Video: Craig Guildford and Paddy Tipping spoke to Hugh Casswell
Nottinghamshire Police has been assessed as ‘inadquate’ at supporting victims of crime in the latest inspectorate report on how effective its services are.
The report published today (Friday, March 2) by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary assessed the force’s effectiveness and found it was ‘inadequate’ at protecting those who are vulnerable from harm and supporting victims.
The force is currently rated as ‘requires improvement’ overall in terms of efficiency and as ‘good’ in terms of legitimacy.
There are four ratings available, from ‘inadequate’ through ‘requires improvement’ and ‘good’ up to ‘outstanding.’
Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: “The actions taken in response [since the inspection] have placed the force in what I believe to be a much more positive position today.
“In particular, all incidents are now assessed for threat, risk, harm and vulnerability with much greater consistency.
“Supporting vulnerable people is one of my force priorities, and we need to continue to work closely with all the other agencies that also have a part to play.
“Engaging with the people we serve is vital, to ensure we can understand what matters locally.”
Mr Guildford was backed formally by the county’s Police and Crime Panel on December 12, taking over seven months after Chris Eyre left to take up a new job in Cyrpus at the Sovereign Base Area Police.
Sue Fish had been in the position temporarily having delayed her retirement.
Mr Guildford said that the ‘nature of crime is changing’ and that Notts Police is looking at ways to tackle new areas.
He said: “We have to deal with the areas of greatest threat, harm and risk to the public.
“Many of these crime types are not physically happening on the streets of Nottinghamshire; for instance, cyber-crime, fraud, child sexual exploitation offences are being enabled by technology, from offenders’ homes wherever those homes may be.
“We need to make sure we have the skills and the resource in place to deal with these emerging threats.”
Nottinghamshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping said while he accepted the conclusions of the report, there were many positive examples of police performance.
He said: “I’m a bit disappointed that it doesn’t recognise the steps that were already in place at the time of the inspection and those that have been implemented since then, which are designed to address the issues that it raises as ‘requiring improvement.’
“The way in which the force works with partners to reduce re-offending was complimented and HMIC found that it is adequately prepared to manage the risk posed by dangerous and sexual offenders.
“Considering the current emphasis placed on emerging issues such as terrorism, I was also pleased to see that HMIC notes the effective specialist capabilities that are in place.”
