative options.
Officers and police community support officers told us they find the antisocial behaviour alert system to be effective.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to prevention and deterrence.
Cheshire Constabulary has put extra detective superintendents, chief inspectors and vulnerability detective chief inspectors into local areas to provide stronger leadership, support and governance.
The constabulary previously had a named beat officer and police community support officer (PCSO) allocated to each of its 122 wards, dedicated to working with the public and policing that area. This was a significant investment in resources. The constabulary found that it was no longer sustainable to continue this neighbourhood model if it was to continue to achieve expected standards while operating in financially challenging times.
As a result, the constabulary has updated the model. It has retained a named point of contact in each of the 122 wards. These contacts are published on the constabulary’s website. But the constabulary now uses neighbourhood resources across sergeant-led clusters in the nine local policing units. This allows it to be more flexible and to better respond to demand across the beat areas.
The constabulary has also simplified and renewed its commitment to its communities in relation to:
The constabulary told us it has a maximum 10 percent abstraction rate. This is how many neighbourhood officers can be diverted from their main duties at a given time. We found that the constabulary had a mixture of planned abstractions (which the resource management unit manages) and ad-hoc abstractions. Officers told us ad-hoc abstractions happen less often than planned ones.
The constabulary monitors abstractions closely and reports on them monthly at the resource management board. Constabulary data shows the abstraction rate to be less than 10 percent. But the constabulary should continue to monitor this area so it understands the impact of any abstractions on neighbourhood activity and officer resilience.
Cheshire Constabulary is the first police force in the north-west region to pilot the College of Policing neighbourhood policing programme (NPP). At the time of our inspection, all neighbourhood officers and staff were completing the online NPP1 training, and in September 2024, we observed the first cohort of officers participate in the NPP2 classroom-based training, on the community engagement module. These are the first and second phases of the training programme.
The constabulary told us that 320 of its officers and staff had already completed the skills for justice training, so it prioritised all neighbourhood officers who hadn’t received that training to attend the new College of Policing course first.
The constabulary uses Microsoft Power BI to give neighbourhood officers and staff information about crime, antisocial behaviour and vulnerability, as well as data from the local community safety partnership. This data informs tactical plans for beat locations and hotspot policing locations – that is, areas with persistently high levels of crime and antisocial behaviour.
The local policing units use a ‘Koper Curve’ approach to hotspot policing and have started to use DyTASK to inform patrols plans and activity. Koper Curve patrols are based on Christopher S Koper’s research. They focus on reducing crime by carrying out proactive, random and intermittent patrols in hotspots for 10 to 15 minutes every 2 hours. This is said to lower crime rates by being unpredictable and of sufficient duration, rather than relying on regular, scheduled patrols.
The DyTASK system predicts the most likely future incidents of crime and antisocial behaviour, based on the analysis of three years of data from Niche and the command and control system. The system is available to officers on their devices. It creates plans for foot patrols, telling the officers why the hotspots have been created. The system also shows where officers have been, and when, to help accurately measure the impact of hotspot policing.
In spring 2024, the constabulary secured £1 million of funding from the Home Office for hotspot policing using the DyTASK system. This helped the constabulary start Operation Sidelines, its response to antisocial behaviour. This operation has led to an increase in high-visibility patrols across all identified hotspot areas.
The constabulary has also introduced an antisocial behaviour callback system. Dedicated PCSOs, who are scheduled on a rota, re-contact all victims and witnesses of antisocial behaviour to thank them for their call, to give them an update, and to potentially obtain further information from them. The PCSO then emails the officer dealing with the incident to confirm that they have completed the callback and to update them on any new information.
During our inspection, we spoke to officers, including antisocial behaviour officers, who showed good knowledge of antisocial behaviour legislation. At Macclesfield Police Station, we noted that the names and photographs of 15 people who had received Criminal Behaviour Orders were on display at the public enquiry counter. The display also included details of what they were prohibited from doing.
Cheshire Constabulary has close working relationships with its partners, especially community safety partnerships. During our inspection, we saw that neighbourhood officers also have close and supportive working relationships with other police teams, including the online child abuse investigation team (OCAIT), the management of sexual and violent offenders team, the vulnerability hub, the criminal investigation department and the AIT.
Cheshire Constabulary has a Prevention Strategy 2023–2026. Those present at the neighbourhood policing board and the prevention and deterrence meeting (which is chaired by an assistant chief constable) oversee the way the constabulary puts the strategy into practice.
The constabulary also has other strategies in place, including early intervention and evidence-based policing, and a perceptual deterrence strategy. The constabulary aims to make Cheshire a hostile environment for criminals. This resonates with its officers and staff. It has several prevention initiatives in place, including the following:
The constabulary has a mental health officer, funded by the NHS for 30 hours a week at Hollins Park Hospital. The constabulary told us the officer’s work with clinical staff has led to reduced hospital demand. The role was created due to frequent assaults on hospital staff and because there had been many missing person reports.
Cheshire Constabulary used Safer Streets funding to buy 2,800 Hollie Guard Extra licences. The constabulary has carried out a promotional campaign to raise awareness about the Hollie Guard app and to encourage women and girls to download it to their mobile phone. This free app has been designed to protect people from danger by sending alerts to an emergency contact when activated, together with details of their location. By buying the Hollie Guard Extra licences, the constabulary can give the enhanced version of the app to those who are likely to be at high risk of domestic abuse. This version includes an emergency activation, which is monitored 24 hours a day and results in the police being contacted.
Safer Streets funding has also been used to provide eight designated Safer Spaces locations across Cheshire for women and girls. These spaces are mostly managed by street pastors. The constabulary has also bought and kitted out three Safety Buses, where people can go during night-time economy hours if they feel unsafe or need advice from the police. The constabulary deploys these vans, staffed by neighbourhood officers, into towns on busy nights.
Each local policing unit includes dedicated youth engagement workers. They work closely with schools and colleges in their area to build and maintain positive relationships between young people and the police. They deal with low-level interventions and talk to young people about county lines, drugs, hate crime, online safety, antisocial behaviour and consent.
The constabulary has problem-solving teams based in each local policing area. They provide tactical advice and support to practitioners. They do this by working with neighbourhood officers to identify and help manage problem-solving plans.
The constabulary has developed a comprehensive ‘Guide to problem-solving’ document to help practitioners with the process. But during our inspection, we found that not all officers knew where to look online for support.
Neighbourhood officers use Power BI to access the data required. This is instead of using analysts. Using a recognised model from the College of Policing, those officers then assess repeat demands to determine if they need to use a longer-term problem-solving approach to tackle the issue.
All plans are managed in SharePoint, and a master spreadsheet tracks open and closed plans. The constabulary has an established process to supervise and close problem-solving plans.
The constabulary holds monthly problem-solving meetings, with a set agenda, in local areas. The local chief inspector leads these meetings, and all neighbourhood inspectors and sergeants must attend. Discussion in these meetings contributes to the constabulary neighbourhood tasking and co-ordination meeting, where resources the constabulary needs for problem-solving are considered. Performance metrics are outlined in a monthly ‘Beat management performance review’ document, which is aligned to the National Police Chiefs’ Council neighbourhood outcome and performance framework.
The constabulary holds two problem-solving conferences per year. These celebrate good examples of problem-solving and help to encourage a wider culture of problem‑solving in the constabulary. They are also opportunities to share ideas and good practice.
Most problem-solving plans that we reviewed were comprehensive. They had evidence of joint problem-solving work with various partner organisations. They also had regular supervisory oversight. We saw examples of well researched problem‑solving plans to tackle a variety of issues. These included organised crime, predatory behaviour, disorder, antisocial behaviour and drug-dealing. The plans involved various interventions and actions, resulting in positive outcomes, such as obtaining civil orders, criminal convictions, and reductions in antisocial behaviour.
The constabulary has ten bespoke community engagement plans. There is one for each of the nine local policing units and one for Chester town centre.
The constabulary uses the Resident’s Voice community survey to give communities a voice and to encourage people to have a say on policing in their area. The survey helps the constabulary identify and understand issues and concerns. It can then respond by dealing with those issues and giving updates to the community.
