Cleveland Police: PEEL Cause of Concern revisit letter
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Letter information
From:
Michelle Skeer OBE QPM
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services
To:
Mark Webster
Chief Constable, Cleveland Police
Cc:
Steve Turner
Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner
Sent on:
20 September 2023
Background
Between 17 and 28 October 2022, we inspected Cleveland Police as part of our police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) programme. During our inspection, we identified two causes of concern in respect of:
- preventing crime and antisocial behaviour; and
- strategic planning, organisational management and value for money.
On 17 March 2023, we published these causes of concern in our 2021-22 PEEL assessment of Cleveland Police.
Preventing crime and antisocial behaviour
In our inspection, we found that the force hadn’t fully addressed the cause of concern about preventing crime and antisocial behaviour identified in our 2019 PEEL inspection.
We recommended that the force take immediate steps to:
- provide strategic direction and co-ordination of all prevention activity;
- integrate preventative practice across the organisation and provide the capacity and capability to carry out structured problem-solving and prevention activity actively aligned with its priorities; and
- raise the organisational profile of evidence-based policing, thoroughly evaluate problem-orientated activity, and arrange the storage and sharing of good practice.
Strategic planning, organisational management, and value for money
In our inspection, we found that the force hadn’t fully addressed the cause of concern relating to strategic planning, organisational management and value for money identified in our 2019 PEEL inspection.
We recommended that the force should continue to develop:
- its assessment of current and potential future demand across all operational areas to inform the force’s operating model; this should include latent demand and the demand generated by internal processes; and
- co-ordinated financial and workforce plans based on demand, which should be integrated into the force’s strategic planning cycle.
Progress review of identified causes of concern
During our revisit of 23 and 24 August 2023, we reviewed progress against the identified causes of concern. We interviewed officers and staff from across the force, observed force meetings, and reviewed a range of documents and data. A summary of our findings is below.
Preventing crime and antisocial behaviour
During our last inspection, we found the force was too reactive in its approach to crime and antisocial behaviour. Incidents were regularly dealt with in isolation with limited consideration given to the root cause of problems, and few officers and staff had received any problem-solving training. The force has addressed this and has made sure officers and staff, including senior leaders, have the skills to apply problem-solving principles to the challenges they face.
As part of the force’s restructure, it has created a prevention command, which is led by a chief superintendent. The command is responsible for progressing the force’s refreshed problem-solving and evidence-based policing plan.
At the time of our revisit, the force had 65 active problem orientated policing (POP) plans logged with the command. Of note we found that all serious violence and acquisitive crime hotspots had an active POP plan with a nominated owner. The prevention command provides oversight and governance.
Previously we found that the force didn’t consistently evaluate plans. This was to a large extent attributable to an absence of training. Having improved this, the force now has the capacity and capability to properly evaluate the effectiveness of its problem‑solving activity. For example, following a thorough evaluation of Operation Arrow (a problem-solving approach to organised crime-based child exploitation), the force submitted a nomination for the Tilley awards and was subsequently shortlisted.
In our last PEEL inspection, we found the force had the means it needed to store POP plans. But it didn’t regularly update these plans, and officers and staff were unsure where to find guidance and good practice. The force has improved how it stores these plans to make sure all plans are easily accessible to those looking for examples to support them with their own plans.
The force has introduced a new performance framework referred to locally as ‘IMPACT’ (Improving and Managing Performance Across Cleveland Together). ‘IMPACT day’ occurs monthly and is chaired by the deputy chief constable. It brings senior leaders together from across the organisation, and maps force performance in the context of a victim or service user’s journey. During our observation of IMPACT, we found strong evidence of chief officers and senior leaders promoting problem-solving and evidence-based policing.
During our last inspection, we found the OSARA (objective, scanning, analysis, response, assessment) problem-solving model was rarely used outside neighbourhood policing teams. And the wider workforce had limited knowledge of problem-solving and evidence-based policing principles. During our revisit, we were pleased to find strong examples of problem-solving plans designed to address non-crime issues. For example, a plan was designed to reduce the number of missed occupational health unit appointments.
The force has improved how it engages with partners in a problem-solving context. For example, the force initiated a problem-solving approach to reducing violent crime perpetrated against sex workers in Middlesbrough (Operation Beech). From the outset the force worked alongside a range of partner organisations, including the local authority, local sexual violence and domestic abuse support services and the northeast sex work forum. The activity this generated led to better identification of potential offenders and resulted in more sex workers who are vulnerable to violence and abuse being referred for support. The initiative was formally recognised by police and partners at the 2023 national violence against women and girls awards, where it won the ‘working together’ category.
In summary, the force has made significant improvements in its approach to preventing crime and antisocial behaviour. While I acknowledge there is still much work to do, I am satisfied the force has addressed the concerns raised following the last inspection and this recommendation has been discharged. We will continue to monitor force performance and look for further improvements as part of our ongoing PEEL programme of inspection.
Strategic planning, organisational management, and value for money
During our last inspection, we found the force understood its demand in the context of incidents, recorded crimes, and calls for service. But we found it had less of an understanding of demand that is internal, or is attributable to ineffective partnership arrangements.
In our revisit, we found that the force has made a significant investment in its demand analysis. Previous modelling only considered the number of incidents and the amount of officers available to handle them. The refreshed analysis has been developed to include geography, travel times, shift patterns, single/double crewing, time spent in attendance at incidents, and officer skills and training.
We were pleased to find that chief officers have used this analysis to challenge senior leaders to critically analyse local processes and partnership arrangements with the objective of reducing unnecessary demand. The chief constable has fully engaged with the superintending ranks and senior police staff providing them with a voice in how the force’s four base command unit model operates. This has encouraged a culture where senior leaders maintain an overview of demand and adjust resourcing accordingly, which we didn’t see during last our last PEEL inspection. The force is working toward locally embedding the principles of ‘right care, right person’ with discussions well underway at an executive level of the partnership.
In our previous inspection, we found the force’s budgets were well managed from an accountancy perspective but lacked the necessary flexibility needed to cope with Cleveland Police’s demand profile. The force couldn’t always demonstrate how it was achieving value for money.
The force’s analysis of demand has informed refreshed medium-term financial plan and workforce plans. The force has made reasonable financial assumptions and achieved a predicted £1.5m of efficiency savings for 2024/25 rising to £3.3m in 2025/26 and beyond.
During our 2022 PEEL inspection of the force, we found limited evidence of a coherent workforce plan or people strategy. The force had high levels of absence which could not be properly explained, and people assets were not clearly aligned to force priorities. When we revisited the force, we found its medium-term financial plan and workforce plan were closely aligned and underpinned by a reinvigorated people strategy. Governance for both financial and workforce plans is provided at the executive management board as part of the force’s strategic planning cycle.
In summary, I am pleased with the improvement in Cleveland Police’s strategic planning, organisational management and how it achieves value for money. I am therefore able to discharge this recommendation.
Further monitoring
In conclusion, I am pleased that Cleveland Police is continuing to make good progress since our PEEL inspection. I am satisfied that it has made sufficient progress to address concerns in relation to how it prevents crime and antisocial behaviour, as well as its strategic planning, organisational management and how it achieves value for money.
I am reassured by the plans that you have put in place to continue this journey of improvement. We will continue to monitor the force’s progress through PEEL continuous assessment.