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Northamptonshire Police has made improvements in most areas, but the force still needs to improve how it investigates crime, the police inspectorate has said.

Get the report : PEEL 2023–2025: An inspection of Northamptonshire Police

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Northamptonshire Police’s performance across nine areas of policing and found the force was outstanding in one area, good in one area, adequate in six areas and requires improvement in one area.

HMICFRS said the force has improved in most areas, particularly in how it communicates with its communities to identify local problems and gather intelligence.

However, the inspectorate said the force needs to improve how it investigates crime. The force has good governance structures and aims to make sure its officers have sufficient skills, but the inspection found that offenders may not always be brought to justice and that victims were not always getting the most appropriate outcomes.

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said:

“I am pleased with some aspects of Northamptonshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service. I commend the force for its concerted effort in making improvements since our last inspection.

“However, there are some areas where the force needs to improve. The force isn’t answering 999 calls within the timescales set by national targets or attending non-emergency calls within set times. And we found that it didn’t always update victims about delays. Although, at the time of our inspection, the force had recently invested in its control room to improve how it responds to the public.

“In the lead up to our inspection, there was instability in the chief officer team due to several vacancies and chief officer appointments, and shortly following our inspection, the chief constable was suspended pending the outcome of a misconduct investigation. We will continue to closely monitor how this affects the force’s performance, and how the force meets the public’s needs.”

Get the report : PEEL 2023–2025: An inspection of Northamptonshire Police

Notes

1. For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 0300 071 6781 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk (e-mail address).
2. In 2014, we introduced our police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections, which assess the performance of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Since then, we have been continuously adapting our approach.
3. We have continued our intelligence-led, continual assessment approach, rather than the annual PEEL inspections we used in previous years.
4. We have also changed our approach to graded judgments. We now assess forces against the characteristics of good performance, and we more clearly link our judgments to causes of concern and areas for improvement.
5. It isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded in this PEEL inspection and those from the previous cycle of PEEL inspections. This is because we have increased our focus on making sure forces are achieving appropriate outcomes for the public, and in some cases we have changed the aspects of policing we inspect.
6. More information about the new PEEL assessment framework 2023-2025 is available on our website.