In 2023–2025, we carried out a PEEL inspection of Gloucestershire 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 Gloucestershire Constabulary
More information about the PEEL assessments
Our inspection assessed how good Gloucestershire Constabulary is in ten areas of policing. We make graded judgments in nine of these ten as follows:
We also inspected how effective a service Gloucestershire 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 have concerns about the performance of Gloucestershire Constabulary in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service.
In particular, I have serious concerns about how it responds to the public. In view of these findings, I have been in regular contact with the chief constable as I do not underestimate how much improvement is needed.
Since our last inspection, the constabulary has made significant efforts to improve in the areas we highlighted as causes of concern or areas of improvement, which I recognise. But, despite those improvements, more is required to place the constabulary in a position where it is consistently providing a good standard of service to its local communities.
The constabulary still isn’t answering emergency calls from the public as quickly as it should. This was something we found in our previous inspection in 2021 and, although there have been some recent improvements, it is still the case that not enough emergency calls from the public are being answered within an acceptable period.
In addition, the number of non-emergency calls members of the public make but abandon because they aren’t answered remains high. This hasn’t improved since we carried out our last inspection.
The constabulary has made several improvements in the force control room to address these and other areas, including increasing staffing levels, improving training and slowly improving its systems. These have achieved some positive results, for example how callers’ vulnerability is assessed when they first make contact.
The constabulary also requires improvement in a number of areas. Although aspects of crime investigation have improved, it has understaffed and inexperienced teams investigating serious offences. There are also delays in crime allocation and supervision, with many investigations lacking a detailed investigation plan. The constabulary needs to improve in this area to achieve better outcomes for victims of crime.
The constabulary has processes in place to identify, prioritise and address vulnerability. But officers don’t always correctly record vulnerability in the first instance. The constabulary isn’t making the best use of protective orders to prevent domestic violence. It is also not always meeting the legislative requirements of Clare’s Law to make disclosures about domestic abuse perpetrators within 28 days.
We found areas for improvement in the way the constabulary manages offenders, particularly registered sex offenders. This is an area where the constabulary should focus its efforts to make sure the risks posed by such individuals are properly understood and managed.
We also found areas where the constabulary is performing at a similar level to when we last carried out an inspection. The constabulary continues to support its neighbourhood policing teams to carry out prevention and deterrence work. But the way it manages problem-solving plans is still below the standard we see in better‑performing forces.
I am pleased to see that the constabulary continues to treat the public well. Its officers are trained in communication skills and use body-worn video cameras when it is appropriate to do so. It also trains officers well in how to carry out stop and search encounters, and how to use force appropriately. The constabulary’s internal and external monitoring of the use of these powers makes sure the public in Gloucestershire are treated fairly.
I am most pleased to see that the constabulary is now outstanding in how and when it records crime. The fact that crime recording has improved so significantly is testament to the constabulary’s investment of time, effort and resources in this area.
The constabulary has also made considerable improvements in how victims who contact it are treated, with the exception of how quickly they answer calls. They have particularly improved the quality of the initial advice they give on crime prevention and the preservation of evidence.
Finally, in the area of leadership and force management, the constabulary has made improvements, but still has work to do. Its financial plans are sound. A refreshed leadership team is now in place to help it improve in areas that still need attention. These include its IT infrastructure, implementation of a new enhanced operating model which is still under-staffed and balancing its operational requirements with the skills and experience of its officers and staff.
All these observations take into consideration external factors such as its funding levels (which are within the typical range for forces in England and Wales) and levels of deprivation (which are low). The constabulary’s number of 999 and 101 calls and recorded incidents are similar per head of population to those in other England and Wales forces.
I also accept that the decision to implement the enhanced operating model in June 2023 wasn’t an easy one. But it was made on the basis that it wouldn’t be fully staffed until summer 2024, and so would result in staged improvements.
I look forward to seeing how the constabulary continues to work to improve its performance, which I will be closely monitoring.
Wendy Williams
HM Inspector of Constabulary
Using the College of Policing leadership expectations as a framework, in this section we set out the most important findings relating to the constabulary’s leadership at all levels.
The constabulary has a long-serving chief constable, and now benefits from a refreshed executive team with relatively recent appointments to the majority of roles. These include a new chief financial officer, the new role of chief technology officer and an additional two chief superintendents.
In 2023, the governance of the constabulary was refreshed and includes renewed oversight of vulnerability, crime standards and legitimacy. This will provide oversight where it is needed. But it will also require quality data and analysis to help understand the issues the constabulary faces. The availability of such data is hampered by the constabulary’s current technology and IT systems, which need further investment and significant upgrading.
In September 2023, the constabulary exited our enhanced monitoring process (also known as Engage). This is testament to the efforts made by the constabulary’s leaders and the whole workforce to address the policing areas requiring improvements that we identified in our last PEEL inspection in 2021.
But there are still considerable improvements to be made. The constabulary still doesn’t answer emergency calls quickly enough, and it allows non-emergency calls to be abandoned too often. These are vital services to the public and central to any police force’s activity. This area should remain a priority for the constabulary’s senior leaders.
The constabulary is investing in its workforce. This is demonstrated by its Supportive Leadership programme, which provides a training and support pathway for leaders at all levels. This programme focuses on well-being and on recognising the needs of under-represented groups. It should provide resilience in the skills of the constabulary’s leaders for the future.
More detail on Gloucestershire Constabulary’s leadership is included in the main body of the report.
The reducing crime assessment sets out what Gloucestershire 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, making it difficult to draw comparisons over time.
To provide the public with an effective service, Gloucestershire Constabulary needs to make sure it answers emergency and non-emergency calls faster. By not always doing so, it is missing opportunities to safeguard the public and reduce crime. The constabulary also needs to respond to incidents within its published timescales.
The constabulary’s neighbourhood policing teams work well with communities to understand and meet their needs. They actively seek views from communities, encouraging them to share information. This helps to identify local problems and gather intelligence that helps to reduce crime. The constabulary works well with partner agencies to prevent and deter crime and antisocial behaviour. It is taking steps to improve how it records and manages its problem-solving plans.
The constabulary understands and improves the way it uses stop and search powers through analysis and monitoring at constabulary-level meetings. It can show its use of stop and search is fair and effective and is helping to reduce crime. The majority of its recorded grounds for stop and search are reasonable.
Investigative standards are overseen by clear governance arrangements. But there are inexperienced officers investigating serious crimes, including domestic abuse. There are also delays in these crimes being allocated, investigated and properly supervised. If investigative standards aren’t followed and investigation plans aren’t consistently set out, the constabulary runs the risk of victims being let down and offenders not being brought to justice soon enough.
More detail on what Gloucestershire Constabulary is doing to reduce crime is included in the main body of the report.
This section describes our assessment of the service Gloucestershire 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 type:
Investigation complete – no suspect identified. Crime investigated as far as reasonably possible. Case closed pending further investigative opportunities becoming available.
Although our victim service assessment is ungraded, it influences graded judgments in the other areas we have inspected.
The constabulary needs to improve how long it takes to answer emergency calls. It also needs to reduce the number of non-emergency calls where the caller hangs up before a handler answers it.
In their calls, call handlers always use a structured process that assesses threat, harm, risk and vulnerability. And call handlers always identify repeat and vulnerable victims. This means they are fully aware of the victim’s circumstances when considering what response the constabulary should give. Call handlers are polite and give victims advice on crime prevention and on how to preserve evidence.
The constabulary doesn’t always respond to calls for service within set timescales. It doesn’t always inform victims of delays, which means victims’ expectations aren’t always met. This may cause victims to lose confidence and to not want to continue with the process.
The constabulary has effective crime-recording processes. It makes sure all crimes are recorded correctly and promptly.
We set out more details about the constabulary’s crime recording in the recording data about crime section.
In most cases, the constabulary investigates crimes in a timely way and completes relevant and proportionate lines of enquiry. The constabulary doesn’t always use investigation plans. But it appropriately supervises most investigations and keeps victims regularly updated. Victims are more likely to have confidence in a police investigation when they receive regular updates.
A thorough investigation increases the likelihood of perpetrators being identified and arrested, providing a positive result for the victim. In most cases, the constabulary took victim personal statements, which give victims the opportunity to describe how that crime has affected their lives.
When victims withdraw support for an investigation, the constabulary in most cases 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. In most cases, the constabulary records whether it considers using orders designed to protect victims, such as a Domestic Violence Protection Notice or Domestic Violence Protection Order.
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 usually carries out these assessments and records all requests for additional support. But the constabulary doesn’t always make appropriate referrals to specialist partner organisations able to provide additional support.
The constabulary closes most crimes with the appropriate outcome type. It records a clear rationale for using a certain outcome and supervises the closure of crimes effectively. It seeks the victim’s views and considers the offender’s background when deciding which outcome type to assign to a closed investigation. When appropriate, the constabulary can provide an auditable record of the victim’s wishes. The constabulary informs victims of what outcome code has been assigned to the investigation.
