Devon and Cornwall Police discharged from ‘Engage’ on management of violent and sexual offenders

The force was moved into the ‘Engage’ phase of monitoring by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in October 2022 after the inspectorate identified three areas where “clear and sustained improvements” were needed.

These were MOSOVO, the force’s ability to answer emergency and non-emergency calls, and how crime is recorded.

HMICFRS says it has recognised the “clear and sustainable improvements” the force has made in MOSOVO, including investment in public protection teams resulting in a significant reduction in the number of offenders managed by each officer and overdue visits.

Devon and Cornwall Police has also invested in an uplift in staff and increased the number of supervisors to ensure workloads are managed in line with national guidance.

Neighbourhood policing teams are also now attending visits, which has helped to reduce caseloads and the risk assessment of offenders significantly, said HMICFRS.

Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell said: “I am extremely proud of the hard work and resilience of my officers and staff across the organisation who accepted HMICFRS’s findings and have worked relentlessly over the last 18 months to resolve the management of violent and sexual offenders in our communities.

“Although we remain in the Engage phase for the other two areas identified and recognise there is still work to do, improvements continue at pace.

“We have and will continue to have an open and honest dialogue with HMICFRS accepting their findings in respect of the key areas identified and focussing our efforts on a structured and measured response that seeks to deliver sustained improvements for our communities.”

He said improvements continue to be made in how crime is recorded and the management of emergency and non-emergency calls.

The force’s overall crime recording compliance stood at 87.8 per cent in September 2023, an uplift of 7.5 per cent since 2022, with the recording of violent crime showing an 11.6 per cent improvement.

Data from October suggest further improvements with early results indicating overall compliance at 91.2 per cent.

To help improve crime recording, Devon and Cornwall Police said it has delivered file quality training for staff and officers and will continue to roll out further system improvements and training this year.

Evidence shows the force has made a significant improvement in answering emergency and non-emergency calls, with 96.2 per cent of 999 calls answered within ten seconds in December 2023. This is an improvement of 13.7 per cent compared with December 2022 and well above the national target of 90 per cent.

In December 2023, 999 calls to the force took an average of three seconds to be answered compared with 19 seconds in December 2022.

In the past six months the number of 101 calls abandoned has decreased from 65.2 per cent in June 2023 to 24.8 per cent in December 2023, with this reduction covering the force’s peak summer and Christmas/New Year periods.