The constabulary told us that since the survey began in February 2021, it had received more than 65,000 responses. It records all responses in the Resident’s Voice dashboard. This can be filtered by geography, beat area, ethnicity, age and specific problem types. Neighbourhood officers can read the detail of the responses. The dashboard also produces a word cloud of the most important issues, which are discussed at local and constabulary-level governance meetings. Any critical issues identified are discussed at daily pacesetter meetings for a more immediate response. For example, in March 2024, the main concerns communities raised were parking, speeding vehicles, drugs, and antisocial behaviour around schools.
The link and QR code to the Resident’s Voice survey is published on all newsletters and on the Cheshire Constabulary website. PCSOs and officers also talk to residents in specific areas and ask them to complete the survey. For example, they do this after reports of crime or antisocial behaviour to hear from the community and to obtain intelligence.
The police response to Resident’s Voice feeds back to the community through quarterly newsletters. These are shared by the parish council and other community groups, through community initiatives such as Street of the Week, and on the community messaging system, Cheshire Police Alert. Printed copies are also put in key community buildings.
The constabulary uses the Cheshire Police Alert community messaging system as a way of communicating with its communities. It uses the system to share a wide variety of information, such as area newsletters, Resident’s Voice surveys, crime prevention advice, Neighbourhood Watch updates, recruitment campaigns, Action Fraud updates and advice, details of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (including how requests can be submitted), and crime summary updates for the area. The constabulary also uses X (previously known as Twitter) and Facebook to talk to the community.
In 2024, the constabulary’s corporate communications team created a series of videos to highlight the work of its departments and teams. It used these videos to give the public a better understanding of the constabulary’s work. They highlighted teams such as the motorcycle team, dog unit, control room, rural crime team, football policing team and response teams. They shared the videos on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, tracking engagement through views and comments. The community’s response has been positive.
Neighbourhood teams look for new ways to reach seldom-heard communities.
In September 2024, the constabulary participated in the Warrington Mela. This festival celebrates diverse communities through theatre, dance, music, arts and well-being stalls. The local policing unit had a stand, and PCSOs and officers talked to the public and gave advice on reporting hate crime.
The rural crime team has an active social media presence, particularly on Facebook, where it has more than 28,000 followers. Team members frequently update the page, and they professionally challenge comments from people who don’t see rural crime as a priority. This has led to an increase in followers.
Neighbourhood teams talk to members of various under-represented communities, and to religious leaders. They focus on asylum seekers, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. Exploitation teams are trained in modern slavery and organised immigration crime. They have attended training with Kent Police to understand small boat crossings and exploitation. Neighbourhood officers and PCSOs in Northwich talk to members of the local East Timorese population and with members of a settled Traveller camp.
Officers have also received training on honour-based abuse, as well as trafficking involving Vietnamese nationals. This gave them an understanding of those problems.
Cheshire has a relatively low proportion of residents from certain ethnic minority backgrounds. This means that rather than focusing on initiatives to work with people from Black Caribbean and Asian backgrounds, it focuses on working with under-represented communities that have larger populations in the county.
The constabulary has a citizens in policing team. It manages, supports and empowers members of the public to act as volunteers in roles across the constabulary. The citizens in policing team includes the special constabulary, cadets, police support volunteers and Neighbourhood Watch.
The constabulary’s use of volunteers is governed through the citizens in policing board, chaired by an assistant chief constable. This assistant chief constable is also the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for the special constabulary.
On 31 March 2024, the constabulary had 169 special constables. Then in September 2024, the constabulary told us it had 145 special constables. It said this reduction was because some special constables had recently left to join the constabulary as police officers, but that the next intake was already scheduled.
The special constabulary has a full command structure, with representation across each of the nine local policing units. It includes teams such as cybercrime, rural crime, and the roads and crime unit. Special constables are trained to the same standard as police officers. Initial training includes the Code of Ethics and professional standards. When appropriate, special constables are trained in public order, response driving (which allows them to drive patrol cars), and using Taser. All special constables receive mobile phones, have access to IT systems and are vetted to the same level as police officers. The constabulary also pays Police Federation subscriptions for each special constable.
The special constabulary has its own performance dashboard. It includes the number and types of duties they carry out, the hours they work, and the training and CPD they receive.
The constabulary has an established cadet programme for young people aged 15 to 17. At the time of our inspection, it told us it had a small cadre of 12 cadets, which would triple in size from January 2025, with 3 further intakes. This group of 12 cadets has recently graduated.
The cadet programme is a nine-month programme. It runs outside a police setting, and the group receives information on online safety, safeguarding, and personal, social, health and economic education. The cadets work with the constabulary and partners such as Trading Standards to carry out test purchase operations for alcohol and vapes. They work some weekends at fetes and take part in knife sweep operations. Some cadets are also enrolled on a Business and Technology Education Council course in leadership skills.
The constabulary also has several other police support volunteers. It recruits them from communities and vets them, then they volunteer their time to support the constabulary in a defined role. Some of these roles include:
Cheshire Constabulary is adequate at responding to the public.
As part of our victim service assessment, we found that the constabulary didn’t have agreed and set attendance times for scheduled incidents. In our audit, we found that some scheduled incidents had significant delays in response. No re-THRIVE (threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability and engagement) was completed to reassess the risk, and no contact was made with the caller to tell them about delays or to check if any circumstances had changed. In 23 of the 34 cases we reviewed, we found that there was effective and appropriate supervision when needed for deployment decisions.
In April 2024, which was before we carried out our victim service assessment, the constabulary set up an incident demand analysis group to review performance in scheduled incidents. This was because the constabulary had identified performance concerns. Through this work, the constabulary introduced force control centre supervisor reviews at 6, 12 and 18 hours after the initial call.
Since receiving our feedback, the constabulary has made changes to the Saab SAFE system. These should make it easier for staff in the force control centre to identify scheduled incidents in the queue that need a risk review, and to contact the caller.
The constabulary has also made evening appointments available to improve the service for scheduled incidents.
The constabulary planned to introduce a new scheduled incident standard by November 2024. It includes a clear time limit on attendance, regular risk assessment and caller contact processes, and clearly defined performance measures. It also includes a Microsoft Power BI dashboard for scheduled incidents, similar to the system in place for grade 2 response incidents.
In December 2023, the constabulary introduced a text message service to all victims of crime. It gives a link to the constabulary’s crime prevention webpage.
As part of our victim service assessment, we found that call handlers gave appropriate advice on preserving evidence in 20 of 31 relevant cases we reviewed. They gave appropriate advice on crime prevention in 24 of 34 relevant cases we reviewed.
Following the constabulary’s own quality assurance audits, and after feedback we gave during our inspection, the constabulary made immediate changes to bring about improvements.
The constabulary made IT changes to its risk assessment template, THRIVEC. It was changed to THRIVESC to incorporate giving advice on the preservation of evidence and crime prevention when answering calls in the force control centre. The constabulary also created an easily accessible aide-memoire for all operators. It covers crime scene preservation, safeguarding and crime prevention advice.
During our fieldwork in September 2024, we saw operators in the force control centre using both the new template and the aide-memoire to give this advice. And in the incidents we assessed, we saw that call handlers were giving advice on the preservation of evidence and crime prevention.
The constabulary has also updated its instant incident quality assurance work to check that call handers give advice on the preservation of evidence and crime prevention.
The constabulary created the vulnerability and safeguarding team (VAST) in January 2023. It aims to reduce harm and risk to vulnerable victims of crime. Officers in the VAST access the live incident queue and consider domestic, sexual and vulnerability incidents. They then contact victims to make sure they are supported and safeguarded, whether or not there is any criminal justice outcome. Officers carry out a full risk assessment with the victim and they document a re‑THRIVE (threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability and engagement) assessment. They are professionally curious and identify any other offences of abuse or neglect.
Officers consider a wide range of options, such as evidence-led prosecutions, the Hollie Guard personal safety app, Operation Encompass, advice from the fire service on increasing safety for people and properties, and safeguarding any identified children. They also make referrals on behalf of victims to relevant agencies for support.
During our inspection, we saw that officers on the team were passionate about their role. They had the right skills and were fully committed to doing their best for victims. They worked with care and compassion.
We watched a video in which a victim of domestic abuse who had been supported by the VAST spoke about her experience. She said the officer in the VAST had made her feel heard for the first time.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary responds to the public.