Gloucestershire Constabulary is outstanding at recording crime.
The Home Office Counting Rules, which provide the standard for crime recording in England and Wales, have changed since the last time we inspected the constabulary for crime data integrity.
This change mainly relates to the way forces record violent crime. This means we can no longer compare the findings from this audit to those from previous audits.
We estimate that Gloucestershire Constabulary is recording 97.6 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 1.6 percent) of all reported crime (excluding fraud).
We estimate that the constabulary is recording 98.0 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 2.4 percent) of sexual offences.
We estimate that the constabulary is recording 95.0 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 3.9 percent) of violent offences.
The constabulary’s data for victims of crime shows that age and gender are well recorded, ethnicity is less well recorded and other protected characteristics aren’t well recorded. This hasn’t changed since we last inspected the constabulary in 2021. The constabulary should be collecting this information to understand the extent to which each protected group is affected by crime, how this differs from those without the protected characteristics and whether a different response is needed for these victims.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to crime data integrity.
The constabulary records crimes against vulnerable victims accurately. We examined 49 incidents and cases reported to specialist officers. Of those incidents and cases, 30 crimes should have been recorded and all 30 were recorded correctly.
Although the constabulary recorded 98.0 percent of its sexual offences, it should take further care to make sure the classification of rape crimes is correct. We found that 40 rape crimes were classified correctly. But an additional report of rape was recorded as a different classification of crime and four others were reported incidents of rape (N100 classification) rather than rape crimes. Rape is one of the most serious crimes a victim can experience. It is important that crimes are recorded and classified accurately to make sure victims receive the service and support they expect and deserve.
Gloucestershire Constabulary is good at using police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.
The constabulary provides officers with communication training that includes questioning skills, effective listening, negotiation and conflict resolution. The workforce also receives inclusion training, which includes cultural sensitivity, unconscious bias and dealing with historic trauma, particularly for people from ethnic minority groups. The training uses videos of local people’s encounters with the police to demonstrate their lived experiences.
The constabulary has a public feedback team, which identifies trends when resolving complaints and listening to feedback from the public. The constabulary is developing communication training based on these findings.
The constabulary has a comprehensive policy in relation to its officers’ use of body‑worn video, encouraging a culture of ‘why did you not record?’ and ‘if in doubt record, and record early’. Officers know when body-worn video should be used, based on the guidance provided to them on the constabulary’s intranet pages.
The body-worn video policy states that the cameras should be activated when attending incidents, when carrying out stop and search (except for intimate searches) and when using force.
Police inspectors (officers at the rank above sergeant) now dip sample their officers’ stop and search and use of force encounters and watch the body-worn video footage. This allows them to assess the quality of their officers’ dealings with the public and to provide feedback when required. Inspectors’ findings are also collated and discussed at specific meetings relating to stop and search and the use of force. A recent audit of 135 stop and searches carried out by the constabulary found only two cases where body-worn video hadn’t been used.
During our inspection, we reviewed a sample of 187 stop and search records from 1 January to 31 December 2022. Based on this sample, we estimate that 80.2 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 5.4 percent) 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 in 2021, when we found 84.3 percent (with a confidence interval of +/- 5.1 percent) of stop and searches had reasonable grounds recorded. Of the records we reviewed for stop and searches on people from ethnic minority groups, 20 of 25 had reasonable grounds recorded.
In our inspection, we also reviewed ten samples of body-worn video footage of officers involved in stop and search encounters carried out between 2 May and 3 July 2023. During these encounters, officers treated all the subjects with dignity and respect and showed good communication skills throughout. In terms of the procedures to be followed during these encounters (such as providing the grounds for the search and the legal powers required), these were provided in most cases. But although all subjects were told that they were entitled to a record of the search, we found that only four out of ten subjects were told how to obtain such a copy.
In the year ending 31 March 2022, the constabulary carried out 1,946 stop and searches. This represents 3.0 stops per 1,000 population. This was a 39.2 percent decrease from the 3,202 in the previous year and is a greater decrease than the average across England and Wales, which was 25.9 percent. But this wasn’t outside the typical range of decreases seen in most forces. The proportion of searches that were self-generated (as opposed to in response to a reported incident) was 44.9 percent, which shows officers are using the tactic proactively as a measure to prevent crime.
During the same period, the constabulary had a high find rate, at 32.5 percent. The average find rate was 22.2 percent in England and Wales. The find rate is when the officer finds the stolen or prohibited article/object they were looking for when carrying out the search. This indicates officers are using stop and search effectively.
Figure 1: Find rates during stop and searches carried out by forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2022
Source: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics from the Home Office
In the year ending 31 March 2022, based on population data from the 2021 census, Black people were 3.8 times more likely to be stopped and searched by Gloucestershire Constabulary than White people. This is often referred to as the rate of disproportionality in the use of stop and search. In England and Wales, Black people were on average 4.8 times more likely than White people to have stop and search powers used against them during the same period.
The constabulary holds a quarterly stop and search governance meeting. It studies data relating to stop and search, including geographical areas where encounters take place, search reasons, find rates, and the ethnicity and age of subjects. The meeting also considers the dip sampling of stop and search records by inspectors. All of this helps the constabulary understand themes and trends in how this tactic is used.
The constabulary has a well-established external monthly stop and search community scrutiny panel that looks in detail at comprehensive data for randomly selected stop and search encounters. The panel is independently chaired and now includes younger and more diverse members who are more reflective of the communities of Gloucestershire. Members are provided with training materials to prepare them to scrutinise the constabulary and are confident to challenge and provide feedback, which the constabulary acts on. The encounters are rated, and feedback (whether positive or negative) is provided to the officers concerned and their supervisors.
The minutes of this meeting and the constabulary’s own internal stop and search governance meeting, as well as the constabulary’s stop and search data, are published on its website for the public to access.
The constabulary continues to educate its officers in relation to how they use force and when to do so. This topic is included in the training for student officers and in annual refresher courses for all officers. Training covers use of force tactics when it is justified and how it should be recorded. This helps to improve the constabulary’s dealings with the public and the quality of its data.
In the year ending 31 March 2022, the constabulary recorded 5,060 use of force incidents, which on average is 7.8 per 1,000 people. This was an 83 percent increase compared with the previous year. Although this is positive, this was still 1,331 fewer than we estimate should have been recorded based on the number of recorded arrests. This increase puts the constabulary in a similar position to most forces in terms of recorded use of force incidents. It is likely that it results from an improvement in the way use of force incidents are being recorded.
During the same period, people from ethnic minority backgrounds were the subject of 9 percent of use of force incidents and 12 percent of arrests. People from ethnic minority backgrounds make up 6.9 percent of the county’s population. This indicates that the constabulary may not be recording all use of force incidents, including for people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The constabulary holds a quarterly use of force scrutiny panel meeting, which combines internal governance and external scrutiny of issues relating to its use of force. This meeting is jointly chaired by a police superintendent and an independent member of the public. Members of this panel include police officers and staff working in areas such as professional standards, custody and training, as well as members of the public who now represent a diversity of ages and ethnic minority backgrounds.
Combining the internal and external meetings means less time is available to carry out detailed analysis of the constabulary’s data, such as which tactics are used most on people from specific ethnic groups, or which tactics lead to the most injuries to subjects or officers. This may affect whether the constabulary is able to improve its understanding of use of force issues and how well it is recorded.
The external panel members have received training and are able to provide a good level of scrutiny and challenge to randomly selected use of force incidents. These incidents are presented to them along with appropriate background information and body-worn video footage. Encounters are rated and feedback is provided to the officers concerned and their supervisors. The presence of internal and external members allows themes and concerns to be noted by the constabulary for further action when needed.
As with stop and search, the minutes of this meeting and the use of force data are published on the constabulary’s website.
Gloucestershire Constabulary is adequate at prevention and deterrence.
Every two months the constabulary hosts a community legitimacy panel, which is attended by many representatives from ethnic minority groups within Gloucestershire. This panel is chaired by a member from an ethnic minority background and is attended by senior officers. The chair and the community members are encouraged to be honest and critical to help the constabulary improve.
The panel has independently produced a series of eight priorities that have been allocated to senior leaders within the constabulary. These include work relating to:
This panel allows representatives from communities that interact less often with the constabulary or have less trust and confidence in it, to raise their concerns at a senior level within the service.
Gloucestershire Constabulary offers a variety of formal voluntary roles to diverse members of its community. The programme is overseen by a regular Citizens in Policing board, which is attended by representatives from several different groups.
The special constabulary, over 150 police cadets (supported by 80 leaders) and over 300 police support volunteers are represented. The police support volunteers include employer-supported policing, and they have a range of supportive roles including drivers, archivists, cyber experts and role-play actors. Volunteer police community support officers, who focus on working with communities and on Neighbourhood Watch also have representatives on the board. Representatives also include work experience students: 14 students a month can experience aspects of policing they wouldn’t ordinarily see.
