Performance and Measurement

Summary

Sussex Police is responsible for policing the two counties of East and West Sussex, including Gatwick Airport, and the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove. Gatwick Airport is one of the UK’s busiest international airports, handling more than 30 million passengers a year. The counties have a number of seaports and are demographically diverse, covering both urban conurbations and sparsely populated rural communities. The 1.5 million population is significantly supplemented by the seasonal influx of visitors to south coast holiday resorts, particularly Brighton and Eastbourne. During 2006/07, the force demonstrated its ability to effectively manage critical incidents, including a major explosion at a fireworks factory, and to conduct antiterrorist operations.

HMIC has recently undertaken the first phase of a three-year programme of inspection activity within Sussex, specifically assessing how the force is delivering Neighbourhood Policing, Performance Management and Protecting Vulnerable People. The force has maintained a good level of service to the public in relation to Neighbourhood Policing and Performance Management; however, areas for improvement were identified in its response to Protecting Vulnerable People.

The force has an excellent accountability framework which ensures that performance is constantly measured against national and locally agreed targets. The police authority, following wide consultation with both the force and the public, set a number of local performance indicators for 2006/07. The force comfortably achieved its target to increase the domestic burglary detection rate to 18%, but failed to meet its target for the vehicle crime detection rate (though its detection rate was higher than in the previous year). It failed to meet its target to reduce criminal damage by 5% (it rose by 2.7%), but achieved an 18% increase in Class A drug supply detections, exceeding its 5% target.

The 2006 HMIC baseline assessment of the force revealed two areas of significant concern, namely the human resources and learning and development functions. The force has worked closely with HMIC and has produced new training plans with clear objectives and timescales to deliver improved performance. As a result, the Inspectorate has increased its grading of both areas, with the force’s direction of travel continuing upwards.

Key achievements for the force during 2006/07 include the development of a robust and supportive accountability framework, the roll-out of Neighbourhood Policing, the integration of traditional roads policing within the wider policing agenda, improved critical incident management and the development of collaborative arrangements with Surrey Police.

The main challenge for the force is to sustain good performance, while at the same time continuing to implement effective Neighbourhood Policing and ensuring that it can deliver efficient protective services.