Cheshire Constabulary has robust daily management structures in the force control centre, which is overseen by a chief officer. Daily performance reports are used to examine all aspects of demand and performance in the control centre. Weekly and monthly performance reports show key performance areas and are scrutinised by the senior leadership and the chief officer team.
Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has placed 54 more staff in the force control centre to improve performance. The constabulary also now continuously recruits staff for the force control centre, so that it is always over-resourced and there are no gaps in service.
Cheshire Constabulary has improved the time it takes to answer 999 calls, but it needs to improve this further.
In the year ending 31 July 2024, the constabulary answered 84.9 percent of its 999 calls within 10 seconds. This was below the expected standard for forces in England and Wales of 90 percent of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds. BT data for the previous 6 months shows that the constabulary met the 90 percent standard for 4 of those months.
Figure 1: The proportion of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds by forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 July 2024
Source: 999 call answering times from BT
The constabulary should continue with its determined efforts to improve its 999 call handling times.
The constabulary told us that in the year ending 17 September 2024, 11 percent of calls to its non-emergency 101 number were abandoned before being dealt with. This is slightly higher than the target set by 2020 national contact management strategy principles and guidance. This says that forces without a switchboard should aim to have an abandonment rate of lower than 10 percent. However, the constabulary’s abandonment rate is an improvement from the rate we found in our 2021/22 PEEL inspection.
Cheshire Constabulary uses a triage desk to manage all non-emergency calls. It also uses an interactive voice response message to route calls to appropriate departments and to manage demand more effectively.
The constabulary analysed samples of more than 300 abandoned calls from October, November and December 2023. It then contacted the callers to find out why they abandoned the calls. It identified that the main reasons were:
It also analysed the types of calls to make sure callers with serious incidents weren’t abandoning calls. Constabulary data for October, November and December 2023 showed that about 40 percent of callers contacted the police again after abandoning their call. Of those who did:
On average, it found that 60 percent of callers who abandoned a call didn’t re-contact the police.
The research led the constabulary to review and update its interactive voice response messaging to make sure it was the right length and informative enough. It also gave callers more information about quieter times to call to help it manage demand. The constabulary has also reinforced the practice of officers giving members of the public calling cards. This means they can contact officers directly, rather than calling 101.
As a result of this work, the constabulary has experienced a continuing decrease in 101 calls being abandoned.
During our victim service assessment, we found that call handlers acted politely, appropriately and ethically. We also found the following:
We also listened to calls during our inspection. We found that call handlers showed good listening and questioning skills, and they were polite and reassuring to callers. We also found that they completed structured, good-quality THRIVE risk assessments, and they took repeat calls and vulnerability into consideration. The Saab SAFE system pushes information to the call handler, including known vulnerability, repeat incidents and risk markers.
We saw excellent use of the Saab mapping process to identify a caller’s location. We also saw call handlers use the Saab emergency button to send incident logs to dispatch. This means resources can be deployed while the call handler keeps the caller on the phone to get more details.
The constabulary has introduced Operation SAFE in the control centre. Members of the quality assurance team monitor live calls and assess the quality of the call‑handling against a checklist. They then give instant feedback and support to call handlers.
In our victim service assessment, we found that the response to immediate and priority calls was within the constabulary’s published attendance times for 43 of 47 incidents.
Once officers attended, they completed the appropriate risk assessments in 23 of 26 relevant cases. The constabulary monitors attendance times closely at daily management meetings. It moves resources across the constabulary to meet demand when necessary.
The constabulary needs to improve the way it supervises decisions to downgrade incidents, and how it updates callers when attendance is delayed. Our audit showed that a supervisor reviewed and sanctioned downgraded incidents in 8 out of 11 cases that we reviewed, and callers were updated in 4 out of 7 cases.
The constabulary has a range of contact methods, including 101 and 999 calls, and Single Online Home online reporting. The ‘click to report’ incident record goes to a mailbox, then the triage team reviews it and decides where the report should go next.
The reporting system has an auto-dropdown list. This means that if members of the public select Clare’s Law (the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS)), domestic abuse, hate crime or missing people, those reports go straight to the control room inbox, bypassing the triage team. A dedicated operator monitors the control room inbox 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and allocates these incidents, prioritising any that need to be escalated.
In our inspection, we found that the triage team managed digital contacts well. There were no backlogs and reports were appropriate.
The force control centre also has a control room email and a supervisor email. These are for contact from other organisations, other police forces and internal use. We found that there were no backlogs in these inboxes and reports were dealt with on the same day.
Members of the public also contact Cheshire Constabulary on Facebook and X. In most cases, they are signposted to online reporting or 101, but in exceptional circumstances, such as if they are insistent or there are limited options for communication, the constabulary accepts reports in this way.
Members of the public can also contact the constabulary by attending one of its five helpdesks. These are in Blacon, Crewe, Macclesfield, Warrington and Widnes.
The constabulary has introduced Right Care, Right Person in Cheshire in a phased approach, after extensive and considered work with partner organisations. These include all the Cheshire local authorities, the NHS, North West Ambulance Service, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, mental health organisations, a range of charities, and the Independent Office for Police Conduct. During phase one of the introduction, the constabulary worked with specialists from mental health charity Mind. They were based in the force control centre, alongside an inspector, to give additional support and guidance.
The constabulary has given Right Care, Right Person training to all officers and staff, as well as a personally issued guide containing flow charts to help them make the right referral decisions. The constabulary has initially introduced this training for reports of concern for safety, and for walkouts from healthcare premises. The next phase will include reports of people missing from home.
During our inspection, we found staff in the force control centre were complimentary about the way in which Right Care, Right Person had been introduced. We could see that the personally issued guides were being well used. They were also positive about the training and the support they had received from Mind.
Cheshire Constabulary is adequate at investigating crime.
The constabulary doesn’t consistently achieve acceptable outcomes for victims of crime. The number of crimes it solves following investigations is low. It needs to understand why this is the case and to work to achieve better outcomes for victims.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cheshire Constabulary recorded 64,355 victim-based crimes. Of these recorded offences, 14.3 percent were assigned an ‘offences brought to justice’ outcome. This was higher than expected when compared to the average for other forces in England and Wales.
Figure 2: Percentage of victim-based crime recorded by Cheshire Constabulary and all forces in England and Wales by selected outcome types in the year ending 31 March 2024
| Outcome types | Cheshire Constabulary outcome rate | England and Wales outcome rate |
| 1 – Charged/summonsed | 9.0% | 6.1% |
| 2 & 3 – Caution – youths & adults | 1.0% | 0.7% |
| 8 – Community resolutions | 3.6% | 1.7% |
| 9 – Prosecution not in the public interest (Crown Prosecution Service decision) | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| 10 & 21 – Prosecution not in the public interest (police decision) | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| 14 – Evidential difficulties (suspect not identified but the victim declines or is unable to support) | 4.7% | 5.6% |
| 15 – Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports police action) | 16.4% | 13.5% |
| 16 – Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim doesn’t support or withdraws support) | 24.4% | 21.5% |
| 17 – Prosecution time limit expired | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| 18 – Investigation complete – no suspect identified | 31.4% | 43.4% |
| 20 – Action undertaken by another body/agency | 4.8% | 1.5% |
| 22 – Diversionary, educational or intervention activity | 0.6% | 0.4% |
Source: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables from the Home Office
Figure 3: Proportion of victim-based crimes assigned a ‘charged/summonsed’ outcome (outcome 1) by Cheshire Constabulary between the year ending 31 March 2015 and the year ending 31 March 2024
Source: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables from the Home Office
The constabulary is constantly striving to achieve better outcomes for victims. There is a continuous focus on this at its governance meetings.
The revised Code of Practice for Victims of Crime outlines the minimum standards for victims of crime. This includes the requirement that police officers and staff should make sure victims are updated about important decision points in the investigation.
The commitment to giving these updates regularly, at a frequency agreed with the victim, is often known as the ‘victim contract’. In the cases we reviewed, we found that 16 of 55 victim contracts were completed. This means that some victims may not have received prompt updates about the investigation.
Under the code, all victims of criminal offences are entitled to a needs assessment. This identifies at an early stage any special measures that may be needed to support them throughout the investigation and subsequent court case. In the 67 relevant cases we reviewed, we found 28 without a recorded needs assessment.
In May 2024, the constabulary introduced a new template on its crime recording system to bring about more robust compliance with the code. The constabulary has been monitoring its performance in this area closely. The 67 cases we reviewed, cited above, were from before the introduction of the template. The constabulary then told us that in September 2024, the template completion rate was 83 percent. It also told us that completion of all 3 processes – including victim personal statements, victim contracts and victim needs analysis – had increased to 77 percent.
Using the new template has now become embedded practice, and the constabulary is continuously improving its compliance with the code. The constabulary should continue its focus on this area.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary investigates crime.
Cheshire Constabulary has developed robust and effective governance structures at both constabulary and local level to oversee crime investigations. An assistant chief constable chairs the monthly strategic accountability meeting, and the investigations improvement board promotes performance improvement and uses learning from national recommendations.
There are thematic meetings, and threat management groups for rape and serious sexual offences, domestic abuse, and stalking. At a local level, there are also crime accountability meetings.
The constabulary uses Power BI to monitor crime workloads each week. Any officer with 20 or more crimes receives support. Supervisors review those officers’ workloads and check on their well-being. They also check if their workloads are manageable or if they should re-allocate work.
The assistant chief constable, who is the head of crime, often personally contacts officers who have more than 20 crimes. This is from a welfare perspective and to offer support. We spoke to officers who had received these calls, and found they appreciate this approach. The officers felt valued and supported as a result.
Two years before our inspection, the constabulary introduced the AIT model to reduce response officers’ workloads, which it has successfully done.
Each local policing area has an AIT. They are made up of uniformed officers, taken from response teams following the Police Uplift Programme. Many of them are inexperienced response officers and student officers. They deal with prisoners and investigate less serious and less complex investigations.
The AIT teams deal with a high volume of investigations. They are sometimes also called upon to support response teams. Student officers must also attend university for several weeks at a time. As a result, they sometimes struggle with the demand and workload.
The constabulary constantly reviews and evaluates the new operating model. This is to make sure it is effective, that officers and staff receive the right support, and that their workloads are manageable.
As a result of this monitoring, the constabulary introduced Operation Support. It aims to help all officers working in area-based investigation teams, and in particular, in the AITs. This involves placing extra sergeants in AITs for one day a week and assigning them to review crimes with the officers. They offer support and direction, and they reduce pressure on AIT sergeants. Operation Support can also protect officers from being called upon to do other tasks, which allows them protected time to carry out their enquiries.
Operation Support is still developing. The constabulary has listened to its officers’ feedback and has introduced a monthly fraud clinic in each AIT. In this clinic, specialists from the economic crime unit work with officers from the AITs to guide and support fraud investigations.
The constabulary has also introduced a monthly stalking and harassment clinic in each AIT. This involves specialists from the harm reduction unit supporting and advising officers on their investigations.
The constabulary told us that performance in the AITs relating to the number of offenders brought to justice is improving. But it plans to continue to monitor, evaluate and make further improvements to these teams.
In our victim service assessment, we found that the constabulary considered evidence-led prosecutions when victims didn’t feel able to support a prosecution in 17 out of 20 cases.
Through the work of the domestic abuse operations group, all officers have received joint training with the Crown Prosecution Service on evidence-led prosecutions. This has led to improved performance.
When we spoke to officers, we found they understood the importance of carrying out evidence-led prosecutions. They also told us about the joint training, as well as the support they received when submitting files that would lead to evidence-led prosecutions being considered.
The constabulary monitors and scrutinises evidence-led prosecutions in its governance meetings.
Cheshire Constabulary has introduced virtual reality headsets to simulate workplace environments. This provides a safe environment for it to teach its officers how to do their job, including what to look out for and how to recognise risk. The aim was to help officers participate more in the training and retain more knowledge.
It has used this interactive learning style in various courses, including:
The officers we spoke to were overwhelmingly positive about this type of training.
In our inspection, we found that there were no delays in the digital examination of devices. All examinations were within the timescales set in service level agreements. There was evidence of strong leadership and governance processes in the central digital forensic unit.
The constabulary has eight digital kiosks. These are in local policing areas, and trained officers can use them for simple, non-complex extractions.
The constabulary also has the capability and capacity to digitally triage devices at crime scenes. This means members of the digital forensic unit attend scenes and help officers who are executing warrants to triage devices before they seize them.
The constabulary has also invested in a digi-van. This is an unmarked van that can be used to carry out digital extractions and triage mobile devices at a scene. It can also be used discreetly at a location to suit the victim. Officers often use the van at incidents involving rape and serious sexual offences to give victims an enhanced service. They also use it when the OCAIT executes warrants, when a discreet approach is needed to protect a suspect or a suspect’s family.
The constabulary also has a digi-dog, which is a dog trained to sniff out digital devices. It deploys the dog to crime scenes, and when officers execute warrants to find devices that may have been hidden.
The digital forensic unit offers help and guidance to colleagues every day with digital investigations. Supervisors and other members of the digital forensic unit monitor live incidents to identify where they can offer support. They also attend daily pacesetter meetings and other performance meetings to identify investigations that may benefit from the unit’s support. We found evidence of this proactive approach when we spoke to officers from teams across the constabulary’s area. We found that all greatly appreciated the unit’s support.
In our victim service assessment, we reviewed 100 investigations that the constabulary had completed. We found that 81 were effective.
We found that investigation plans were completed in 49 of 59 cases, and that there was effective supervision throughout the investigation in 54 of 78 cases.
We also found that in 69 of 90 investigations we reviewed, all appropriate investigative opportunities had been taken.
The constabulary completes quality assurance thematic testing. This means it reviews about 300 to 400 crimes a month to get a detailed understanding of the level of service it offers to victims of crime. It assesses:
This includes making sure investigation plans are completed and that officers progress all lines of enquiry.
From examining its monthly audits, the constabulary recognised that there were gaps relating to the supervision of investigations and the recording of investigation plans. As a result, it gave bespoke guidance and training to all supervisors, focusing on supervising investigations at the point of allocation, carrying out supervisory reviews, and supervising at the point of closing a crime. This included making sure the right outcome type has been applied. As part of the training, the detective chief superintendent had recorded a short video explaining how supervisory reviews should be completed and why they are so important.
The constabulary gave us data showing that in January 2024, 14 percent of open crimes had no recorded supervisory review. It also showed that in August 2024 this had decreased, and 7 percent of open crimes didn’t have a supervisory review. The constabulary told us its monthly audits also showed improvements in overall supervision of investigations.
The constabulary should continue with its efforts to scrutinise and improve the quality of its investigations, and to share its learning with its officers and staff.
Cheshire Constabulary is outstanding at protecting vulnerable people.
The corporate communications team is part of all governance and performance meetings in Cheshire Constabulary.
The team has worked closely with senior leaders to produce a series of innovative, current media campaigns, which make a strong impact. Its videography team has produced informative videos with the aim of resonating with the target audience. These campaigns have been designed to upskill officers, staff and members of partner organisations. They also raise awareness in the community of some complex topics.
In May 2024, the corporate communications team produced a high-impact video on Operation Encompass. The aim was to make sure all officers, staff and partner organisations understand the importance of recognising the impact of domestic abuse on children. It also showed why it is important to tell a child’s school about what they may be experiencing at home. The team worked with children from a local school and showed them in fictional situations involving domestic abuse, conveying their thoughts and feelings.
The constabulary has introduced a media campaign on stalking and harassment, titled Stand with Women, Not Against Them. It included a series of hard-hitting videos, with female victims speaking out about how stalking had affected their lives. It also included videos depicting women being followed and subjected to unwanted behaviour.
In September 2024, the constabulary introduced its thought-provoking and innovative Consent campaign. It encourages young people to start conversations about sexual consent. It made a short film showing young people in various risky situations. It then recorded another group of young people watching the film on a TV screen and discussing what they had seen and the issue of consent, in the style of ‘Gogglebox’. The video communicates with young people in a way that they can easily understand. This helps them to be better informed about what consent means, and about what behaviour is and isn’t acceptable. It is designed to empower young people to talk about this subject, to understand that they have a choice, and to be able to say no.