Other groups represented include the Youth Advisory Group and the Treasure Seekers. The Youth Advisory Group is formed of young people aged 14–25 from various backgrounds across the county. They discuss their experiences with the police and offer feedback on the approachability of officers on the street and other policing issues. And having representatives from the Treasure Seekers gives adults with learning difficulties the opportunity to communicate with the public in police uniform.
The Mini Police (for children aged seven to ten years) and the ride-along scheme are also represented at meetings. The ride-along scheme gives members of the public the opportunity to accompany officers on patrol.
As well as the benefits of involving communities in policing activity, the financial contribution of these voluntary roles is estimated to save the constabulary up to £45,000 a year.
When we carried out our inspection, the constabulary was reviewing the way it stores and manages its problem-solving plans. The constabulary has 25 plans stored on its records management system UNIFI, which is where crimes are recorded.
Although this makes the plans accessible to officers and staff, there is no way of searching the system to look for best practice to help with future problem-solving. There is no dedicated co-ordinator to oversee the system, provide guidance or properly evaluate the outcomes of the plans once they are completed.
Without an effective IT system for problem-solving plans that is properly managed and supervised, the constabulary’s ability to consistently prevent and deter crime and antisocial behaviour – and reduce vulnerability – is reduced.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to prevention and deterrence.
The constabulary has three vehicles for working with the public and these are regularly deployed across Gloucestershire to increase its visibility in both remote and busy areas. Their locations are publicised on a weekly basis. This helps the constabulary to provide accessibility and reassurance. The constabulary told us that during the first three months of 2023 the vehicles received over 1,000 visitors.
Through its Better Together team, the constabulary aims to work with its diverse communities. In July, the constabulary co-hosted the Better Together Community Sports Day. Attended by 760 people, its primary aim was to promote better working relations between the constabulary and the wide range of local communities.
The constabulary’s rural crime team focuses on wildlife issues such as hunting and poaching and also deals with other rural crime and heritage offences. In doing so, it works extensively with partner organisations, for example local councils, and with rural communities.
The constabulary also uses innovative ways to engage with communities. As part of the stalking campaign, the constabulary arranged for a well-known social media influencer to host a podcast. This reached a large audience, including members of the community who don’t often interact with the constabulary.
Neighbourhood teams benefit from a series of information-sharing meetings. These meetings help them to identify opportunities for preventing and deterring crime and antisocial behaviour, including serious acquisitive crime (theft, robbery or burglary).
Each neighbourhood sergeant holds regular ‘on my patch’ meetings to discuss incidents and activities in their area. Neighbourhood inspectors and chief inspectors hold connectivity meetings to discuss wider issues.
The constabulary-wide tasking and co-ordination meeting seeks to understand current and emerging threats based on feedback from on my patch and connectivity meetings as well as data and analysis provided by the force intelligence bureau. This meeting considers how to allocate resources for specific operations and promotes working with partners to provide the best possible community service.
Serious acquisitive crime includes burglary, personal robbery, theft from a person, and theft of and from a motor vehicle. In the year ending 31 March 2023, Gloucestershire Constabulary recorded 4,451 serious acquisitive crimes. This is an increase from 4,020 offences recorded by the constabulary in the year ending 31 March 2022.
The constabulary has a new prevention lead and is developing a plan, with external partners, to formalise the best way to address antisocial behaviour and outcomes. The constabulary uses a variety of initiatives to help prevent and reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. These include Operation Solace, the Aston Project, the Boost programme and Operation Ebrius.
Operation Solace is an established partnership between the constabulary, Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council. This dedicated multi-agency team works with communities to prevent, investigate and tackle antisocial behaviour. It provides support to those residing in the urban areas of Cheltenham and Gloucester. At the time of our inspection, this had recently been expanded to cover other areas of the county, with a dedicated officer or police community support officer (PCSO) and local authority antisocial behaviour officer working in Stroud, the Forest of Dean, Tewkesbury and the Cotswolds.
The Aston Project is a PCSO and partner-led reward-based activity programme for young people aged between 9 and 17. This provides supportive activities to intervene in cases of escalating negative behaviour based on community, discipline, character and the awareness of possible vocations for future employment.
The Boost programme is a self-leadership programme for young people aged 10 to 18 in which older students coach younger pupils. It is directly modelled on constructive thought patterns, constructive behaviour and natural reward. Over 5,000 young people had taken part in the programme up to July 2023.
Operation Ebrius was a joint initiative set up to tackle street drinking and antisocial behaviour in Gloucester city centre. Partners in the operation included Gloucester City Council, Operation Solace teams and city protection officers. After members of the public and business owners raised concerns, a mixture of supportive action and enforcement (including injunctions) took place. Over 560 cans and bottles of alcohol were seized over a two-month period. These are to be turned into a piece of artwork.
According to the Office for National Statistics Crime Survey for England and Wales, in the year ending 31 December 2022, an estimated 32.6 percent of adults aged 16 and over experienced or witnessed antisocial behaviour in the Gloucestershire Constabulary area. This is in line with the England and Wales average of 34.7 percent.
In the same year, an estimated 3.1 percent of people in the Gloucestershire Constabulary area perceived there was a high level of antisocial behaviour. This is below the England and Wales average of 7.7 percent.
During summer 2023, demand on Gloucestershire Constabulary increased due to a higher number of incidents and public events requiring a police presence. In many forces this issue leads to neighbourhood officers being taken away from their usual roles and put onto response teams or other duties. Despite this demand, the constabulary managed to maintain its neighbourhood policing teams, with only six response shifts requiring a neighbourhood officer to cover them. Although neighbourhood officers routinely make themselves available to respond to emergencies, the fact that they weren’t taken away from their usual work meant their focus on prevention and deterrence could be maintained.
The recent implementation of a new operating model in the constabulary (the enhanced operating model) has led to changes in the allocation of crime investigations. Neighbourhood teams can now investigate crimes that align with their ongoing prevention activity.
The activities carried out by neighbourhood teams, including problem-solving and work with partners, are regularly discussed at meetings and forums across the constabulary. These include:
But we didn’t find evidence of initial training for those who are new to neighbourhood roles, or of set expectations about what the roles required. The College of Policing is developing guidance on how such training could be designed and implemented, which would help Gloucestershire Constabulary’s neighbourhood teams to prevent and deter criminal activity in a more consistent way.
The constabulary is committed to a problem-solving approach to preventing crime and antisocial behaviour. Examples of this approach include an initiative in Gloucester city centre working with partners to protect members of the public, with a focus on tackling violence (and intimidation) against women and girls. This is a constabulary, police and crime commissioner, and national, priority. The initiative involved the issuing of red and yellow cards to prevent those responsible for violent, racist or sexist behaviour from entering the city centre. It is also included the creation of safe and secure spaces, and an extensive poster and publicity campaign.
The constabulary also worked alongside partners, for example local housing providers, within the multi-agency problem-solving forum in Cheltenham to tackle organised crime and antisocial behaviour in a specific area. After extensive information-sharing and analysis, a ‘clear, hold, build’ approach was adopted. Enforcement action was followed by rehousing, working with young people and ongoing efforts to ‘design out crime’ by improving the environment with a view to preventing future criminality.
The constabulary’s neighbourhood policing lead is a superintendent who also works as a local policing area commander. A dedicated crime prevention superintendent has also been appointed: overseeing crime prevention advisers, Citizens in Policing, licensing, and integrated offender management.
We did not find any specific strategy or oversight of the principles of evidence-based policing, which uses the best available evidence to inform and challenge policing policies, practices and decisions.
The constabulary would benefit from better co-ordination of problem-solving, crime prevention and evidence-based policing at a senior level. This should include consideration of what local and academic partners could add. This would help it to maximise opportunities to prevent public harm and reduce demand.
Gloucestershire Constabulary is inadequate at responding to the public.
The constabulary needs to improve the time it takes to answer emergency calls for service. This was identified as a cause of concern when the constabulary was last inspected in 2021. In the year ending 30 June 2023, Gloucestershire Constabulary answered 59.2 percent of its 999 calls within 10 seconds. This was lower than the standard expected of forces in England and Wales of answering 90 percent of 999 calls within 10 seconds.
Within six months, Gloucestershire Constabulary should:
Figure 2: Proportion of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds by forces in England and Wales in the year ending 30 June 2023
Source: 999 call answering times (unpublished) from BT
Failing to answer calls quickly enough can mean losing both public confidence and investigative opportunities. While we recognise that there have been improvements in answering emergency calls in July, August and September 2023, performance was still lower than the standard expected.
In the year ending 30 June 2023, Gloucestershire Constabulary received 150 emergency 999 calls per 1,000 population. This was a normal value compared to other forces in England and Wales.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, Gloucestershire Constabulary received 226 non-emergency 101 calls per 1,000 population. This is slightly lower than other forces in England and Wales.
The constabulary’s abandonment rate – the rate at which callers hang up before their call is answered – for non-emergency calls is high. This was also identified as a cause of concern when the constabulary was last inspected in 2021. During our recent inspection we found that there has been a decline in performance. In the year ending 31 March 2023, the constabulary told us that 41.3 percent of its non-emergency 101 calls were abandoned. At the time of our last report, the rate was 32 percent over a three-year period. This rate remains higher than the 2020 national contact management strategy principles and guidance that forces without a switchboard should aim to have an abandonment rate lower than 10 percent.
This means that the public still aren’t able to contact the constabulary as quickly or as easily as they should, which may leave people at risk. In this way, the constabulary doesn’t provide the public with a good enough service.
The constabulary is aware that it needs to make improvements and has a plan in place to do so, including further recruitment into the force control room. We also note that the constabulary has improved its 999 call answering times. By the time our inspection concluded in October 2023, the constabulary was answering 80 percent of its 999 calls within 10 seconds. We look forward to assessing whether the constabulary can sustain this improvement in 2024.
This cause of concern was closed on 9 December 2024.
The victim service assessment found evidence of effective initial risk assessments by call handlers. Structured triage and risk assessment was present in 86 of 91 applicable cases, and an accurate and meaningful record of this was found in 85 of 86 applicable cases.
We found that this wasn’t always the case when the risk in incidents was reassessed in the time between a call being made and an officer being able to attend, or when the urgency of the call had changed.
Since our last inspection, the constabulary has introduced a new triage team within the force control room. This team carries out initial assessments and research to identify any further offences or risks. But we also found that when the triage team regraded incidents and sent them back to the control room for a unit to be dispatched, there were sometimes delays in reassessing risk and reallocation. The constabulary needs to make sure there is a clear policy for the responsibility for, and frequency of, subsequent risk assessments and allocation. And the constabulary also needs to make sure the different teams involved in assessing risk are aware of the policy, understand it and follow it.
The constabulary doesn’t always attend calls for service in line with its published attendance times. In our victim service assessment, we found that attendance was within the required attendance time in only 29 of the 53 applicable cases we reviewed (whether the incident was downgraded or not). There was effective and appropriate supervision of that response/deployment in only 38 of 51 cases. We found evidence of a caller/victim being updated regarding a delay in only 24 of 37 relevant cases.
Delayed response times can lead to missed opportunities to safeguard victims and collect evidence. They can also have a negative effect on the confidence of victims.
Since our inspection, the constabulary has introduced a new operating model, which has led to the restructuring of response teams. It told us that its attendance times are improving as a result. But the constabulary should still make efforts to improve its supervision and caller/victim updates within the force control room.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary responds to the public.
Since our last report in 2021, the constabulary has improved its management structure in the force control room. The management team reports regularly to senior leaders on their efforts to improve performance. Senior leaders take an active interest in the control room in terms of understanding performance and the support needed to promote improvement. Senior leaders also visit the control room on a regular basis.
As well as addressing the recommendations we made, the constabulary liaised with other forces that perform well in this area and invited a detailed peer review by one force. This has led to a comprehensive plan that addresses specific areas for improvement, including staffing, training, performance measurement and IT systems.
The constabulary has acknowledged that its focus has been on improving its emergency call answering, and this has led to some recent improvements in this area. But the performance is still lower than the standard expected. The abandonment rate for non-emergency calls has shown no improvement since we last inspected the constabulary, despite steps taken to try to reduce the numbers of calls abandoned.
The constabulary should make sure its improvement plans for the force control room address each of the areas that require attention at the earliest opportunity.
We found that response officers are trained in managing crime scenes. We also found that supervisors, including response sergeants and force control room inspectors (also known as force incident managers), actively assist response officers in dealing with crime scenes and serious incidents. This is done in person or by using radio or telephone communication.
But we also found that ‘golden hour’ tasks (those vital early investigative steps such as seizing items for forensic examination or recovering CCTV footage) were often not completed, particularly for crimes handed over to other teams. The reasons for this were varied and included the time pressures on smaller response teams, a lack of experience in those teams and sometimes a lack of supervision of the handover process to other teams, which could lead to a lack of quality control at the point of the handover. We found a lack of training for frontline officers on sexual offences, leading to gaps in knowledge in areas such as forensic matters or guidance to victims.
Incomplete initial investigations can lead to a loss of evidence and can reduce the chances of offenders being brought to justice. The constabulary should put measures in place to make sure crime scenes are managed effectively and that this work is properly supervised.
The constabulary is improving and increasing the ways in which members of the public can contact it. It has a well-developed website and makes use of social media. It promotes the ‘Click Call Connect’ campaign to encourage members of the public to use these methods in non-emergencies as an alternative to the telephone. This campaign reached over five million people.
Within the force control room, it has made improvements to IT systems so that calls to the non-emergency number can be diverted to other numbers. Callers can also choose to be called back rather than wait in a queue. These are steps in the right direction but haven’t yet led to improvements in non-emergency call abandonment.
The constabulary allows members of the public to contact it through the national police website Single Online Home. It is currently exploring how to create a dedicated team within the force control room to deal with online contact, incident and crime reporting.
Our victim service assessment found that call handlers:
We also found that call handlers were effectively supervised in 32 of 33 cases.
We found that staff within the force control room work alongside an NHS funded team of mental health professionals, known as the first point of contact team. This team can provide advice, assistance and access to information and data to help not only call handlers and dispatchers within the force control room but also officers and staff deployed to incidents. Although there is no joint access to IT systems, information is freely shared to help resolve incidents and provide help to members of the public.
The constabulary also makes use of a rapid response vehicle funded by the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, which is staffed by an emergency care assistant and a mental health clinician. This vehicle is available at peak times to respond quickly to emergency mental health incidents and assist the police and other emergency responders.
Within the force control room, and particularly in the triage team, there are officers and staff with expertise in specific areas who can assist their colleagues when required. Areas of expertise include rural crime, hate crime, mental health and domestic abuse.
Gloucestershire Constabulary requires improvement at investigating crime.
The constabulary isn’t always achieving acceptable outcomes for victims of crime. It has low numbers of crimes that are solved following investigations. It needs to understand the issue and work to achieve better outcomes for victims.
In the year ending 30 June 2023, Gloucestershire Constabulary recorded 46,076 victim-based crimes. Of these recorded offences, 7.7 percent were assigned an ‘offences brought to justice’ outcome. This was within the normal range across all forces in England and Wales.
Despite being in the normal range across all forces for ‘offenders brought to justice’ outcomes, the percentage of cases where Gloucestershire Constabulary achieves a good outcome for the victim remains low. The constabulary must strive to improve this and focus on bringing offenders to justice.
Figure 3: Proportion of victim-based crimes assigned specified crime outcomes by Gloucestershire Constabulary compared with forces in England and Wales in the year ending 30 June 2023
| Outcome types | Gloucestershire Constabulary outcome rate | England and Wales outcome rate |
| 1 – Charged/summonsed | 4.1% | 4.8% |
| 2 & 3 – Caution – youths & adults | 0.4% | 0.7% |
| 8 – Community resolutions | 2.6% | 1.4% |
| 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) | 0.1% | 0.9% |
| 14 – Evidential difficulties (suspect not identified but the victim declines or is unable to support) | 4.7% | 5.7% |
| 15 – Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports police action) | 15.7% | 12.2% |
| 16 – Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim does not support or withdraws support) | 28.9% | 21.3% |
| 17 – Prosecution time limit expired | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| 18 – Investigation complete – no suspect identified | 34.1% | 42.1% |
| 20 – Action undertaken by another body/agency | 1.3% | 1.4% |
| 22 – Diversionary, educational or intervention activity | 0.2% | 0.4% |
Source: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables from the Home Office
Figure 4: Proportion of victim-based crimes assigned a ‘charged/summonsed’ (outcome 1) by Gloucestershire Constabulary between the year ending 31 March 2015 and the year ending 30 June 2023
Source: Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables from the Home Office
Between the year ending 30 June 2022 and 30 June 2023, the proportion of crimes assigned outcome 16: ‘Evidential difficulties: suspect identified; victim does not support further action’ by Gloucestershire Constabulary decreased from 35.4 percent to 28.9 percent. This value is higher than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales.
We found delays in the evidence review process. Files of evidence submitted by officers for internal review before being sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for them to consider authorising charges were subject to a bureaucratic and time-consuming process. The constabulary also told us that only 25 percent of these files pass this review process on the first occasion. This failure rate and the lengthy review system causes delays for the criminal justice process and for victims waiting for an outcome.
We found that the reactive investigation team, which is responsible for carrying out the majority of its volume crime investigations (any crime occurring so often that it has a significant impact on the community), was staffed mainly with student officers, some of whom had been transferred to that team with only 36 weeks’ service.
A plan was in place to provide these and other officers in the reactive investigation team with training to carry out their role. But the fact that this team was also understaffed meant investigations were delayed.
Officers in this team, which deals with the majority of the constabulary’s domestic abuse crimes, were allocated too many crimes. One officer was found to be responsible for investigating 26 crimes, with some new crimes not actively investigated for over a month.
