Innovation and 999 performance praised at Bedfordshire Police, but improvement in crime investigation needed

In particular, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) highlighted the force’s work with Amazon Web Services to utilise technology and artificial intelligence in investigating crime and keeping people safe.

The inspectorate also commended work being done to reach young people to prevent knife crime, particularly with communities in Luton, and significant improvements to its performance answering 999 and 101 calls.

However, it said there are areas the force needs to improve. In particular, inspectors found Bedfordshire Police needs to improve how it records anti-social behaviour, rape crimes and equality data, and needs to attend incidents more quickly and give callers appropriate crime scene preservation advice.

The findings were part of the HMICFRS PEEL report which measures Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy inspection (PEEL).

Bedfordshire Police was assessed as ‘good’ in recording crime, ‘adequate’ across seven areas but ‘requires improvement” in investigating crime. The force was previously assessed as ‘good’ at tackling serious and organised crime following another recent inspection.

Alongside innovation, HMICFRS also praised the force for:

• Its approach to tackling male violence against women and girls – including an increase in Clare’s Law referrals (up to 251 from 73 ‘right to know’ applications);
• Work engaging young people about knife crime, which has seen workshops delivered to more than 300 people and a messaging reaching a further 79,000 through social media advertising.
• Improvements in its Force Control Room answering 999 and 101 calls; and
• Increased use of Sexual Risk Orders and Sexual Harm Prevention Orders (increasing from 55 to 104).

Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst KPM said: “The PEEL inspections are a great way to assess how we are performing and identify areas for improvement.

“This report makes clear that Bedfordshire is a well-led force which is on the front foot despite our financial challenges. Those challenges are documented in the report, showing our funding is at the lower end of police forces across England and Wales, despite facing the same demand of incidents and calls.

“It also highlights the brilliant work being carried out by our people and we will continue to invest in their wellbeing and development.

“The report recognises the positive work being carried out in Bedfordshire including our focus on innovation, prevention work around knife crime and our huge improvements in our 999 performance with calls now answered within an average of just five seconds.

“There is also mention of the work we are doing to tackle male violence against women and girls.

“Since the inspection we have already made good progress against the areas identified for improvement – such as increasing our solved rates, retaining and training more detectives, and introducing new dashboards to rank our outstanding suspects in order of threat and risk.

“We will continue to develop our processes and people to ensure we are giving the best service possible to the public.”

HM Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said he was “satisfied” with some aspects of the performance of Bedfordshire Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime, but there are areas the force needs to improve.

“Although the force’s funding is at the lower end of police forces in England and Wales, the number of officers and demand in terms of incidents, 999 calls and 101 calls is in line with other forces,” Mr Wilsher said.

‘Bedfordshire Police has visible leadership with a culture of innovation to find better ways of working. It is reducing financial challenges by using technology to help give personnel more time to investigate crimes to keep victims safe.

‘The force identifies future risks and opportunities through an effective strategic planning process to make sure it is fully prepared to respond.

‘The force is good at recording crime. It records nearly all reported crime within the required timescales. [However] The force needs to improve how it records anti-social behaviour and rape crimes and equality data.

“The force has strong governance and oversight of stop and search. It works well with its communities who scrutinise the force and help it improve how it uses these powers.

“However, Bedfordshire Police needs to improve its governance of use of force so it can make sure it is using this power correctly.”

The force works well with partners to prevent knife crime and has done some commendable work in Luton to keep communities safe.

He added: “I commend Bedfordshire Police for making significant improvements to performance in its control room by answering 999 and 101 calls faster. But the force needs to attend incidents more quickly and update callers if there are delays in attending. We found that the force mostly graded calls correctly and used risk assessment tools to help prioritise them. But I was disappointed to see that it was still not giving callers appropriate crime scene preservation advice. This will negatively affect investigations.

“It is essential that the force improves in this area.”

Mr Wilsher said the force was also not achieving enough positive outcomes for victim-based offences.

“Bedfordshire Police needs to fully understand this and increase the number of victim-based crimes that are brought to justice,” he said.

“The lack of trained detectives across the force is putting a real strain on the rest of the workforce. The force should increase the number of trained detectives to help manage demand to achieve better outcomes for victims.

“The force has improved the quality of case file submissions to the Crown Prosecution Service. This is making a positive impact to cases at court.”

Mr Wilsher added: “At the time of our inspection, Bedfordshire Police didn’t have a prioritised list of outstanding suspects to help it target the higher-risk suspects first. But we found that the force managed sexual and violent offenders well, and it was making good use of Sexual Harm Prevention Orders to keep victims safe.

“The force provides good levels of support to personnel who attend traumatic incidents or who work in high-risk roles. It is also reducing the number of people who leave the force, which is helping to improve the experience of staff and officers across the workforce.

“Bedfordshire Police has listened to our feedback and has responded quickly to address some of the issues in this report. I hope the changes result in improvements that help it meet the public’s needs. I will be monitoring its progress closely.”

Bedfordshire police and crime commissioner John Tizard said: “I welcome the report, and as an enthusiast for objective external inspections of all public services, including policing, HMICFRS have found nothing that is a surprise to either me or the chief constable and that are not being addressed already.”

This inspection focused on plans and activities already in place before Mr Tizard was elected in May 2024, but he said its findings were “aligned with the issues and challenges” he had already identified for improvement.

“I know that there is much work underway to improve performance and I am confident that the chief constable has the plans and the drive continuous performance,” Mr Tizard said.

“I am the joint national lead for performance for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners so have seen all reports which have been thus far published so I understand the wider context of the inspection regime and am satisfied that Bedfordshire is a good place to make sustainable improvements.

“Indeed, I concur with HMICFRS that Bedfordshire Police is well led, and senior leaders have the support of officers and staff. These conditions are central for the improvements which are now required. This is why I extended the chief constable’s contract in November.

“My role is to hold the chief constable to account, and I will be scrutinising data and performance reports as he implements plans to address the report findings.”

Mr Tizard said many of the report’s recommendations already feature in the Police and Crime Plan, published in October 2024, and phase two of the plan for 2025-2028 will address all the reports’ findings.

“The report complements my Police and Crime Plan and its missions, which I will use to drive change however, my mission for an excellent police service is about more the HMICFRS report,” he said. “It is about legitimacy, public confidence, prevention, and responsiveness. It is about effective partnership with other agencies and the community.

“Through the mission boards I have already set up, I will be encouraging and persuading our public sector partners across the county to join us on our journey to make Bedfordshire safer and fairer.”