Forces to be graded in new inspections
Force inspection reports released by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) will be made simpler and rank forces in one of four categories for easy public consumption.
Force inspection reports released by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) will be made simpler and rank forces in one of four categories for easy public consumption.
Under the proposals, a four-banded judgment model will see forces designated as outstanding, good, requiring improvement or inadequate.
The new categories will be part of HMICs new yearly all-force inspections and a consultation document on the proposed changes will be released this week.
They follow a request from the Home Secretary last year for HMIC to reconsider the way it inspects forces to allow the public to see more easily how they are performing.
Other reforms are mooted, one of which is to assess forces primarily in three areas: how well they cut crime; legitimacy with the public; and how force business impacts on the workforce.
These areas will form the basis of two set inspections every year; reports will use the simplified judgment model.
Speaking at the Association of Chief Police Officers summer conference, HM Inspector Zoë Billingham said HMIC wanted to capture the entirety of the policing mission.
She said the public only see the police in bite-sized chunks at the moment and the new system aims to provide a more rounded view of everything the police do.
Our inspections will become more organised, they will become more streamlined, and over time we should be able to build up a more sophisticated picture of individual forces and report back to the public in a much clearer way, she said.
To do so, HMIC needs to find a better way of getting information from forces. Currently, they can be repeatedly expected to provide the same documents to multiple HMIC inspections.