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Staffordshire Police needs to urgently improve its performance after it was found to be inadequate in several areas, the police inspectorate has said.

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PEEL 2021/22 – An inspection of Staffordshire Police

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Staffordshire Police’s performance across nine areas of policing and found the force was ‘adequate’ in one area, ‘requires improvement’ in five areas, and ‘inadequate’ in three areas – responding to the public, investigating crime and managing offenders.

HMICFRS said the areas requiring improvement are recording data about crime; treatment of the public; protecting vulnerable people; developing a positive workplace, and good use of resources.

Earlier this year, Staffordshire Police was moved into the inspectorate’s Engage monitoring process, which provides additional scrutiny and support to help forces make improvements.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams said:

“I have serious concerns about Staffordshire Police’s performance in responding to the public, investigating crime and managing its offenders and suspects. The force needs to improve in these areas as a matter of urgency to keep the public safe.

“It is missing opportunities to identify and safeguard vulnerable people and needs to improve how it provides advice about preventing crime and preserving evidence when taking calls from the public.

“The force’s investigations need to improve through proper planning, regular supervision and following the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime. At present, it doesn’t always properly support victims, accurately assess their needs or pursue evidence-led prosecutions where appropriate.

“Staffordshire Police also needs to improve how it monitors known offenders and outstanding suspects. At present, it isn’t able to effectively meet the demands of this work.

“Given our findings, we are now monitoring Staffordshire Police under our Engage process. I am reassured by the force’s proactive response to our inspection and so far during our monitoring process. The force has developed robust plans to improve, which are in the process of being introduced and we are beginning to see positive signs in some areas. This approach allows for cautious optimism, and I will continue to closely monitor the force’s progress.”

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PEEL 2021/22 – An inspection of Staffordshire Police

Notes

1. 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 and this year has seen the most significant changes yet.
2. We are moving to a more intelligence-led, continual assessment approach, rather than the annual PEEL inspections we used in previous years. 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.
3. We have also expanded our previous four-tier system of judgments to five tiers. As a result, we can state more precisely where we consider improvement is needed and highlight more effectively the best ways of doing things.
4. However, these changes mean that it isn’t possible to make direct comparisons between the grades awarded this year with those from previous PEEL inspections. A reduction in grade, particularly from good to adequate, does not necessarily mean that there has been a reduction in performance, unless we say so in the report.
5. More information about the new PEEL assessment framework 2021/22 is available on our website.
6. For further information, please contact the HMICFRS Press Office on 07836 217 729 or HMICPressOffice@hmicfrs.gov.uk (e-mail address).