West Midlands Police: PEEL causes of concern revisit letter
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Letter information
From
Lee Freeman KPM
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
To
Craig Guildford
Chief Constable West Midlands Police
Cc
Simon Foster
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner
Sent on
23 July 2024
Background
In September 2023, we inspected West Midlands Police as part of our police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) programme. During our inspection, we identified four causes of concern. On 22 December 2023, we published these causes of concern in our 2023–25 PEEL assessment of West Midlands Police. Three of these causes of concern were as follows:
- The force needs to make sure that its multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs) work effectively to keep vulnerable people safe.
- The force doesn’t manage the risk posed to the public by registered sex offenders effectively.
- The force doesn’t manage the risk posed by online child abuse offenders effectively.
In May and June 2024, we revisited the force to scrutinise the progress made against these three causes of concern. This letter provides an update on our findings.
Progress against the causes of concern
More effective multi-agency risk assessment conferences
The force has successfully addressed the backlog of high-risk cases for discussion at MARACs. The force uses criteria to determine which cases are appropriate for the MARACs and we found that supervisors accurately follow the force’s guidance for this screening process. There are clear strategic and operational governance arrangements in place to support MARACs across the West Midlands.
But we did find that the force needs to make sure that members of the MARAC from other organisations understand the force’s MARAC criteria clearly, so they can have confidence in them.
Managing risks posed by registered sex offenders
We found that the force’s operating model now supports the effective management of registered sex offenders. The force has also allocated more resources to this work.
Managers have better information available to help them manage performance and risks effectively. They allocate cases appropriately and support the well-being of sex offender managers. The force has now trained most of these staff to national standards.
The force would benefit from a better understanding of how effectively its sex offender managers use digital tools to detect offending. And it needs to make sure that all registered sex offenders who are the subject of an order that requires them to have monitoring software installed comply with this condition.
Managing risks posed by online child abuse offenders
The force has addressed the increased demand for support from its online child sexual exploitation team (OCSET). It has reduced the backlog of cases awaiting assessment, and improved the way it manages intelligence and surges in demand. It prioritises enforcement action and uses warrants frequently to secure evidence. Officers share information with partner organisations at an early stage to safeguard children, and they follow established principles on suicide risk management. The force is now uploading more images to the national Child Abuse Image Database, and its digital forensics unit is supporting investigators and prioritising cases well. The force provides support to its OCSET staff who view child abuse images in the course of their work, but it must continue to monitor their well-being.
Conclusion
I am pleased to confirm that, following these sustained improvements in the force’s performance, these three causes of concern are now closed.
There is one cause of concern remaining. This relates to how the force carries out effective investigations leading to satisfactory results for victims. I recognise the effort the force is making to resolve this outstanding cause of concern and will review the force’s progress later this year.