Deputy Chief Constable of Lincolnshire, Neil Rhodes has welcomed the Police Report card initiative, released today (Thursday) by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, saying it was a useful checkpoint report for the force.
The 'Report Card' system has been set up by HMIC to provide a snapshot of the way it believes the Force is performing in three key areas:
- Local crime and policing
- Protection from serious harm
- Confidence and Satisfaction
But, Mr Rhodes said that whilst the Police Report card provides a valuable snapshot at a point in time, it is based on the position in September last year, " - and is now a little dated."
He said it also highlighted the very low cost of policing to county residents in comparison with other forces "It underlines the real value for money that Lincolnshire Police provides," said Mr Rhodes.
The Report Card clusters forces into 'Most Similar' groups and grades them in relation to different areas of service. "Lincolnshire's grouping is effectively the 'Premier League' of forces with all of our peers in the top eight performing forces nationally. It's a tough group to be in and our 'Fair' gradings would have been 'good' or 'excellent' in other groups. And, remember those groups have far more officers and far deeper pockets," said Mr Rhodes.
Asked what the public should make of Lincolnshire's current performance, Mr Rhodes said:
"In broad terms:
- Lincolnshire remains one of the safest places to live in the country
- It's certainly one of the very safest counties in which to own a car with the seventh lowest rate of thefts from vehicles in the country.
- We also have the seventh lowest rate of robbery in the country.
Over the past year crime levels have reduced in some very important areas:
- There have been 262 fewer burglaries than the previous year (12.6% reduction) and Lincolnshire Police is the top force in this category, in the East Midlands Region.
- 626 fewer incidents of criminal damage (6.2% reduction)
- 157 fewer thefts from vehicles (6.2% reduction)
- 10% fewer serious acquisitive crimes."
"Since the information for the report card was gathered the force has been visited by the police Inspectorate and been given a clean bill of health for the management of major crime investigation and is now comfortably meeting the standard required," said Mr Rhodes
But he acknowledges that there is work to do. "The Report Card flags up that significant crime reduction is not enough and that we need to improve the number of crimes we solve and we have a 'Poor' grading in this area. But as the Report Card acknowledges, we are working hard to address this and turn performance round," he says. "In most crime measures we are in the top half, or even the top quarter of the 43 forces in England and Wales. For solving crime we are in the lowest quarter and that simply is not good enough and our communities will see a new energy and a really sharp focus on meaningful and sustainable crime detection in the year ahead."
He says that working with local authorities, to gain public trust and confidence in the way the Force tackles crime and anti-social behaviour, is also a real area for improvement. "From a very low baseline last year we have seen trust and confidence grow by two or three percentage points each quarter, which is very encouraging," he said. "But, there is a long way to go and a whole programme of work to support it. We try to make a really positive impact every time we talk to members of our community as we deliver our services, whether that is a friendly chat with a beat officer, a sympathetic ear for a victim of crime, or the arrest of an offender."
Mr Rhodes says his interpretation of the Report Card initiative is of a Force that is leaner and stronger than it has been and that delivers good value for Lincolnshire residents' money. "It is a force that is reducing crime in important areas but also a force that needs to solve more crime than it is currently doing. We need to listen more carefully to the voice of the public and win the trust and confidence of its communities. Most importantly, Lincolnshire Police is a strong and determined team already stepping up to these challenges," he said.
"We are now well into the second year of sustained and consistent improvement in a range of areas but we are the first to acknowledge that we couldn't do it alone. We feel strongly supported by the public we serve and it is an appropriate time to say a big 'thank you' for that support which we never take for granted. That public support combined with the efforts of our partner agencies continues to help us provide a top class service to the people of Lincolnshire," said Mr Rhodes.