Although numbers in the reactive investigation team are increasing as new recruits boost the overall number of officers in the constabulary, the current lack of skills and experience is adversely affecting the level of service to victims of crime.
In our victim service assessment, we found that 54 out of 66 investigations had an investigation plan which met national standards. When an investigation plan (of any standard) was in place, the plan was followed and updated in 52 of 56 cases.
During our inspection, we found evidence of backlogs and delayed supervision in investigations throughout the constabulary.
We found that on one particular day there were 191 new crime investigations awaiting allocation to an investigating officer. Although most of these (102) were less than four days old, 36 were up to a week old, 44 were up to three weeks old and nine were over three weeks old. This is despite the constabulary having processes in place to help supervisors to see the outstanding crimes in their areas and to quickly allocate those requiring immediate attention.
On the same day, we found a large number of crime investigations were overdue in terms of updates by the investigating officers and their supervisors, with 1,774 investigating officer updates and 2,505 updates by sergeants overdue.
Without timely allocation of investigations, the creation of investigation plans and proper supervision, the constabulary can’t provide an appropriate service to victims of crime.
Police forces’ investigations are often delayed because of the need to properly download and analyse the contents of digital devices such as mobile telephones, tablets, personal computers and laptops.
Our victim service assessment found that such delays weren’t present in any of the five relevant cases we analysed.
The constabulary’s Operation Odyssey has led to the training of 20 officers who are now able to examine mobile telephones quickly at victims’ addresses, sometimes in as little as 40 minutes. This is used in cases of rape and domestic abuse where victims are particularly vulnerable.
This process prevents delays in investigations, prevents inconvenience to victims and encourages victims to support investigations. It often allows suspects to be charged with crimes straight after their initial arrest rather than having to bail them.
In addition, the constabulary’s digital forensics unit grades items submitted to them for analysis, helping them to prioritise their work. Investigators submitting devices for analysis are told how long the work will take and kept up to date on progress being made. The constabulary told us that between June and September 2023 the digital forensics unit met 100 percent of deadlines for examinations.
Providing such a service to investigators helps to bring offenders to justice quickly and to provide a better service to victims.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary investigates crime.
Our victims service assessment found that 91 of 100 investigations were judged to be effective, with all appropriate and proportionate investigative opportunities taken from the onset and throughout the investigation in 82 of 89 cases. Effective supervision was evident in 71 of 82 cases. These results show that the constabulary is capable of providing appropriate levels of service to victims of crime.
But this assessment took place before the constabulary introduced its enhanced operating model and created new investigation teams, including the desktop investigation team and reactive investigation team.
In our later inspection, we found that there were delays in crimes being allocated, investigated and supervised in these teams and others, which is detailed elsewhere in this report. This means offenders aren’t brought to justice quickly and victims receive a poorer service.
The constabulary anticipates that the new operating model will be fully staffed in summer 2024. Careful management of this full establishment should address many of the issues we found in our inspection. This should help the constabulary to return to the levels of effectiveness and thoroughness we found in our victim service assessment.
An evidence-led prosecution is a prosecution that proceeds without the specific involvement of the victim, such as when a victim doesn’t support police action but there may be enough evidence to charge a suspect. Gloucestershire Constabulary is taking steps to improve how it deals with evidence-led prosecutions. These steps include a video by the assistant chief constable endorsing the process and systems to make sure evidence-led prosecution is considered, particularly in the case of domestic abuse investigations which can affect the most vulnerable victims.
The constabulary has provided guidance material as well as training (to over 600 officers). Templates are included on the crime recording system to remind officers to consider evidence-led prosecution. Supervision by senior officers on a daily basis within the custody suite and at the constabulary’s daily management meeting also takes place.
Our victim service assessment found that when a victim didn’t support further action a reason was given in 8 of 8 cases, and the reasons for victim withdrawal were documented in 9 of 10 cases. There was evidence that police considered progressing or tried to progress the case without the support of the victim in 5 of 7 relevant cases.
Gloucestershire Constabulary now has a dedicated victims lead and hub manager who has implemented a number of processes to make sure crime investigations contain the appropriate amount of victim care. These include dip sampling crime reports by supervisors and a multi-agency scrutiny panel that looks at specific types of crimes to make sure victims have been treated appropriately.
A victim hub has been set up with dedicated staff to maintain contact with victims and witnesses and provide a consistent level of support for victims of volume crime as well as domestic abuse. This will have a secondary outcome of freeing up response officers’ time so that they are better able to respond to incidents and calls for service from the public.
Our victim service assessment found that Gloucestershire Constabulary’s care for victims had improved since our last PEEL inspection. Victim needs assessments were clearly recorded in 78 of 80 relevant cases. When a victim was entitled to an enhanced service, this was recorded in 37 of 39 relevant cases. The agreed victim contract was adhered to in 71 of 72 relevant cases, and victim personal statements (which give a voice to victims in criminal justice proceedings) were considered in all 27 relevant cases.
But we did find that referrals, where required, were only made to relevant partner organisations who might be able to provide additional support, in 40 of 48 relevant cases. This means that safeguarding and other opportunities to support victims and witnesses with partners may have been missed on some occasions.
Overall, 91 of 96 cases we reviewed were judged to provide a good level of victim service.
Gloucestershire Constabulary requires improvement at protecting vulnerable people.
The constabulary should make sure there is effective supervision of the vulnerability identification screening tool (VIST) process.
VIST is a form that should be completed by officers and staff if they find any form of vulnerability that requires safeguarding, so VISTs are often completed by response officers attending incidents. Once completed, they are seen by a supervisor and submitted to the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH). MASH staff will assess the risk and refer to relevant safeguarding partners, such as children’s or adult social care, for further assessment for support or joint investigations with police.
The constabulary checks to see if VIST forms have been submitted for incidents where a vulnerability was initially recorded in the force control room. Despite this, we found that VIST forms are often completed over the telephone. This doesn’t always allow a full assessment of vulnerability to be carried out, particularly when trying to identify hidden harm and the voice of the child.
We found that the triage team within the force control room often submit VIST forms while carrying out initial desk-based assessments of priority-graded incidents. Although this allows for a timely submission to the MASH if a response officer is unable to attend an incident immediately, it could present an incomplete picture of the full circumstances and leave people at risk of harm.
In addition, we found that VIST forms, despite being checked by supervisors, can reach the MASH with vital information missing. At one MASH meeting where VIST forms were assessed, 21 of 23 were found to have the voice of the child section left blank. The lack of consistency in recording the voice of the child means that this key insight isn’t always informing the safeguarding approach or services children need. It is a key requirement for agencies to promote the welfare of the child.
The constabulary has recognised the significance of its performance in this area and has commissioned an audit of its VIST process. It should use the information and findings from this audit to improve the way it identifies and prioritises vulnerability.
When we last inspected the constabulary in 2021, we reported that the application of Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs) and Domestic Violence Protection Notices was inconsistent. These orders and notices provide protection to victims by helping police and magistrates’ courts to put in place protective measures immediately after a domestic violence incident, often when there is not enough evidence to charge a perpetrator or provide protection using bail conditions.
The constabulary still needs to improve in this area. In the year ending 31 March 2023, the constabulary applied for 15 DVPOs at court. This equates to 0.02 DVPOs applied for per 1,000 population, which was lower than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales. During the same period, the constabulary recorded one DVPO breach. This was also lower than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales. The number of DVPO applications made over this time period only corresponded to 0.2 percent of reported domestic abuse related crimes. This was also lower than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales.
Figure 5: Number of DVPO applications as a proportion of domestic abuse related crimes across forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2023
Source: Data collection and analysis from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
The constabulary is taking steps to increase its use of preventative orders. These include the use of a dedicated lawyer to help with applications, consideration of notices and orders (as well as monitoring) at the daily management meeting, and internal communications to make sure preventative orders are considered for all relevant offenders in custody and in reactive investigation team investigations.
The constabulary doesn’t have enough trained resources in place to meet the legislative requirements of the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (also known as Clare’s Law). The constabulary told us that the number of applications had recently increased and this has resulted in some backlogs.
At the time of our inspection, the constabulary told us there were 31 applications awaiting allocation. Nineteen of the requests had exceeded the 28-day deadline for disclosures to be made. The oldest of these requests dated back more than four months.
In the year ending October 2023, the constabulary consistently made disclosures later than the 28-day limit. The constabulary told us that 17 percent of disclosures were later than the 28-day deadline in April 2023 and 71 percent were later than the 28-day deadline in December 2022.
The constabulary should make sure it responds to requests and provides appropriate information promptly to people who may be at risk of domestic abuse. Without this, people cannot make informed decisions about their own safety and may unknowingly remain at risk from their partners.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary protects vulnerable people.
