Performance and Measurement

Summary

Bedfordshire policing area is home to many diverse communities. The force covers urban and rural areas with Luton likened to a metropolitan borough. Luton and Bedford have a large number of bars and clubs as well as large commercial centres. There are a significant number of social, commercial and retail visitors.

Neighbourhood Policing was re-inspected as part of the Citizen Focus inspection. Both are force priorities and the assessment reported improved progress, with more effective engagement with communities, improvements in public confidence and perceptions for reliability, fairness, understanding community issues, dealing with minor crime and addressing community priorities. All of these measures are either above or in line with peers. The force was assessed as ‘meeting the standard’ in major crime investigation and has a very good record for the detection of murders.

Tackling crime is a priority and recorded crime fell by 10% during 2007/08 with violent crime significantly below that of peers. Sanction detection rates increased from 20% in 2006/07 to 22% in 2007/08 and have improved further into 2008/09 as a result of a ‘Crime Investigation Service Improvement Plan’ and the reduction in abstractions enabled by the creation of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit (BHMCU). All targets were met in the recovery of criminal assets. Reducing acquisitive crime remains a priority and a challenging 19% reduction target has been set locally for 2008/09. The force has invested in resources to tackle prolific offenders, maximise forensic opportunities and reduce the availability of drugs in the community. There is a continuing focus on reducing burglary dwelling offences through the ‘Safer Homes’ initiative.

The Authority and force set four local indicators: The gap in satisfaction with the follow service provided, between white and minority ethnic victims of crime improved, and the percentage of repeat victims of domestic violence decreased, though performance fell short of the challenging targets set. The force was unable to meet its improvement targets for reducing differences in white and minority ethnic community satisfaction with action taken and sanction detections for violent offences.

The 2006/07 HMIC assessments of Protecting Vulnerable People, Neighbourhood Policing, and Performance Management made a number of recommendations for improvement which have been addressed by the force. All of the recommendations for Neighbourhood Policing were completed prior to the HMIC revisit in 2008. Progress has also been made against Performance Management recommendations.

The assessments revealed two areas of concern within neighbourhood policing and the management of domestic violence. The HMIC re-assessment of neighbourhood policing in 2008 reported much improved progress, with more effective engagement with communities and an improving trend in terms of public confidence. The dedicated Public Protection Unit has centralised PVP resources and management to realise efficiency and consistency in service delivery of domestic violence. A recent revisit by HMIC identified the force was managing risk more effectively and is now delivering an acceptable level of service.

The force has successfully embedded neighbourhood policing as a critical part of citizen focused policing. Bedfordshire is at the forefront of providing mobile data to officers and staff to give them access to vital information whilst remaining in the community. The force continues to retain good performance in terms of call handling. The BHMCU positions the force to tackle its priorities in relation to serious, organised and acquisitive crime. The force is actively exploring further opportunities to collaborate with Hertfordshire to create capability and provide resilience.

A continuing challenge will be to balance competing demands whilst maintaining safer neighbourhood teams. To support the force’s priorities, the Police Authority has provided significant investment in 2008/09.