The constabulary shared the campaign with high schools across Cheshire, as well as on social media platforms and through digital advertising.
In March 2020, the constabulary established its harm reduction unit. It is a collaboration between police, health, probation and victim advocacy groups to better support victims of stalking and harassment. The unit takes on the most serious stalking cases and gives officers investigative advice in all other reports of stalking.
Members of the harm reduction unit also act as tactical advisers to officers and staff applying for Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs). At the time of our inspection, the constabulary told us that it had 12 full SPOs granted, and 3 interim SPOs.
In our 2021/22 PEEL inspection report, we noted that the unit had been independently evaluated by the Jill Dando Institute. Since that inspection, the unit has continued to grow and develop.
The unit received £1 million in funding from the Home Office, which was secured through the police and crime commissioner. The constabulary has used the funding to add specialist stalking prosecutors to the unit, to help to speed up the criminal justice process for victims.
The constabulary also used the funding to buy Buddi tags to monitor a small number of stalking perpetrators. In some cases, the perpetrators agreed to wear the tags as part of out of court disposals, or as a preventative measure. In one case, a tag was fitted after an SPO was granted as it stipulated that the offender must wear a tag.
The constabulary told us that using tags in this way has helped to reassure victims of stalking and to allow them to feel safer at home and in the community.
This shows the constabulary’s commitment to using technology to better safeguard victims.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary protects vulnerable people.
Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has invested in more officers and staff in the protecting vulnerable people (PVP) teams, the criminal investigation department, the OCAIT and the sex offender management unit (SOMU) to meet demand. It now has area-based PVP teams and has introduced a new model for investigating exploitation, with teams based in each local policing area. It has also posted an extra detective superintendent in each local policing area to support officers and improve performance.
The constabulary has a vulnerability strategy. It is made up of 5 main principles and 14 types of vulnerability. Each type of vulnerability has a senior leader to manage activity.
The constabulary has an improvement plan for violence against women and girls, led by the chief superintendent. The constabulary told us the plan has led to significant progress.
Leadership and governance are strong. Various governance boards at both local and constabulary levels manage vulnerability. These include the vulnerability board, crime accountability meetings, threat management meetings and the investigations improvement board.
The constabulary uses Power BI well to scrutinise performance, to support performance meetings and to produce detailed performance packs.
During our inspection, it was clear to us that all officers and staff in all teams understood vulnerability, the need to consider risks to children and young people, and the need to safeguard victims and others who may be at risk.
All officers and staff understand that protecting vulnerable people is their responsibility and part of their role. We found evidence of innovative and good practice relating to vulnerability in various teams and departments, not just in specialist teams.
The constabulary routinely considers preventative orders such as DVPOs and DVPNs. It applies for them to better manage the risk from perpetrators.
We found that officers and staff had received training in these powers, and they knew when to use them.
Neighbourhood officers monitor DVPOs. They then report on them at the domestic abuse gold meeting. The constabulary is working on making sure it has a consistent approach in each local policing area.
The constabulary effectively considers SPOs, but it prefers to charge offenders where possible.
In our victim service assessment, we found that the constabulary had considered ancillary orders such as DVPNs, DVPOs and SPOs in 22 of 23 relevant cases.
The constabulary has a proactive legal team, which supports officers to achieve prevention orders. Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has substantially invested in this team and has recruited six more members of staff.
The DVDS, also known as Clare’s Law, gives any member of the public the ‘right to ask’ the police if their partner or ex-partner may pose a risk to them. It is based on the partner or ex-partner’s history of domestic abuse or violence. There is also a ‘right to know’ in certain circumstances, which means the police can proactively share information with people about their partner or ex-partner’s history of domestic abuse or violence. This allows the person to consider what risk their partner may pose.
Cheshire Constabulary makes good use of the DVDS, including both the ‘right to ask’ and the ‘right to know’. We found that the governance processes for managing DVDS applications were strong and effective. The vulnerability hub manages the DVDS process. It also tracks the progress of applications to make sure they meet disclosure time limits. Those present at local policing area daily governance meetings also make sure applications are dealt with.
At the time of our inspection, there were no backlogs. We found the constabulary made almost all disclosures within the 28-day timescale. The constabulary told us that it has a 95 percent compliance rate for making disclosures within 28 days, and that its average disclosure rate is 53 percent.
The constabulary also internally audits its DVDS application process to check the quality of the process and decision-making.
The child sex offender disclosure scheme, also known as Sarah’s Law, gives parents, carers and guardians the ‘right to ask’ police if someone who is in contact with their child has a record for child sexual offences. There is also a ‘right to know’ in certain circumstances, which means the police can proactively share information with parents, carers and guardians about a person’s history of child sexual offences. This allows the parent, carer or guardian to properly consider what risk a person may pose to a child.
Cheshire Constabulary uses the scheme well, making sure appropriate safeguarding is in place for potential victims.
The constabulary told us that during the first 8 months of 2024, they dealt with 151 child sex offender disclosure scheme requests. This was a 73 percent increase on the number they dealt with in 2023.
The SOMU manages this disclosure scheme, and the disclosures are made by sex offender managers and staff in the PVP teams.
We found the constabulary made almost all disclosures within the 28-day timescale. The constabulary told us that it has a 95 percent compliance rate for making disclosures within 28 days, and that its average disclosure rate is 60 percent.
The OCAIT effectively makes these disclosures to the parents, carers and guardians of children who may have contact with perpetrators the team is investigating.
Cheshire Constabulary asks victims and partner organisations for feedback in a variety of different ways. This is to improve the service it provides to vulnerable people. All feedback is considered, then shared at the monthly victim satisfaction board, which a detective chief superintendent chairs.
The constabulary also asks for feedback through a monthly domestic abuse victim satisfaction survey. In October 2024, it started a similar survey for feedback from victims of stalking.
The constabulary also commissioned a public survey on violence against women and girls and communicated with more than 1,000 women and girls across Cheshire.
The constabulary has a victim service panel. It meets quarterly and is made up of previous victims of crime. They help the constabulary with policy, procedures and public-facing publications. The group has also reviewed the constabulary’s website from a victim’s perspective.
The domestic abuse operations group meets monthly. It gives feedback to the constabulary from partner organisations. These include the Crown Prosecution Service, which has representatives in the group. It has provided joint training to address the constabulary’s previous underuse of evidence-led prosecutions.
The domestic abuse and rape and serious sexual offences survivor group has helped to identify opportunities to improve victims’ experience. For example, members worked with the court staff and independent domestic violence advocates to move the location of the victim’s room at the court, so victims don’t have to walk past the suspect to get to the court room.
The constabulary now has one central vulnerability hub. It processes all reports of vulnerability in a consistent and timely way. The constabulary manages reports of vulnerability by submitting VPAs into the hub.
The central vulnerability hub carries out the multi-agency safeguarding hub functions for the constabulary. It also makes sure the constabulary works consistently with children’s social care, health, education and other organisations across all three local areas, in terms of referrals, triage, multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs), strategy meetings, and daily governance meetings.
Officers and staff in the hub review every VPA and carry out a full secondary risk assessment. They consider sharing information with partner organisations, regardless of risk level.
When there is a high-risk concern for a child, or when the child is already known to children’s social care, officers and staff in the hub refer the VPA to partner organisations straight away. They discuss all other child cases at the daily VPA partnership meeting. At this meeting, police and partners share information and decide what action to take to keep children safe.
We found that the officers and staff in the hub share good-quality information with partner organisations in a timely way. We found no backlogs in the completion of secondary risk assessments.
All strategy meetings are timely and attended by suitably trained officers.
The constabulary has an established and consistent approach to MARACs in three of its four local authority areas. In the fourth area, work is being done to achieve consistency.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, the constabulary discussed 2,190 cases at MARACs, which was above the number (1,840) recommended by SafeLives, based on the size of the local population.
The constabulary hears all MARAC cases within two weeks. At the time of our inspection, we found no backlogs of cases waiting to be heard. A suitably trained detective inspector chairs all MARACs.
The MARAC meetings that we observed were well attended. All representatives from partner organisations were keen to contribute to discussions before agreeing on the most appropriate actions.
Cheshire Constabulary is outstanding at managing offenders and suspects.