In May 2023, the constabulary held its first bi-monthly vulnerability board meeting. The board provides strategic oversight, central co-ordination and scrutiny of performance relating to vulnerability, and addresses the vulnerability strands outlined in the National Vulnerability Action Plan. This meeting is chaired by the constabulary’s lead for vulnerability (an assistant chief constable) and is attended by senior officers and staff working in this area. Each of the vulnerability strands in the National Vulnerability Action Plan has a senior officer or staff member responsible for performance and oversight of that area.
This board looks at relevant data and analysis relating to vulnerability, but how this translates into improvements has yet to be fully measured. The constabulary’s existing performance board (the chief constable’s performance board) didn’t feature any performance measures relevant to domestic abuse as a prominent part of its data analysis, despite it being one of the constabulary’s areas of focus within its control strategy.
At the time of our inspection, the constabulary’s response to domestic abuse had just been declared a critical incident by the chief constable. This means that the effectiveness of the constabulary’s response was deemed likely to have a significant impact on victim and/or community confidence. The deputy chief constable is overseeing efforts to improve performance in this area.
The constabulary should consolidate its efforts in this important area to make sure it effectively governs and addresses all areas of vulnerability to keep people safe.
The constabulary is taking steps, with the support of partner agencies, to improve how it responds to cases of vulnerability. Actions include:
The outcomes of these efforts, as well as the outcomes from domestic homicide reviews, are overseen by the county domestic abuse and sexual violence strategic co‑ordinator. The co-ordinator is jointly employed by the constabulary, the police and crime commissioner, and the county council. Their role is to provide insight during meetings that address issues of vulnerability, such as the domestic abuse local partnership board and the domestic abuse working group, to improve the service vulnerable victims receive.
The MASH is responsible for safeguarding in matters of child protection, domestic abuse and adults at risk. It has a detailed standard operating procedure that outlines how it carries out its work. It is staffed by police officers and partners who are trained to carry out their individual roles.
Referrals to the MASH (including VIST forms) are assessed on a daily basis by MARAC decision-makers, who chair a daily vulnerability meeting. This meeting, attended by various partner agencies including health, social services and education, considers referrals and allocates them to the most appropriate agency to lead on the activity. This process allows decision-makers from all relevant partner agencies to be quickly aware of vulnerability within their sectors and to take action to address it.
Although SafeLives national guidance states that regular MARAC meetings should take place to jointly assess high-risk cases, the MARAC process in Gloucestershire differs in that the decision-makers collate information from partners and then assess the need for a conference which, if required, takes place on an individual basis. Agreements are in place with all partners to make sure requests for relevant information are responded to in a timely manner.
A MARAC steering group meets regularly and makes sure these agreements are being complied with and that the processes in place allow partners to properly assess risk and deal with vulnerability. As well as meeting to discuss general updates, performance and future plans, the group carries out annual dip samples of cases to assess whether or not information has been shared properly and in a timely way. This makes sure any areas for improvement are identified. It has already led to improvements in MARAC working arrangements, such as setting expectations for agency response times.
The constabulary told us that the number of referrals has increased. The proportion of repeat cases (when the same individual at risk is referred more than once) is approximately 25 percent, which is lower than the national average of 33 percent (figures from June 2023). This deviation from national MARAC guidance doesn’t appear to be negatively affecting their performance.
Gloucestershire Constabulary requires improvement at managing offenders and suspects.
We found that the constabulary’s indecent images of children team didn’t routinely submit a referral to children’s services in every case at the point when a child at risk was identified. Information-sharing requests are made when a suspect is identified, to check whether any children are associated with the suspect or their address, but this is effectively an incomplete referral.
As a result, a child might be left at risk for several weeks until a full referral is made to children’s services containing all the relevant information.
The constabulary began a review of this issue during our inspection period. It must make sure any risks are shared promptly with appropriate agencies so that children can be safeguarded at the earliest possible opportunity.
The constabulary doesn’t have enough performance reporting or data collection in place within the team that manages the oversight of registered sex offenders. Although the constabulary does monitor the number of overdue visits, active risk management system risk assessments and risk management plans – including those for the highest risk cases – it cannot tell how overdue these cases are.
This means that the constabulary and its leaders can’t see how much risk lies within the backlog of work and the urgency of action needed to manage that risk. The constabulary should make sure it develops a performance framework that allows a full understanding of the actions needed to be taken in managing the risk posed by registered sex offenders.
Authorised professional practice (APP) states that registered sex offenders must have been classed as low risk for three years before being moved to reactive management (meaning they are no longer subject to a formal active risk management system risk assessment). But the constabulary allows registered sex offenders who have been classed as low risk for only six months to be downgraded to reactive management. The constabulary justifies this in terms of allowing its officers and staff to focus on the more manageable number of offenders who present a higher risk.
This means that registered sex offenders move into a less monitored category more quickly than academic research and best practice suggest is appropriate, and as a result the risk that they pose isn’t properly monitored. Also, the constabulary allows offenders who are subject to civil orders to enter reactive management. This means that court orders are no longer enforced. This is again contrary to the guidance within APP.
The constabulary should make sure the management of registered sex offenders is only guided by the prioritisation of risk, and in accordance with APP, rather than as a way to better manage demand.
The constabulary has no specific policy relating to the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders. Those working in this area told us they aren’t clear on how the constabulary expects home visits to offenders to take place. Visits can be carried out by single officers, which isn’t consistent with authorised professional practice. In addition, officers told us such visits are often postponed if there is no specific reason for visiting. This is also not consistent with authorised professional practice, which states visits should take place to assess the current level of risk.
As a result, officers carrying out visits alone may themselves be placed at undue risk. The potential risk posed by offenders monitored in this way may not be fully understood.
The constabulary should make sure officers are supported by clear guidelines on how to carry out visits with sexual or violent offenders.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary manages offenders and suspects.
The constabulary has processes in place that officers follow when they identify a suspect who should be arrested. The relevant policies are available on the constabulary’s intranet. Depending on the apparent risk posed by the suspect, any circulation of a suspect as wanted must be authorised by a sergeant or, in the case of a high-risk suspect, an inspector.
Once a suspect is circulated as wanted and local and national computer systems are updated, evidence files are stored in shared folders on the constabulary’s IT systems so that an arresting officer can access them when needed. The constabulary also has procedures in place to request that a proactive search for a suspect takes place if the risks posed are particularly high. Its vanguard team will carry out this search. The procedures are overseen at the constabulary’s daily management meeting.
But we did find that data about wanted persons was stored across separate platforms. For example, a scoring matrix to assess those posing the most risk doesn’t automatically mean those suspects are discussed at daily management meetings for allocation to proactive teams.
In addition, we found no constabulary-wide governance of its approach to dealing with wanted persons. Individual teams may manage the risks for those suspects linked to crimes they are investigating, but there is no overall management of wanted persons to make sure there is consistency and proper risk assessment. This means that the constabulary doesn’t have an overall understanding of who its wanted suspects are or what risks they pose to the public.
We found that the constabulary’s bail managers oversee processes that make sure pre-charge bail is used appropriately, both when it is initially granted while suspects are in custody and later if extending a bail period is being considered (for example, when investigations continue beyond initial bail dates).
Investigating officers, those working in the custody suite and the supervisors who authorise bail extensions have all been trained in recent changes to bail legislation and the procedures the constabulary has adopted as a result. These procedures include completing detailed and thorough paperwork that prompts safeguarding considerations and records the views of the victim.
We found that bail managers take steps to make sure bail periods don’t lapse without an extension being considered, which include sending messages to investigating officers before bail periods end. If a bail period lapses and a suspect is released under investigation, bail managers send messages to investigating officers, their supervisors and their commanding officer, but we found this didn’t happen often.
We found that the dedicated team who manage sexual and violent offenders have a productive relationship with the constabulary’s legal team. They work well together to make sure any civil orders are correct and, when necessary, are properly amended or varied.
Ancillary orders are additional orders imposed by a court to prevent criminal behaviour. When investigating officers seek ancillary orders to strengthen the risk management of an individual, the administration team who work with the Violent and Sex Offender Register database provide support and guidance.
Two dedicated personnel within the management of sexual offenders and violent offenders team provide specialist expert digital and technical capabilities and advice. They can use the constabulary’s digital triage kit during visits. Along with the use of specialist monitoring software, this allows the constabulary to proactively enforce court orders, seek opportunities for safeguarding and identify further offending at the earliest opportunity.
Low-level breaches of such orders, such as one-day overdue notification requirements, are often followed up by a telephone call rather than being recorded as a crime. We found that more serious or unexplained breaches were sometimes left for longer periods (for example, for four weeks) without crime reports being recorded. Officers said this was often due to high workloads preventing these breaches being properly investigated.
Investigation of breaches may result in a warning being given. But a breach of a sexual harm prevention order usually results in an offender being charged or cautioned.
The indecent images of children (IIOC) team uses the Kent Internet Risk Assessment Tool to prioritise offenders likely to commit ‘contact’ sexual abuse. These cases are rated as low, medium, high or very high risk. These risk categories determine how promptly action should take place. The constabulary usually manages its investigations of online child abuse images in line with nationally recognised timescales. It has improved its processes so that intelligence checks are refreshed properly for cases awaiting enforcement action.
