Nottinghamshire Police has improved but further changes needed, says Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services

Nottinghamshire Police has improved in some areas but it needs to make further changes, including how it records crime, said the police inspectorate.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Nottinghamshire Police’s performance across nine areas of policing.

It found the force was good in two areas, adequate in six and requires improvement in one.

HMICFRS said while Nottinghamshire was good at investigating crime, more needed to be done to ensure it was recording offences effectively.

Roy Wilsher, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, said: “I am pleased with some aspects of Nottinghamshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe and reducing crime, but there are areas where it needs to improve.

“The force is good at investigating crime — once a crime is recorded the force carries out effective investigations, allocating them to staff who have the capacity and capability to investigate them appropriately.

“The force is effective at recruiting a diverse workforce. In the year ending March 31, 2021, the force recruited the highest percentage (19.5%) of new police officers who were Black, Asian or from a minority ethnic group, compared with the other 43 forces in England and Wales.

“It has also made significant progress in supporting the well-being of its workforce and makes effective use of technology to support front-line policing. The force looks for opportunities to help staff on the front line."

However, the inspector found the force needed to improve its crime recording processes, particularly when recording crimes related to violent offences, domestic abuse or behavioural crime.

Mr Wilsher went on: “The force also needs to improve the way it responds to calls. We found call handlers do not always give callers advice on preventing crime or preserving evidence before officers arrive at a scene.

“Nottinghamshire should also consider its approach to problem-solving policing. We found that most of the time, front-line neighbourhood staff are deployed to areas where they can work with communities, offering re-assurance and building confidence in the force.

"But sometimes neighbourhood teams miss opportunities to involve other organisations and the public in jointly managing and solving problems.

“I look forward to monitoring the force’s progress towards addressing the areas I have identified for improvement.”

Nottinghamshire Police Chief Constable Craig Guildford said he welcomed the report and positive comments by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services.

"I am proud that Nottinghamshire Police has been recognised as good at investigating crime and protecting vulnerable people — two of the cornerstones of policing that the public rightly expect of us," he said.

"The report also recognises the force is a national leader in recruiting a diverse workforce — recruiting a higher percentage of people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities than any other force in the country. This is a testament to the hard work that has been going into making our force more representative of the people we serve during a time when we have reached the highest number of officers in over a decade — by achieving our Uplift targets a year early and reaching 2,380 officers by March 2022.

“I'm also pleased the report recognises that the force has made significant progress in supporting the well-being of its workforce and making effective use of technology to support front line policing — as well as looking for opportunities to help staff on the front line.

"Our workforce is our most important asset and we invest in supporting our workforce in every way we can, from training, mentoring, mental health support as well as state-of-the-art facilities and technology to help them perform their roles to the best of their abilities.

"Over the last couple of years we have introduced Operation Reacher teams to all 12 neighbourhood policing areas — massively improving our community engagement and dynamic local response to crime and anti-social behaviour. We now also have dedicated teams to tackle knife crime, burglary and robbery — all of which have helped drive down offending in these areas since their introductions.

“The ONS crime statistics out today show just how much impact we have had in reducing burglary and robbery. Our knife crime and homicide rates are under the national average and less than many smaller forces. There are now more police officers out there protecting the public, preventing and detecting crime. We are determined to keep improving in those areas as has been identified in the report today.

"Nottinghamshire Police is continually striving to improve and the report gives us sound building blocks for the future. The staff have performed exceptionally throughout covid and are completely focused upon providing the best value for money service they possibly can.”