A dedicated officer in the online child abuse investigation team (OCAIT) reviews every report of grooming or indecent images of children that is managed outside the OCAIT. The officer gives the investigator advice and guidance and creates a comprehensive investigation plan to support them. The officer also considers whether, on review, the OCAIT should investigate. If that is the case, the investigation is transferred to the OCAIT.
During our inspection, we heard of cases in which the dedicated officer had given this support.
The OCAIT monitors live incidents that are taking place in Cheshire for any reports that involve indecent images of children. This means they can give advice and guidance to attending officers.
Officers and staff in the OCAIT recognise the value of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (SHPOs) and Sexual Risk Orders (SROs) in managing sex offenders. The team tries to make the most of every opportunity to secure these orders. It holds a weekly meeting with legal services to discuss cases and potential opportunities.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, 172 SHPOs were issued and 36 were breached.
The constabulary also told us that between January and August 2024, 32 SROs were granted, 6 were awaiting a hearing, 8 were in progress and 2 were declined.
The constabulary benefits from a proactive legal team, which works closely with officers to secure prevention orders. Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has considered its current and potential future demand in this area and how best to manage it. As a result, it has significantly invested in its legal team, and has recruited six more members of staff.
The constabulary has also recruited a legal services vulnerability officer. This is a police constable seconded from the sex offender management unit to give specialist support on civil order applications to legal services and frontline officers. They review all Niche reports when an application for an SHPO or an SRO may be appropriate. They also support officers who submit applications.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary manages offenders and suspects.
The constabulary has robust governance processes for managing suspects and wanted offenders.
It has clear and appropriate policies about when those suspected of crimes should be marked as wanted on the Police National Computer. This allows officers from across the country to establish if a person is wanted.
The constabulary uses Power BI well to manage its outstanding suspects, and it discusses them at local daily pacesetter meetings. Supervisors then escalate high-risk suspects at the constabulary-level pacesetter meetings. This helps gain the wider workforce’s support to find and arrest them.
Sergeants use Microsoft OneNote to manage wanted people so they don’t lose information at shift handovers.
Suspects who have been wanted for a long time are discussed at local crime accountability meetings, as well as at the threat management group meetings for domestic abuse, child protection, and rape and serious sexual offences. Actions are set at these meetings for officers to try to find them.
In our victim service assessment, we found that the constabulary made arrests of identified suspects promptly in 34 of 35 cases that we reviewed.
The constabulary has good governance and oversight of its use of bail and release under investigation (RUI). It generally uses bail rather than RUI, except in exceptional circumstances in which RUI is more appropriate.
The constabulary has a dedicated bail team, made up of a sergeant and six constables. They manage all people on bail and those released under investigation. Two weeks before the bail date, the bail team contacts officers leading investigations to get an update on the investigation and to make sure arrangements are in place. Power BI also prompts officers seven days before a suspect returns on bail.
Those present at local daily and weekly pacesetter meetings discuss suspects returning on bail. This is to make sure the constabulary is managing them effectively.
Bail is also scrutinised at the local crime accountability meetings. This means the constabulary can identify in advance any cases that may lapse into RUI from bail. They are discussed at the crime accountability meeting to make sure the relevant officer receives advice and support.
During our inspection, supervisors told us they monitored all suspects released under investigation to make sure they don’t lose opportunities to charge. When cases are moved from bail to RUI, the officer carries out a THRIVE risk assessment to make sure the level of risk has decreased. Suspects released under investigation are reviewed by supervisors at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.
The constabulary told us the bail sergeant reviews 20 to 30 bail and RUI cases each month to check the decisions and the recorded rationale.
Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has invested significantly in additional experienced officers and supervisors in the SOMU. It has also given training to make sure all officers and staff have the right skills for their role.
At the time of our inspection, the unit had enough resources to meet the demand. But the constabulary has agreed to recruit five more officers as it knows demand is likely to increase.
We found strong leadership and clear governance processes in the SOMU, as well as a detailed performance framework. All supervisory reviews of offenders are bespoke, and we found them to be of an excellent quality. There were no backlogs in supervisory sign-off.
We found that all active risk management system assessments and risk management plans were of a good quality. Very few visits were overdue, and those that were overdue were a few weeks old. All visits to registered sex offenders take place with two officers present and are unannounced. This is in line with the College of Policing authorised professional practice guidance.
We found that the SOMU was fully compliant with the authorised professional practice guidance for the reactive management of registered sex offenders. SOMU officers also complete an extra layer of risk management for offenders in reactive management by completing an annual visit and risk management plan. This is to make sure the risk level hasn’t changed and that the constabulary is still managing the offender appropriately.
The constabulary places markers on Niche in respect of registered sex offenders. These include details of the level of risk and of the offender manager so other officers can be made aware.
Since our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, the constabulary has invested significantly in placing experienced officers and supervisors in the OCAIT. It has also given officers extensive training.
In this inspection, we found that the constabulary had strong leadership, governance and effective performance management processes in the OCAIT to manage reports of online child abuse.
The constabulary uses specialist software to proactively identify the sharing of indecent images of children. It resolves all cases, regardless of the risk level.
The constabulary manages online indecent images of children in line with nationally recognised risk assessment timescales. At the time of our inspection, there were no delays in research or enforcement action. All referrals had been assessed, and only a few were awaiting enforcement action. This action was scheduled to take place within risk assessment timescales.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cheshire Constabulary had 17.9 cases of indecent images of children in which action was taken per 100,000 population. This was significantly higher than expected when compared to other forces in England and Wales, where the average was 8.54 cases. These figures show that because of the additional investment in resources into the OCAIT team, Cheshire Constabulary can gain significantly higher outcomes for victims per 100,000 population.
In our inspection of the OCAIT, we found some examples of excellent complex investigations. All were of a high standard, with good, timely safeguarding activity for victims, suspects and other potential victims. We found robust supervision and direction in all investigations. There were no delays in taking enforcement action.
One case was outside risk assessment timescales, but there was a good reason for this, which was fully documented and authorised by a senior officer. The case needed extra resources to help arrest the suspect. This was because of the intelligence picture and the risk the suspect posed.
We found that the OCAIT routinely referred all cases to partner organisations, such as children’s social care, immediately when they identified a suspect. This was regardless of whether or not they had identified any children who could be at risk. This information-sharing continued throughout investigations, helping to keep any identified children safe.
Under the child sex offender disclosure scheme, the team makes formal disclosures to the parents, carers or guardians of all linked and potentially linked children. This is so they can fully understand the risk posed by the relevant person and they can safeguard the child.
The constabulary told us that between January and September 2024, the OCAIT’s work resulted in 23 suspects receiving custodial sentences and 48 suspects receiving suspended sentences. A further 52 suspects were awaiting trial.
Cheshire Constabulary is good at building, supporting and protecting the workforce.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary builds, supports and protects the workforce.
The workforce’s well-being is a high priority at Cheshire Constabulary. It uses the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework and Oscar Kilo products and toolkits. It has a strategic well-being plan and a well-being guidance booklet. It also produces a quarterly well‑being newsletter called ‘Cheshire & Me’, which is informative, useful and easy to read.
The constabulary uses the National Wellbeing Survey. It has also commissioned its own survey, with Durham University, to consider police officer supervisory leadership, team incivility, conflict, motivation, workplace stressors and well-being.
The chief constable holds quarterly Q&A sessions to communicate with the workforce directly and understand how they are feeling. These cover a wide range of topics and are well attended.
Following the Police Federation’s recent Pay and Morale Survey, the constabulary held a series of chief constable Q&A sessions to talk through points raised in the survey. This was to help chief officers understand the findings in more detail. The officers we spoke to told us they appreciate these sessions. These Q&A sessions were attended by 424 officers, and more have since watched the online recording of the session. The sessions explored:
The constabulary set out actions after these sessions, including more training and CPD sessions. AIT officers were also given scheduled days on the duty management system on which they are protected from being given more work. This is to help them manage their workloads.
Chief officers in the constabulary have strong visibility in the workforce. For example:
All these points of contact allow chief officers to better understand what the workforce is thinking and feeling.
The majority of the people we spoke to told us they felt valued and that the constabulary looks after them well. The constabulary has invested heavily in St Michael’s Lodge treatment centre. This has allowed individual officers, as well as teams of officers and staff, to visit the centre for rest and recuperation. The officers and staff we spoke to appreciated the opportunity to attend.
