Gwent Police revisit: service to victims cause of concern

Letter information

From:
Wendy Williams
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire and Rescue Services

To:
Pam Kelly
Chief Constable, Gwent Police

Cc:
Jeff Cuthbert
Gwent Police and Crime Commissioner

Sent on:
1 December 2023

Background

Between 14 November 2022 and 21 November 2022, we inspected Gwent Police as part of our police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) programme. During our inspection, we identified a cause of concern that we shared with you:

Between the 25 September 2023 and 29 September 2023, we revisited Gwent Police to repeat our victim service assessment. This allowed us to identify and report on any progress the force had made against several of our relevant recommendations. It also allowed us to identify and report on progress against other areas of improvement. This included how the force investigates crime as well as the way it responds to the public when calls for service are made.

As part of this assessment, we reviewed 100 case files and the outcome of each case. When the police close a case of reported crime, it will be assigned what is referred to as an ‘outcome type’. This describes the reason for closing the case.

Summary of findings

• The force has improved how it assesses risk when the public makes calls for service, including how well it identifies vulnerable and repeat callers.
• The force should reduce the number of non-emergency calls abandoned by the caller because they aren’t answered, and should improve how promptly it attends incidents.
• The force has improved how well it investigates crime, including how effectively it follows lines of enquiry and how promptly it carries out investigations.

Progress against the cause of concern

During our September 2023 revisit, we reviewed the progress made against the cause of concern identified in our 2022 inspection. A summary of our findings is below.

Gwent Police should, within three months, make sure a structured triage approach is used to assess risk and consider the needs of the victim

This recommendation has been met.

We found a significant improvement in how well the force applies a structured triage approach when a call for service is made. Call handlers used a structured triage approach to assess risk and consider the needs of the victim or caller in 71 of 76 applicable cases. In 71 of 71 cases, the structured triage record was an accurate and meaningful reflection of the circumstances of the call.

This is a significant improvement from our last inspection, in which only 7 out of 55 cases had a structured triage record.

Gwent Police should, within three months, improve the process of risk assessing callers to identify those that are vulnerable or at risk

This recommendation has been met.

We found that the force has improved how it identifies vulnerable and at-risk callers. There was evidence of a check for a vulnerable victim and/or other person in 71 of 74 relevant cases we reviewed. Where a vulnerable person was identified this was recorded in 30 of 33 cases.

This is an improvement from our last inspection, where 45 of 60 cases had a check for vulnerability.

Gwent Police should, within three months, make sure that vulnerable and repeat callers are routinely identified, and that this is recorded

This recommendation has been met.

We found that there was evidence of a check to identify a repeat victim in order to inform the triage risk assessment in 69 of 75 relevant cases. The information gathered when a repeat victim had been identified was used effectively in 33 of 37 cases.

This is an improvement from our last inspection, where 33 of 56 cases had a check for repeat callers.

Gwent Police should, within three months, make sure that call takers give appropriate advice on the preservation of evidence and crime prevention

This recommendation has been met.

We found that call handlers gave appropriate advice on the preservation of evidence in 28 of 30 relevant cases. This is an improvement from our last inspection, where call handlers had given appropriate advice on the preservation of evidence in 7 of 23 cases.

We also found that call handlers gave appropriate advice on crime prevention in 35 of 36 relevant cases. This is an improvement from our last inspection, where call handlers had given appropriate advice on crime prevention in 18 out of 32 cases.

Gwent Police should, within six months, make sure it can answer a greater proportion of non-emergency 101 calls so that caller attrition levels are reduced and kept as low as possible

This recommendation has not been met.

We found that the force has improved how it deals with non-emergency calls. It has reduced the number of 101 calls that callers abandon because they aren’t answered, from 42 percent to 23 percent.

This is an improvement. But it is still significantly higher than the accepted standard of 10 percent of calls to 101 being abandoned for forces without a switchboard function.

Gwent Police should, within six months, attend most calls within its published time frames and update victims if there is a delay

This recommendation has not been met.

We found the force had slightly improved its attendance times. It attended incidents within the required time frames in 60 of 82 cases we reviewed. This was a slight improvement from our last inspection, in which 27 out of 57 incidents were attended in time.

We also found that the caller or victim was updated regarding delays in attendance in 2 of 16 relevant cases. This is similar to the findings in our last inspection, in which 5 out of 30 victims were updated.

The force has shown improvement in this area. But the standard it has achieved still falls short of what would be acceptable to the public.

Progress review against areas for improvement

During our September 2023 revisit, we also reviewed the force’s progress against the areas for improvement identified in our 2022 inspection. A summary of our findings is below.

The force should make sure that it has the capacity and capability to effectively investigate crime on behalf of the public, and that its governance and scrutiny arrangements result in improved standards of investigation

This area of improvement has been met.

We found that 92 of 100 investigations we examined were effective. This is an improvement from 68 out of 90 cases during our last inspection. The force has introduced new processes that have improved the scrutiny and governance of investigations, which in turn has led to improved standards in the investigation of crime.

The force should make sure investigation plans are created where applicable, with supervisory oversight and direction throughout

This area of improvement has been met.

We found that the force had put appropriate investigation plans in place in 65 of 69 cases. This is an improvement compared to 31 out of 42 investigations in our last inspection.

We found evidence of effective supervision in 91 of 99 cases. This compares to 55 out of 77 cases during our last inspection.

The force should make sure investigations are completed without unnecessary delays and that all proportionate and relevant investigative opportunities are taken

This area of improvement has been met.

We found that the force had taken all appropriate and proportionate investigative opportunities from the onset and throughout the investigation in 85 of 94 cases. This compares to 68 out of 87 cases during our last inspection.

Where a victim has decided to withdraw support for police action, the force should ensure that there is an auditable record of this decision. This should include the reason why the decision was made. The force should make sure it documents whether evidence-led prosecutions have been considered in all such cases

This area of improvement has been met.

We found that where a crime was assigned outcome 16, which means a suspect has been identified but the victim doesn’t support further action, there was an auditable record of the victim’s views in 17 of 17 cases. This compares to only 2 out of 20 cases during our last inspection.

The reasons for the victim having withdrawn their support were documented on file in 15 of 19 cases. This compares to 13 out of 20 cases during our last inspection.

We found evidence that the force considered progressing, or tried to progress, the case without the support of the victim in 12 of 14 relevant cases. This compares to 9 out of 24 cases during our last inspection.

Conclusion

Gwent Police has made significant progress against some of the recommendations that we focused on in this revisit. The force still needs to improve how it responds to non‑emergency calls, to reduce the rate of abandonment. And it should continue to focus on how promptly it attends incidents.

Nonetheless, I recognise the positive progress the force has made. I can confirm that the existing cause of concern is discharged. We will continue to monitor the force’s improvement in the areas of 101 abandonment and attendance times.

I would like to congratulate the force on its commendable performance in improving investigative standards. All outstanding areas for improvement concerning investigations have been discharged. We will continue to monitor the force’s work in this area during our PEEL 23–25 inspection.

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Gwent Police revisit: service to victims cause of concern