Cambridgeshire Constabulary: closure of cause of concern
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Letter information
From
Roy Wilsher OBE QFSM
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
To
Nick Dean
Chief Constable
Cambridgeshire Constabulary
Cc
Darryl Preston
Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough
Sent on
9 December 2024
Closure of cause of concern
I am writing to you to confirm that we are closing the cause of concern we raised in our 2023–25 police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy inspection.
Cause of concern
The constabulary isn’t managing risks posed by registered sex offenders in the community
Our inspection found that police personnel regularly visit registered sex offenders on their own. This is contrary to authorised professional practice. This is because meeting registered sex offenders individually makes personnel vulnerable to grooming.
Senior leaders told us that visits like this only occurred after risk assessments and with oversight from supervisors. But more junior personnel told us this was common practice to deal with heavy workloads.
To provide effective oversight, the constabulary should hold regular meetings to examine its performance and the data available on it. This should set out the backlog’s size, the risk posed by these cases and the most overdue visit.
We found that performance data is held at a local level and contains the total number of overdue visits at each risk level. But it doesn’t show how overdue visits are or the specific risks in individual cases.
Senior leaders don’t routinely see this data. This stops them taking good decisions to give staff the resources and support they need. Leaders must have clear oversight of performance information like this. This will make sure they can understand risks, backlogs and whether individual visits are taking place.
Recommendations
Within three months, Cambridgeshire Constabulary should develop a performance framework that helps it understand:
- whether visits by one individual to registered sex offenders are appropriate; and
- what is included in its backlog of work, such as how overdue visits are and the risk level of the offenders involved.
Background
At the time of our 2023–25 police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy inspection, the constabulary wasn’t effectively managing registered sex offenders in the community. As a result of our concerns, we graded the constabulary as inadequate for managing offenders and suspects.
We found supervisor reviews of registered sex offenders were poor. Intelligence checks on registered sex offenders were limited and active risk management system checks weren’t always completed within the legal deadlines.
Welfare support for personnel in the management of sexual and violent offenders (MOSOVO) team was also poor. Offender managers had high workloads, usually managing 50 to 60 offenders each.
Backlogs in online child abuse cases meant children weren’t being safeguarded quickly enough. We found some cases that were more than a year old.
The constabulary’s approach to sharing information with partners, such as health, education and social services, was also inconsistent.
Progress
I am pleased that Cambridgeshire Constabulary has made significant progress in this area since we raised this cause of concern.
During our reinspection work, we found that the constabulary is now making sure visits to registered sex offenders are carried out jointly by two officers. It is managing case backlogs in MOSOVO and the online child abuse safeguarding team in an appropriate and timely way. Overdue visits to registered sex offenders are prioritised in terms of risk and checked by supervisors.
The constabulary has invested in more resources to help manage demand in MOSOVO and the online child abuse safeguarding team. It has an improved performance management framework and senior leaders now have a better understanding of risk within this area. Workloads are manageable and there is a clear process to inform senior leaders if workloads increase.
Conclusion
The changes you have overseen in this area as Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire Constabulary have resulted in sustained improvements to help keep victims safe. I am pleased to officially close this cause of concern, effective from the date of this letter.
I have copied this letter to your police and crime commissioner.