Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe has described the findings of the latest reports by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) as demonstrating “clear and very welcome progress by Warwickshire Police which underline its commitment to treating all communities with fairness and respect”.
In its assessment of how legitimate the force is at keeping people safe and reducing crime, HMIC graded Warwickshire Police as ‘good’ in all areas – showing the force has made significant progress from its previous overall finding of ‘requires improvement’ in 2015. In her report, HM Inspector of Constabulary Wendy Williams found that Warwickshire Police is:
- Good at treating all of the people it serves with fairness and respect;
- Good at ensuring its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully;
- Good at treating its workforce with fairness and respect.
The Legitimacy report – released today as part of HMIC’s annual PEEL inspections programme – also praised Warwickshire Police’s robust stance against officers and staff who abuse their authority for sexual gain. While nationally HMIC has raised concerns that police leaders need to do more to tackle the issue, by contrast the inspectors praised Warwickshire Police for recognising the issue as one of the most serious forms of corruption, stating: “A comprehensive action plan has been put in place and principle themes include searching for patterns of behaviour that suggest individuals may be abusing their position, and taking prompt action against them.”
Elsewhere, the report highlights the improvements the force had made in its stop and search procedures – which saw it re-admitted to the national best practice scheme earlier this year – and praised the work of the force’s victim satisfaction and service improvement boards. Overall, HMIC found no causes for concern and had no specific recommendations to make.
Commenting on the report, Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Seccombe said:
“This is a very positive report which takes account of the significant progress that has been made by the force over the past 12 months to address the concerns raised during the previous inspection. I am delighted that this hard work has been recognised and that the force has now been graded as ‘good’ for each of the elements of the Legitimacy report. The grading reflects Warwickshire Police’s commitment to treating all communities with fairness and respect and protecting people from harm.
“Ensuring this progress is maintained and wherever possible bettered is something that sits at the heart of my Police and Crime Plan and I will be holding the Chief Constable to account to deliver this in future years.”
A separate report on police leadership was also released by HMIC today as part of the PEEL programme. It has no overall grading but found that there is good leadership and that the force’s vision and values are well understood by officers and staff, while making a small number of suggestions for how its leadership programme can be developed further.
The full Legitimacy and Leadership reports for Warwickshire Police can be found on the HMIC website at: www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/
