Northamptonshire rated inadequate on crime investigation as victim outcomes fall
Northamptonshire Police has been rated inadequate at investigating crime following an inspection that found the force is achieving fewer positive outcomes for victims and has made no measurable progress since it was last assessed.
The finding, published today by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, represents the most serious judgment in a report that otherwise rates the force as good in one area, adequate in five and requiring improvement in two others.
In the year ending 30 September 2025, just 11.2 per cent of all outcomes assigned to victim-based crimes were positive – below the national median of 12.2 per cent and, critically, a figure that has remained essentially flat while the national picture has been slowly improving.
The performance is worst in the most serious crime categories. For rape, only 5.7 per cent of outcomes were positive, below the typical range for forces in England and Wales and down 1.4 percentage points compared to 2023. For robbery, the positive outcome rate was 6.6 per cent – also below the typical range and one per cent lower than two years earlier. Violence with injury outcomes, at 12.8 per cent, remained within the typical range but have fallen three percentage points since 2023.
“Our inspection of the force’s supervision of investigations doesn’t indicate a single point of failure,” the report states. “Rather it indicates repeated missed opportunities in a challenging operating environment, which reduces the likelihood of achieving positive outcomes for victims.”
A chronic shortage of detectives lies at the heart of the problem. As of 31 December 2025, the force had 267 full-time equivalent PIP 2 investigators in post against an establishment of 419 – a fill rate of 63.7 per cent. The force has a dedicated governance board, Project Sherlock, tracking the shortfall and has used the Detective Constable Entry Programme to recruit directly from the public, bringing in 19 detectives in September 2025. But inspectors found it was still struggling to close the gap.
More than half of officers surveyed said they were allocated investigations above their level of accreditation quarterly or more frequently, with PIP 1 investigators routinely handling cases that should go to PIP 2-trained detectives. Inspectors found victim personal statements were considered in only 9 of 21 cases reviewed, and an auditable record of a victim’s views was recorded in just 20 of 35 cases.
The force has introduced a crime allocation policy, but HMICFRS found this had made matters worse in practice, resulting in more investigations being sent to teams that were significantly under-resourced or not appropriately trained.
Compounding the investigative failure is an unsustainable reliance on overtime. The force told inspectors it was spending an average of £3,600 a day covering personnel shortages, totalling £1.3 million in the year to 30 November 2025. HMICFRS found that while the force was aware of these costs, it was not using the data to make meaningful strategic or tactical interventions.
The inspection also identified weaknesses in how the force responds to incidents. In the year ending 31 December 2025, emergency grade one calls were attended within target times in only 49 percent of urban incidents and 59 percent of rural incidents, against published targets of 15 and 20 minutes respectively. Inspectors attributed part of this to an “ask not task” approach to resource deployment, in which the control room invites officers to volunteer for incidents rather than directing them.
There are signs of progress in other areas. The force has significantly improved its handling of emergency and non-emergency calls: it now answers 92.9 per cent of 999 calls within 10 seconds, above the national standard of 90 per cent and a substantial improvement on the 78.5 per cent recorded at the time of the last inspection. The 101 abandonment rate has fallen from 25.6 per cent to 12.9 per cent.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher acknowledged the force’s new chief officer team and the challenges it had inherited. “I am satisfied with several aspects of the performance of Northamptonshire Police, including its support for workforce well-being, treatment of the public, preventative activity and safeguarding of vulnerable children and adults,” he said. “However, it must solve crime more effectively and respond to incidents more promptly.”
HMICFRS has issued the force with specific recommendations requiring action within six months, including allocating investigations to teams with appropriate capability and capacity, strengthening quality assurance of investigation plans and supervisory reviews, and consistently complying with the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime.