Derbyshire and Staffordshire police forces have been rated as 'good for efficiency' after being inspected, but Leicestershire Police have been told it 'requires improvement'.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services is an independent watchdog which assess the performance of each police force and fire service in the country every year, rating them and providing feedback on how they have performed and how they can improve.

The annual inspection looks in depth at police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy. Inspectors review the forces' efficiency in July, 2017 and the results have just been released. Inspectors have also looked at the force's operations when it comes to legitimacy and these results will be released in December.

A third inspection, looking at the effectiveness of the force took place in October and is expected to be published in early 2018.

The effectiveness refers to how well the force prevents and investigates crime and handles the protection of victims and others.

When judged for legitimacy, inspectors concentrate on the staff and officers employed at the force, and how fairly, ethically and within the law they behave when dealing with the public.

Finally the efficiency of a force is tracked by how it uses the resources made available to it to provide policing services to the public.

Individual ratings are awarded for each of the three sections, with the efficiency ratings having already been released, which Staffordshire Police received a 'good' rating for.

The report noted that Staffordshire emphasised that delivering the best possible service to the county was its mission,. with Deputy Chief Constable Nick Barker saying: "Demand is increasing year on year at a time where we continue to have to make savings.

"It is a credit to our staff that once again, HMICFRS [the inspectorate] has recognised the excellent work that takes place across our force to maintain our efficiency.

"As part of this inspection, HMICFRS said we needed to improve in 'planning for the future'. They commented that a small proportion of calls are either abandoned or take too long to answer.

Staffordshire Police received a 'good' rating in the report
Staffordshire Police received a 'good' rating in the report

"To address this we have invested in our contact centre and recruited more staff to ensure we answer non-emergency calls in a timely way. Additionally, we have launched a major transformation programme that will position us well to meet growing demand on our services and continuing pressure on policing budgets.

"This programme will significantly improve the way we currently respond to incidents enabling us to respond better and more efficiently."

The force's ability to share data with other organisations to help identify patterns of offences was highlighted in the report, which validates the time and investment of digital technology, according to Mr Barker.

Derbyshire Police were also rated as 'good' with police efficiency.

The report detailed that three questions; "How well the force understands demand, how well the force uses it resources and how well the force is planning for the future," were all answered well by Derbyshire, resulting in the positive rating.

The report on Derbyshire said: "The force is good at understanding things that affect demand and identifies ways to improve efficiency. The force also realises that demand can be reduced or prevented by working closely with other emergency services and public organisation, and has a strong commitment to joint working.

"Derbyshire Constabulary has realistic financial plans for the future that are built on sounds assumptions and are subject to informed challenge."

The report concluded that the force was good at identifying wasteful activities and eradicating these where possible.

Derbyshire Police was also rated as good in the report
Derbyshire Police was also rated as good in the report

Derbyshire's Deputy Chief Constable Gary Knighton has welcomed the results, but has warned that the force will not become complacent with the positive outcome.

Mr Knighton said: "It's pleasing that the inspectorate has recognised that the force continues to move in the right direction.

"We still face challenges and we are developing a good understanding of the increasingly complex demands we need to meet. We are responding to changes in demand by allocating additional staff to those more complex, hidden and emerging crimes, such as modern slavery, cybercrime and child sexual exploitation.

"This is a good report, but we are not complacent and will always strive to be as efficient as we can be while offering the best possible service to the people of Derbyshire."

Leicestershire Police has already devised an extensive programme of change aiming to improve services to the public on the back of their rating of 'requires improvement'.

Individually, it was said that the force needed to improve the understanding of the demands for its services, how it uses its resources, and planning for the future.

Project Darwin will look to make improvements across the board in Leicestershire, including how calls for service are allocated to specialist services and placing teams to work closely in areas where there was high in demand.

The project will also aim to reduce the number of non-emergency calls made to 101 which are abandoned.

Leicestershire Police were marked down due to the number of abandoned non-emergency calls
Leicestershire Police were marked down due to the number of abandoned non-emergency calls

Although the report concluded that improvements to the force needed to be made, it did mention the changes that Project Darwin could make to enhance performance.

The report read: "The Darwin programme is introducing changes to how the force manages incidents and investigations, not least by introducing neighbourhood investigation teams. The force is investing in new technology to ensure officers spend more time on front line duties.

"The force is developing new systems to enable the public to access services – including an innovative digital desk which allows the force to manage demand and provide a discreet method for vulnerable victims to report crime."

Simon Cole, Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police, said: "Policing is a fast-moving and dynamic environment, and we need to continually change to meet evolving public demand and expectation, the increasing complexity of demand, and the changing profile of crime.

"To do that, and to deliver the best possible service we can with diminished budgets and resources, we need to adapt our approach and structures, deploying resources in a truly responsive way, and Project Darwin is helping us to do that.

"While it is disappointing to receive an overall grading of 'requires improvement' from HMICFRS, it's good that the work underway to enhance performance is acknowledged in today’s report."

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