The IIOC team has increased in size and its personnel generally have a manageable number of cases. As a result of this and the risk assessment process in place, cases rated as very high risk are usually subject to enforcement action on the same day, cases rated high risk within one week, and medium and low-risk cases within one month and three months, respectively. It is rare for enforcement action to exceed these timescales, and it would generally only occur in medium and low-risk cases.
In terms of enforcement methods, search warrants and powers of arrest are used rather than voluntary attendance of suspects at a police station, which is only done in exceptional cases. These methods are used to secure evidence.
To better manage suspects and safeguard others, the IIOC team prefer to charge suspects rather than issue cautions. If suspects are released after charge, pre-charge bail is used rather than released under investigation or the lengthy application process for a sexual risk order.
The IIOC team have officers and staff who are trained to carry out their own examinations of seized mobile telephones, which allows them to complete examinations on the day of seizure in urgent cases. The constabulary told us that if such examinations are carried out by its digital forensics unit, which deals with all other digital devices submitted by officers and staff across the constabulary, this can take as long as three months.
Two further IIOC officers are working towards accreditation, which will help avoid delays in future.
Overall, this process allows digital devices to be quickly assessed so that investigations are more timely and offenders are dealt with sooner.
Gloucestershire Constabulary is adequate at building, supporting and protecting the workforce.
The constabulary operates a leadership academy, which is overseen by a monthly supportive leadership and well-being board. This board makes sure the programmes aimed at all categories of leaders (foundation, first-line, mid-level, senior and executive) are implemented effectively.
The constabulary’s leadership strategic development plan focuses on supportive leadership, inclusion, high performance and well-being. There are a number of specific training options available to the workforce, including:
Courses are supported by workbooks, development portfolios and satisfaction surveys. Coaching, mentoring and continuing professional development are also provided.
The constabulary makes sure the workforce knows this training is available and attendance at these courses is measured. It has plans to provide this training to all eligible officers and staff.
The constabulary doesn’t yet have processes in place that allow it to understand fully why officers and staff decide to leave the organisation. Our PEEL workforce survey, which ran from 12 June 2023 to 28 July 2023, found just 35.2 percent of new recruits saw their future career continuing in Gloucestershire Constabulary beyond the next three years.
The constabulary has refreshed its plans, meetings and processes that examine the retention of officers and staff. This includes setting up a retention board and carrying out exit interviews with leavers. But at the time of our inspection these measures weren’t developed or advanced enough to provide enough information to address retention challenges or to actively encourage people to stay.
All police officers and staff should receive performance reviews (also known as professional development reviews or PDRs), These involve a series of conversations in which individuals and their line managers plan and later review their professional development over a 12-month period.
The constabulary has an easily accessible PDR system in place and has taken steps to improve the number of officers and staff engaging in performance reviews. These steps include linking individual objectives to the objectives of the organisation and making sure those who apply for promotion have completed a PDR.
But in the year ending 31 March 2023, only 64.6 percent of the overall workforce had completed an annual performance assessment. Our PEEL workforce survey (running from 12 June 2023 to 28 July 2023) also found that only 44.1 percent of respondents (263 of 597 respondents) had a formal PDR in the last 12 months. Of those who had a PDR in the last 12 months, only 57.0 percent (150 of 263 respondents) agreed that these were an effective tool for their development.
The officers and staff we spoke to on inspection felt that the PDR process had little value and was only completed by those requesting or needing development. Even then, it was only completed by those who had enough time to do so. PDRs are used less frequently for police staff. The constabulary told us that its records on 19 October 2023 showed only 77 percent of police staff had an existing PDR, and only 49 percent of those staff had objectives set. The constabulary recognises the problems and is reviewing its processes as part of a task and finish group.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to how well the constabulary builds, supports and protects the workforce.
The constabulary has a comprehensive well-being service. The majority of officers and staff we spoke to during our inspection felt well looked after and knew how to access support should they need it. A ‘well-being toolkit’ is available on the constabulary’s intranet, providing officers, staff and supervisors with supportive guidance covering topics such as debt management, mental health, bereavement, and general well-being support. A well-being team gives tailored inputs to officers and staff regarding such issues as managing stress, resilience, and responding to primary and secondary trauma. There is also a well-being adviser available to the workforce, providing and signposting to relevant support.
The constabulary has assessed which roles within the organisation are considered high-risk in relation to welfare. It has worked with the College of Policing to introduce a new risk assessment tool which more robustly records the level of psychological risk associated with roles and then provides a recommendation for the type and frequency of psychological support required. As a result, the constabulary offers enhanced support to officers and staff performing the highest-risk roles. This includes annual psychological screening, improvements to working environments and offices, and well‑being away days.
For officers and staff who experience a traumatic incident, the constabulary has a trauma risk management process in place which makes sure support is offered and provided to those who need it, including through the provision of counselling. Our PEEL workforce survey found that 83.1 percent (496 of 597 respondents) agreed that counselling services are provided by the constabulary. The constabulary also has processes in place when an officer or a member of staff is assaulted while on duty. This means that senior officers are made aware and the necessary support is put into place.
The constabulary provides a familiarisation day for new recruits to prepare them for the role of police officer. They are provided with a wide range of well-being support sessions, including a weekly visit by the well-being officer during their initial training period. Generally, new recruits told us they felt well supported.
The constabulary has a dedicated tutor assessment unit, which means it has enough experienced and trained tutors to meet demand. Tutors make sure new recruits are provided with necessary guidance and exposure to incidents to allow them to achieve their training needs. During our inspection, new recruits spoke positively about the regular and meaningful one to one discussions they had with their tutors and supervisors. They also told us there was good communication between their tutors and the university managing their academic progress.
The constabulary holds feedback sessions with new recruits on the last day of training to identify improvements for future cohorts.
But we did find that some new recruits, who have just completed their initial training and tutorship, are being placed in the challenging environment of the reactive investigation team. This has placed younger in-service, inexperienced and untrained officers into a team investigating serious crimes, often involving vulnerable victims. During our inspection, some of these new recruits shared their frustration at being assigned to the reactive investigation team, as it wasn’t the career path they expected when joining as police officers. Although the constabulary hopes this will provide those officers with early experience of investigating crimes, we found supervisors were often unable to provide new recruits with the guidance required at this early stage of their careers.
Overtime is routinely being used to make sure enough response officers and supervisors are available to meet the demand of responding to calls from the public and reported incidents. At the time of our inspection, there was limited workforce data available, with the new duty planning system unable to identify those individuals who volunteer to work overtime and those that may be at risk of working too many hours, which could be detrimental to their health and well-being. Our PEEL workforce survey found that 86.1 percent (279 of 324 respondents) of police and student officer respondents agreed that overtime is used to manage demand. The use of overtime isn’t a sustainable way of providing an effective service to the public or looking after the welfare and well-being of officers.
The constabulary has a dedicated Better Together team, who support and work with both officers and staff and members of the community from under-represented groups. Better Together is one of the constabulary’s three essential priorities. It aims to support and assist people within the constabulary and to increase the representation of officers and staff from ethnic minority groups.
The Better Together team carries out a wide range of activities to support and develop those from under-represented groups, including:
The team also produces a magazine which is circulated within the constabulary and beyond.
In addition, the constabulary has made sure performance reviews for each officer and staff member include at least one objective relating to diversity, equality or inclusion.
The constabulary has also worked to identify barriers for those in under-represented groups, including through work with staff associations, reviews of the promotion process, and officer and staff surveys. This work is overseen by the Better Together strategic board and features in a positive action plan which consists of actions and tasks which are regularly reviewed.
The constabulary also has a reverse mentoring scheme whereby senior officers and staff (inspectors and police staff equivalents and above) are assigned a mentor who is an officer or staff member from an under-represented group. This aims to give those leaders access to a voice with direct experience of issues which could lead to cultural improvements within the organisation.
Gloucestershire Constabulary’s leadership and management requires improvement.
In June 2023, the constabulary introduced a new enhanced operating model in. This reorganised the constabulary, particularly on the front line, and created some new teams to manage crime investigations. All posts are expected to be filled by summer 2024. But until then the constabulary is understaffed for the operating model it has chosen, which means a delay before it is fully effective.
The constabulary has created two new teams to manage some of the crime investigation demand previously allocated to response officers. The desktop investigation team investigates crimes that don’t need an officer’s attendance. The reactive investigation team investigates volume crimes and deals with prisoners arrested by response officers. Both teams are understaffed. The reactive investigation team is also staffed with less experienced officers – at the time our inspection ended, student officers made up 89 percent of the team.
The constabulary’s response teams are also understaffed. Overtime is used to help minimum staffing levels to be reached, but this isn’t always successful. Officers aren’t responding to incidents quickly enough. They also aren’t dealing with initial investigations at crime scenes as effectively as they could.