The force control centre operates Operation Undeterred. This means the constabulary arrests, charges and helps to convict those who verbally abuse control centre staff. In the control centre, photographs of people arrested and convicted under the operation are displayed on a wall. This shows staff there is a zero-tolerance approach to anyone who abuses them. At the time of our inspection, the constabulary told us Operation Undeterred had a 100 percent conviction rate.
Chief officers use Power BI and governance meetings to closely monitor workloads throughout the constabulary. In March 2024, the constabulary introduced Operation Support to help officers and staff manage their workloads, especially those young in service and inexperienced. Operation Support allows officers to have protected time to complete their crime enquiries, and additional supervisors are deployed to support and guide investigations. Officers told us that they appreciated this support.
Well-being vans and well-being rooms are available across the constabulary. Officers and staff make good use of them.
The constabulary’s occupational health unit (OHU) services come from two external providers:
On 31 March 2024, the constabulary reduced the time from referral to appointment to seven days, in line with the service level agreement. It has been able to maintain this time.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cheshire had 37.5 occupational health referrals per 100 employees. This was higher than expected when compared to other forces in England and Wales. This may be because the constabulary has widely promoted the service to its workforce, and it allows all officers and staff to self-refer. One benefit of this service is that it isn’t just available for work-related reasons; it also supports officers and staff with difficulties in their personal lives.
The OHU also provides executive medicals for officers of the rank of superintendent and above. This was introduced after OHU staff found high blood pressure in some senior officers when they checked them in well-being vans.
Officers and staff said they felt that overall, they received a good level of service from the OHU. But they said they would prefer more interactions to be face to face, rather than over the phone.
Annual performance and talent conversations are mandated in Cheshire Constabulary. In the year ending 31 March 2024, the completion rate for these reviews was 98 percent across the workforce.
During performance and talent conversations, officers and staff set objectives, receive feedback on performance, and discuss and record personal development, well-being and career planning.
In April 2024, after the publication of the Angiolini recommendations, the constabulary decided to include an annual integrity and vetting review document as part of the performance and talent conversation. Line managers must make sure their officers and staff are aware of policies and standards and that they stick to them. This document has several embedded hyperlinks, which direct officers and staff to relevant policies, and guidance on procedures. This integrity health check also includes a driving licence holder check.
Both the line manager and the officer or staff member must read and discuss the document. On completion, the officer or staff member is asked to confirm that they have read and understood the content. This makes sure the process is transparent.
The constabulary has introduced traumatic incident stress management sessions, which are designed to give psychological help to officers and staff who have experienced traumatic incidents. The well-being board monitors all these sessions, and they are also discussed at the strategic commend team meeting and quarterly performance reviews. This is to check on the well-being of those officers and staff and to understand if they need further support.
During Operation Hummingbird, the investigation into the murders committed by Lucy Letby, the constabulary put in place bespoke psychological support for the investigation team and for certain police staff members. It scheduled mandatory monthly sessions with a psychologist and offered immediate access to the OHU and counselling services. The team appreciated this approach, and it worked well. As a result, the constabulary used the same model of support in a subsequent high-profile investigation into the murder of a young person.
When the constabulary identifies officers and staff in high-risk roles, it offers them annual psychological assessment questionnaires. When it receives the responses, it tiers them according to what action should take place.
In May 2024, the constabulary moved to an automated system for monitoring and reviewing these annual assessments. This was to bring about better governance and understanding of the responses it received. It also helps it to intervene with officers who don’t respond but may need support.
At the time of our inspection, the new system was still in development. But already, the constabulary had seen an increase in the completion rate for the psychological assessment questionnaires to 63 percent. From September 2023 to April 2024, the completion rate had been 23 percent. The constabulary should continue with its efforts to increase the completion rate, and to improve attendance at well-being screening appointments and sessions with health professionals. This new system will help the constabulary identify trends and patterns.
During our inspection, the new recruits we spoke to were overwhelmingly positive about their experience of joining the constabulary and their training so far.
From the outset, Cheshire Constabulary makes all applicants aware of standards, expectations and the realities of the role. This is so that people can make informed choices about whether the role is right for them. During the application process, candidates can speak to officers and staff involved in recruitment about the process. They can also practise the fitness test. The constabulary uses virtual reality headsets to show the realities of the role.
The constabulary has produced an information booklet to support applicants through the recruitment process. There is also a family booklet, which outlines what support is available to new recruits and their families. A book called ‘The Wolf Was Not Sleeping’ is issued to families with children. This book addresses, in a child-friendly way, any fears that children of police officers may have.
Before starting work, the constabulary invites all recruits to a welcome event, where they will receive training on neurodiversity and carry out a dyslexia assessment. This means any adjustments can be put in place to help with their training. They receive a student handbook and details of named contacts in HR, and in the pay and finance department.
The student management team oversees new recruits’ journeys from being student officers to being fully operationally competent.
The constabulary has introduced confidential, retention-focused stay interviews to encourage open and honest conversations with officers who are thinking of leaving. This is so the constabulary can explore solutions and encourage them to stay. These conversations are open to all but have been focused on student officers.
Cheshire Constabulary has introduced a leadership training programme that is provided to all supervisors, first line leaders, middle leaders and senior leaders.
In 2023, the constabulary introduced its own Aspire programme, following an initial pilot. The programme is designed to improve skills, knowledge and confidence for officers and staff up to the rank of inspector or equivalent. The people on the programme identify as being from a group under-represented in the constabulary. They have access to group workshops, one-to-one coaching, e-learning, shadowing, and lived-experience events. The constabulary runs the programme twice a year with 12 people in each cohort.
The constabulary also supports chief inspectors, superintendents, chief superintendents and police staff equivalents from any under-represented groups to attend the College of Policing Aspire programme.
Officers and staff can ask for a mentor to support their development. When they are promoted, all chief inspectors and above are automatically given a mentor. This is to support them in their new role.
People who are working towards promotion can take part in Strive workshops. These are designed to help them build confidence and overcome apprehension through mock interviews and presentations. They receive personal feedback. These sessions are promoted through officer and staff networks, but they are open to all members of the workforce.
The constabulary has identified that it could do more to support officers while they are on maternity leave, and to help them return to work. The constabulary previously introduced keeping in touch days, but these need more attention and development.
It recently held a maternity café, which was organised by Cheshire Women in Policing. Through this event, the constabulary examined officers’ and staff members’ experience while on maternity leave. It also examined what else it could do to support them better. During our inspection, officers and staff told us this was a positive step.
Cheshire Constabulary’s leadership and management is good.
The constabulary’s operating costs result in about 1,400 invoices being generated per month for goods and services. Previously, the finance teams had to manually process these invoices. This was time-consuming and typically needed two people to work on them full-time. Recently, the constabulary invested in a new software system to improve its accounting processes.
This software automates the scanning of all invoices the constabulary receives. It matches them to existing orders and updates the record. At the time of our inspection, the software processed about 95 percent of all invoices successfully. It can also make automatic payments, and about 40 percent of all invoices are now being paid automatically. The constabulary plans to increase this proportion as it further develops the feature.
Replacing manual invoice processing with an automated process has reduced the demand on the finance staff. This has allowed them to focus on other tasks and be more productive.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to leadership and management.
The constabulary has established a governance structure that aligns with its strategic plan. The structure reflects the priorities of Cheshire’s communities. The constabulary gathers information on community concerns via the Resident’s Voice survey.
Each local policing unit also has its own survey. These give people an opportunity to speak about their local area. As a result, local neighbourhood officers are more informed and can prioritise the issues people raise.
The constabulary told us that since February 2021, more than 65,000 resident surveys had been completed. This information supports quarterly performance reviews and helps the constabulary measure progress against its objectives. These objectives align with its strategy and are backed by reliable data and analysis.
We found that the constabulary made good use of the force management statement process. This is a yearly self-assessment that each constabulary prepares and submits to us. During our 2021/22 PEEL inspection, we identified this process as an area for improvement.
The constabulary is now making good use of the force management statement to help it understand current and future demand and risks. It updates its statement on a quarterly basis to make sure its strategic decisions are based on the latest information. This allows it to respond to changes in demand and provide its services much more effectively.
