![]() HMICFRS found that there is still significant room for improvement across many forces in aligning resources, skills and planning to changing patterns of demand. On the other hand, several forces have been less successful in adapting to the new and changing environment. ![]() #POLICE OMNIPRESENCE DEFINITION HOW TO#Commendably, there is also evidence of increased awareness and knowledge of how to protect and support people in mental health crisis. In many forces these advances are complemented by an improved understanding of hidden forms of vulnerability, including: modern slavery, ‘county-lines’ (gangs based in large urban centres using vulnerable people to sell prohibited drugs in small towns and rural areas in other counties) and ‘cuckooing’ (drug dealers taking over the home addresses of vulnerable persons to store and distribute prohibited drugs). This includes: making use of shared services, adjusting shift patterns to align with peaks in demand, using digital technologies to achieve a speedier response to those at risk and working with academics to understand demand through demographics and ‘big data’. Several were responding by using technology to manage demand and resources more effectively. ![]() There are some positives in the report’s findings on how forces are coping. Meeting the growing and changing nature of demand within tighter resource constraints is proving to be the most significant challenge for policing today. In addition to the pervasive effects of budget cuts, for example, most forces are suffering from a high level of detective vacancies. These changes are happening at a time when policing is experiencing severe restrictions on resources. This is complemented by a significant growth in serious high-risk crime, such as: homicides, robbery, sexual offences, domestic abuse and crimes involving knives and sharp instruments. The report noted that the nature of demand on policing is changing and is increasingly complex, with the growth of crime online, the need to examine data on personal devices and improvements in identifying and understanding vulnerable victims. Although it does not expressly refer to it, the report echoes some of the serious concerns raised by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee in their Report Policing for the Future published in October 2018 (see Criminal Justice Notes, November 2018). Moreover, these pressures are increasing and are affecting different forces in different way. Equally, however, they also found that several forces are straining under significant pressures as they try to meet growing complex and high-risk demand with dwindling resources. Generally, HMICFRS found that the forces were performing well in terms of keeping people safe, reducing crime, using resources efficiently and treating their workforce and the communities they serve fairly and with respect. The report, published a few weeks ago, gives an overview of the emerging themes from the PEEL reports on a group of 14 police forces comprising: City of London, Cumbria, Durham, Dyfed-Powys, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Humberside, Kent, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, West Midlands and Wiltshire. HMICFRS conducts an annual inspection of the performance of each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales and rates them on each of these criteria as outstanding, good or requiring improvement. ![]() ![]()
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