There is a shortfall of skills in some investigation teams. The constabulary allocates complex crime to inexperienced officers who don’t always have the necessary accreditation or skills, particularly in relation to complex domestic abuse cases.
The constabulary should review its current operating model and the skills of its officers and staff so that the right number of people with the right skills are dealing with the right work. This will make sure the constabulary is effective at managing demand and has the right resources, processes and plans in place to meet current and future demand across the organisation.
The constabulary has discovered that officers and staff are owed 8,500 rest days in lieu, which are a result of leave being cancelled. If the constabulary has to pay officers and staff for that time – which is a possibility – it estimates this could mean an unbudgeted expenditure of approximately £2m.
It also recognises that its workforce are owed an unknown amount of time off in lieu (TOIL). This is when officers and staff have worked beyond their shifts and recorded their hours to be taken back at a later date. The constabulary is using manual processes to record overtime. It has no auditable process for understanding the overall amount of TOIL, which is recorded on paper systems.
The constabulary is paying overtime to its officers and using tutors and student officers to make sure it has enough resources to respond to incidents under the new operating model. It is doing this to try and reach minimum staffing levels, but this is not always successful.
The constabulary needs to understand its use of overtime and the outstanding rest days and TOIL owed to its officers and staff. This will achieve a better balance between operational effectiveness and efficient resource management.
The constabulary isn’t currently making the most effective use of the technology it has available because of limitations in its information and IT infrastructure.
For example, the constabulary’s different information systems don’t always communicate with each other automatically. This can make gathering data much more challenging and time consuming because officers and staff may need to access different sources manually before any analytical work can take place. The constabulary is yet to introduce any robotics or automation across most of its systems to address this issue.
A further example of the lack of supportive IT is a spreadsheet for informing future resourcing of the constabulary. This spreadsheet only covers up to 90 days ahead, which is not enough for effective planning purposes. It is also routinely incorrect and needs frequent manual amendments to be effective.
The constabulary should make sure it prioritises investment in technology that will make its systems and processes more efficient and effective. It should also make sure its plans to replace and upgrade its ageing IT infrastructure are prioritised and appropriately funded. The constabulary should address the systems that have the greatest impact on its ability to make full use of data and digital processes to reduce sources of internal demand.
The constabulary is already taking steps to reduce the impact of these issues, for example by employing an IT architect. Creating this capacity is essential and will help the constabulary to provide its IT plans and develop its use of technology. This includes implementing the Niche records management system in 2025.
In this section we set out our main findings that relate to leadership and management.
The constabulary has introduced new governance boards, which will give better insight into its operational processes and future planning. We found the constabulary was making effective use of its tasking and co-ordination and daily management meetings to monitor emerging issues and to direct resources to tackle these issues. A recently expanded executive team of senior officers and staff is in place and this team now has the capacity to manage these processes. This includes a new director of people and business services, a new chief financial officer and a new chief technology officer, all within the last year.
We also found the constabulary made good use of its force management statement. This self-assessment document sets out the chief constable’s consideration of future demands, the ability of the workforce to meet those demands, what changes are planned, and what the risks to the constabulary are. The constabulary is using this document as an integral part of its planning processes.
The constabulary also makes sure its priorities are informed by the communities of Gloucestershire. The constabulary consults many community forums and includes this consultation in elements of its decision-making, alongside similar and complementary work by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
The constabulary has multiple leadership programmes to support its workforce. The Support, Inspire and Prepare leadership programme, alongside the Innovate programme and the Supportive Leadership and Well-being course, are designed to develop effective leaders who are caring as well as capable. This had been well received by the officers and staff we spoke with.
Senior leaders take part in various activities to communicate with the workforce, including leaders’ forums and the strategic development forum. An online forum is also available for officers to ask questions and voice concerns, which senior leaders often respond to. Despite this, we found that some members of the workforce felt senior leaders aren’t visible enough and don’t listen to officers and staff when they highlight things that aren’t working. The constabulary should make sure it promotes the visibility and accessibility of leaders.
For the financial year 2022/23, the constabulary received a total of £140m in funding, the equivalent of £216,485 per 1,000 population. This was similar to other forces in England and Wales.
For the financial year 2022/23, 47.5 percent of Gloucestershire Constabulary’s total funding, £66.5m, came from the council tax precept. This was higher than for most other forces in England and Wales.
Figure 6: Precept funding as a proportion of total funding by forces in England and Wales in the 2022/23 financial year
Source: Data collection and analysis from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
The constabulary is able to demonstrate effective financial management of the funds it has available to provide efficient police services. There is a clear link between this financial management, the constabulary’s priorities and the plans of the police and crime commissioner. In 2023, the constabulary established a value for money board, which is linked to individual department plans.
In the year ending 31 March 2023, 13.1 percent of the constabulary’s officers were in support roles. This is significantly higher than expected compared to the average for forces in England and Wales.
The constabulary’s account statements show it has a good level of total usable reserves at £21.7m. Total projected reserves will be £15.1m by March 2024, with a prudent general reserve of £5.6m. This is projected to fall to £10.9m by the end of the medium-term period. The constabulary plans to use reserves to reduce the impact of expenditure over time until income rises to meet costs, or to invest in capital asset replacement. The general reserves are projected to remain £5.6m by the end of the medium-term period.
Data in this report is from a range of sources, including:
When we collected data directly from police forces, we took reasonable steps to agree the design of the data collection with forces and with other interested parties such as the Home Office. We gave forces several opportunities to quality assure and validate the data they gave us, to make sure it was accurate. We shared the submitted data with forces, so they could review their own and other forces’ data. This allowed them to analyse where data was notably different from other forces or internally inconsistent.
We set out the source of this report’s data below.
British Transport Police was outside the scope of inspection. Any aggregated totals for England and Wales exclude British Transport Police data, so will differ from those published by the Home Office.
When other forces were unable to supply data, we mention this under the relevant sections below.
The dotted lines on the Bar Charts show one Standard Deviation (sd) above and below the unweighted mean across all forces. Where the distribution of the scores appears normally distributed, the sd is calculated in the normal way. If the forces are not normally distributed, the scores are transformed by taking logs and a Shapiro Wilks test performed to see if this creates a more normal distribution. If it does, the logged values are used to estimate the sd. If not, the sd is calculated using the normal values. Forces with scores more than 1 sd units from the mean (i.e. with Z-scores greater than 1, or less than -1) are considered as showing performance well above, or well below, average. These forces will be outside the dotted lines on the Bar Chart. Typically, 32% of forces will be above or below these lines for any given measure.
For all uses of population as a denominator in our calculations, unless otherwise noted, we use information from the 2021 Census supplied by the ONS.
We surveyed the police workforce across England and Wales, to understand their views on workloads, redeployment and how suitable their assigned tasks were. This survey was a non-statistical, voluntary sample so the results may not be representative of the workforce population. The number of responses per force varied. So we treated results with caution and didn’t use them to assess individual force performance. Instead, we identified themes that we could explore further during fieldwork.
Our victim service assessments (VSAs) will track a victim’s journey from reporting a crime to the police, through to outcome stage. All forces will be subjected to a VSA within our PEEL inspection programme. Some forces will be selected to additionally be tested on crime recording, in a way that ensures every force is assessed on its crime recording practices at least every three years.
Details of the technical methodology for the Victim Service Assessment can be found here.
We took this data from the October 2022 release of the Home Office Police powers and procedures statistics. The Home Office may have updated these figures since we obtained them for this report.
Data on 999 calls is provided by BT. Call answering time is the time taken for a call to be transferred from BT to a force, and the time taken by that force to answer the call. This data is provided for all 43 police forces in England and Wales and covers the year ending 30 June 2023.
We took data on crime and outcomes from the October 2023 release of the Home Office police-recorded crime and outcomes data tables.
Total police-recorded crime includes all crime (except fraud) recorded by all forces in England and Wales (except BTP). Home Office publications on the overall volumes and rates of recorded crime and outcomes include British Transport Police, which is outside the scope of this HMICFRS inspection. Therefore, England and Wales rates in this report will differ from those published by the Home Office.
Police-recorded crime data should be treated with care. Recent increases may be due to forces’ renewed focus on accurate crime recording since our 2014 national crime data inspection.
For a full commentary and explanation of crime and outcome types please see the Home Office statistics.
We collected this data directly from all 43 police forces in England and Wales. This data is as provided by forces in July 2023 and covers the year ending 31 March 2023.
We collected this data directly from all 43 police forces in England and Wales. This data is as provided by forces in July 2023.
Gloucestershire PEEL assessment 2023–2025
You can find more about Gloucestershire Constabulary on our dedicated force page.
Largely a rural county with significant numbers of elderly residents, urban centres composed from a range of diverse communities.
Major events include RIAT, Cheltenham Gold Cup and a growing ICT sector and active night time economy.
Read more from Gloucestershire Constabulary
Gloucestershire Constabulary records crime well but must improve its response to the public
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