Cheshire Constabulary recognises that leadership development is a priority. It has invested in activities to improve standards. These include pledge events led by the chief constable, which set out clear objectives and expectations, and promote the constabulary’s culture.
The constabulary also holds regular performance and talent discussions with officers and staff to make sure all leaders understand expectations and meet standards. Members of the workforce told us that chief officers are very visible. They host regular Q&A sessions, giving updates, answering questions and addressing problems. Officers and staff told us these frequent interactions help to create a supportive and positive work environment.
The constabulary understands leaders’ capacity across all ranks, and it has evaluated their skills. It has clear CPD plans to address any gaps. It has also developed a comprehensive leadership training programme, with four separate courses for the various leadership levels. This gives leaders the essential skills, abilities and confidence to lead effectively at their own level.
While most leaders receive some leadership training, the constabulary gave us data showing that only 63 percent of leaders had attended the current training programme. The constabulary should continue to give this training to all leaders, including those working towards promotion. This will make sure all leaders have the skills and abilities they need to carry out their roles well.
The constabulary has reviewed its operational framework and made changes to its operating model to help it meet current and future demand. It dedicated extra resources to areas that needed more capacity. This included the force control centre, where it aimed to improve the quality of the service it gave to the public.
It also made changes to its custody operations to improve efficiency, which helped to reduce waiting times by 15 percent. This improved the experience of people under arrest and allowed officers to be more productive and to move investigations forward more efficiently.
The constabulary also invested in resources for its vulnerability teams, the OCAIT and the SOMU. This has led to significant improvements in its performance and the level of service it gives victims.
The constabulary created AITs to help improve its crime investigations and reduce the demand on frontline teams, allowing them to focus on responding to the public. This has reduced demand on frontline response officers. But we found that some AITs were staffed with student officers, who struggled to manage their workloads as they didn’t feel they had the right skills. They also said they were being regularly diverted from their main duties to carry out other work, which had a further impact on the team.
The constabulary has already introduced processes to help train and support these officers to manage their workloads. But it should continue to monitor this situation and reassure itself that the right processes and support systems are in place to balance skills and experience across all areas of its operating model.
The constabulary has clear plans to invest in its digital, data and technology solutions to improve efficiency and productivity. This includes developing its own software to support mobile working. This software gives operational officers and staff access to the systems, processes and data they need while working away from a police building.
The constabulary told us it had decided to invest in its own IT department’s capabilities to create this software. This was because it offered better value for money than buying suitable software from the marketplace.
The constabulary has an innovative IT department, which has made good progress on its capital investment plans to update the constabulary’s IT network and systems. It is aware of sources of internal demand within its systems and is working to reduce them. For example, the constabulary found that HR staff were manually transferring data between separate HR systems. This is inefficient. At the time of our inspection, the IT teams were developing an automation to replace this time-consuming process. This will reduce demand on HR staff so they can be more productive and focus on other work.
The constabulary is also improving its data systems and the quality of information it gives the workforce. Some of its systems don’t integrate well with each other. This can make gathering and presenting data more difficult and time‑consuming.
The constabulary recognises this issue and is investing in Power BI to help it manage information. This fully automated system gives high-quality and reliable data much more efficiently. We were pleased to see several Power BI dashboards already in use and there are clear plans to further develop its use of this technology.
The constabulary will need to make sure it has the right skills and capacity to carry out its organisational change plans efficiently.
The constabulary has an effective approach to financial management and uses the priority-based budgeting process to manage its budgets. This helps it find areas in which it can make savings and identify costs it can reduce, so it can make investments in priority areas. The forecasts in its medium-term financial strategy are based on realistic assumptions about future funding and the constabulary’s expenditure.
In the year ending 31 March 2024, Cheshire Constabulary received a total of £284 million in funding, equating to £254,000 per 1,000 population. This is in line with other forces in England and Wales. It receives a combination of core grant from central government and local revenue raised through council tax precept.
Revenue from the precept contributed £98 million to the constabulary’s total budget. This is about 34.7 percent of the constabulary’s total funding, which is just under the average amount most other constabularies receive from the precept. The constabulary received help from a 4.99 percent rise in the precept for 2024/25, which is an increase of £13 per year for a band D property. The constabulary used this to help it carry out its plans and maintain its services.
The constabulary has a strong track record of making efficiency savings and is confident that its plans will help it have a balanced budget in the future.
The constabulary has ambitious capital spending plans. It aims to invest £10.5 million in 2024/25. It will invest this budget in IT, replacing vehicles and maintaining its police buildings.
The constabulary manages its reserves sensibly, and it has a total of £17.2 million available as of the year ending 31 March 2024. This includes reserves earmarked for investments, along with a general reserve of £8.6 million. This is approximately 3 percent of the constabulary’s net revenue budget and is considered an adequate amount.
Data in this report comes from a range of sources, including:
For any charts and tables included in this report, we have listed the data source underneath.
We collect data from police forces twice a year. We agreed the design and schedule of this data collection with forces and other interested parties, including the Home Office.
Our analysts check and evaluate the collected data. We contact the force if we have any initial queries. Following this, we carry out an in-depth data review and make further contact with the force if needed. This process gives forces several opportunities to quality assure and validate the information they shared to make sure it is accurate.
We then share our analysis with the force by uploading the data to online dashboards. As they can review own and other forces’ data in context, forces can identify any notable differences or other inconsistencies.
This report presents the results from a PEEL inspection of one of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. British Transport Police is outside the scope of this report.
Any aggregated totals for England and Wales exclude data from the British Transport Police, which means that the totals will differ from those published by the Home Office. If any other police forces didn’t supply data and aren’t included in the total figures, we will mention this.
We use data that has been collected outside our PEEL inspection to support our fieldwork.
This report contains the latest data available before the start of our inspection and the data that the force gave us during our inspection. If more recent data becomes available after our inspection fieldwork and shows that the force’s performance has changed, we will comment on this.
In this report, we sometimes present information as rates per 1,000 population in each police force area. This allows our data to be comparable across all forces. Where population data is used in our calculations, we use the latest mid-year population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.
In this report, we have included bar charts with dotted red lines to show where a force is significantly different from the average for forces in England and Wales.
The dotted lines on the bar charts show one standard deviation above and below the unweighted average of all forces. Standard deviation summarises the difference between each individual value and the average and can be used to identify extreme or rare values.
Forces that are more than one standard deviation above or below the average are considered significantly different. These forces are outside the red dotted lines on our bar charts and we have highlighted them in either a dark blue (forces above average) or light blue (forces below average) colour. Typically, 32 percent of forces will be above or below these lines for any given measure.
We survey the police workforce throughout England and Wales to understand their experiences at work. The survey is an opportunity for the whole workforce to share their views with us. It is a valuable source of information as it isn’t possible to speak to everyone in a force during our inspection.
However, the responses we receive come from a non-statistical, voluntary sample within the workforce. The number of responses also varies between forces. This means that the results may be not representative of the workforce population.
We treat the results with caution and don’t use them to assess police forces. Instead, we use the results to establish themes that should be explored further during our inspection fieldwork. The results can also be used to give more evidence and validate information from other sources.
We carry out a victim service assessment for all forces as part of our inspection programme.
We assess the service that a force provides to victims. This is from the point of reporting a crime and throughout an investigation.
We also evaluate how forces record crimes. We assess every force on its crime recording practices at least once every three years.
Details of the technical methodology for the victim service assessment.
We carry out a stop and search audit for all forces as part of our inspection programme.
Our stop and search audits allow us to evaluate how well forces use their stop and search powers. We review how many stop and searches a force carried out under section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 or section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. We analyse:
Cheshire PEEL assessment 2023–2025
You can find more about Cheshire Constabulary on our dedicated force page.
Workforce development and wellbeing are key to sustaining and strengthening services to the public.
Working with communities to strengthen trust and confidence will help find further improvements in service delivery and preventing crime.
Cheshire Constabulary congratulated for its performance
Find out more about HMICFRS’s work and other inspection areas.
Find out how well other forces have performed during their PEEL assessment.
You can view the recommendations for all forces made by HMICFRS on our Progress against recommendations page. This shows how much progress has been made on these recommendations.
