HMIC: ‘Policing must be better prepared for the future’

Forces must bring their understanding of future demands in line with their grasp of current issues to ensure needs are met efficiently, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has warned.

As part of its PEEL Efficiency report, published on Thursday (November 3), HMIC found poor partner working and data analysis is negatively affecting forces’ abilities to prepare for the future.

Although most forces reported being concerned about how demand levels might change, they were largely making broad assessments of likely trends on the basis of limited evidence.

HMIC’s inspection focused on three key questions: how well forces understand current demand; how well they use resources to manage it; and how well they are planning for the future.

HMIC found that the general picture was fairly positive, with forces mostly demonstrating a good understanding of current calls for their services.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham told Police Professional: “Generally speaking this is a pretty good report for the service. Compared to last year, it is a pretty similar picture.

“Two forces have been graded as outstanding, 33 as good and eight as requiring improvement. Not one was found to be inadequate overall.

“Across the service we have seen better understanding of current demand. The best forces are good at projecting and forecasting that demand.

“However, we think that forces need to be better at the future-looking bit of that demand picture.”

The level of demand on policing has changed rapidly over the last five years as central government funding was cut by £1.7 billion, or 19 per cent.

The 2015 spending review maintained this funding in real terms, but forces are still expected to make significant cuts if they are to stay in the black.

Just West Midlands Police and Durham Constabulary were found to be coping with this pressure at an ‘outstanding’ level, down from five forces in 2015.

Mr Cunningham believes that this drop can be partially accounted for by different questions being asked in the inspections.

Humberside Police joined Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, City of London, Devon and Cornwall, Dyfed-Powys, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire in the ‘requires improvement’ category, after being the only force graded ‘inadequate’ last year.

This improvement will come as welcome news to Chief Constable Justine Curran, who was placed on probation in May after being warned to better her force’s performance by her police and crime commissioner (PCC).

Humberside Police’s change is largely due to it having a better understanding of demand than it did last year, Mr Cunningham explained.

Humberside PCC Keith Hunter said: “When I was elected in May I said I wanted to see a plan from Humberside Police to turn the Force’s performance around and I’m encouraged to see an improvement over last year’s efficiency inspection by HMIC.

“Measuring police performance is not all about the HMI reports, they are just one component in a much bigger picture, but if this report had indicated that in their view there had been little progress since they were last here, then that is something I would have found extremely concerning.

“In the six months I have been in office I have had the opportunity to examine more closely how Humberside Police has reacted to that previous assessment and form my own views on how the force is developing.

“I have identified a number of the same issues identified by HMIC and have been working with the chief constable to reassure myself that plans are being developed to address deficiencies. It is important that I encourage a long term programme of continuous improvement and not a series of knee-jerk reactions to new initiatives or thematic reports.

“That is important because the residents of the Humberside Police area deserve a police force focussed on delivering to them the service they want and need, so I am after an incremental, sustainable improvement.

“This report is a first small step, there is still