An inspection into how effectively the police investigate crime
The effective investigation of crime is fundamental to the legitimacy of policing and to public confidence. It also influences how safe people feel and it prevents future offending.
There has been a long-term decline in successful prosecutions, meaning that too few criminal investigations are leading to justice for victims.
Therefore, as part of our 2022–25 programme of inspections, we inspected how effectively the police investigate crime.
During our inspection, we saw numerous examples of initiatives forces have introduced to improve the standard of crime investigations and achieve better outcomes for victims.
In this report, we make 11 recommendations.
These recommendations are designed to help forces improve the standard of their crime investigations and achieve better outcomes for victims by:
- building a better understanding of their crime-related demand and the resources they need so they can meet it;
- designing more effective processes for recording, assessing, allocating and investigating crime, putting victims at the heart of the process;
- providing better training for investigators, their supervisors, and any other officers or members of staff who have a role in an investigation; and
- improving the supervision of crime investigations.
The focus of this report is on volume crime.
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