Investigation and safeguarding failures must not be compounded by growing pressures on policing
The annual report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) highlights continuing concerns about the quality of criminal investigations, victim communication and safeguarding across policing in England and Wales.
Among the inspectorate’s findings, no force inspected during the latest assessment cycle was rated good or outstanding at investigating crime. HMICFRS also reported ongoing weaknesses in gathering evidence, pursuing lines of inquiry and keeping victims informed about the progress of their cases.
The report raises wider concerns for victims at a time when policing and other public protection agencies are facing growing demands. HMICFRS found that safeguarding remains a challenge for many forces, warning that increasing demand and finite resources continue to hamper efforts to identify, assess and manage risk effectively.
While the report presents policing reform as an opportunity to improve services and reduce pressures on forces, the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Claire Waxman OBE, said reforms must ultimately be judged on whether they improve outcomes for victims.
Inspectorates have spent years highlighting concerns about investigations, victim communication and safeguarding. Yet this report shows many of those problems persist. Victims will rightly ask what assurances there are that reform will lead to better treatment and better outcomes for them.
Victims’ experiences must be at the heart of these reforms. Without that focus, we risk upending structures without improving outcomes.
The report also identifies neighbourhood policing and prevention as areas of relative strength, while warning that progress remains fragile as officers are increasingly diverted to meet rising demand elsewhere.
Similar concerns have been raised by police leaders. Assistant Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police and the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for criminal justice reform, Jason Devonport, has warned that increasing numbers of offenders being managed in the community could place additional pressure on policing, forcing forces to make difficult decisions about how officers and resources are deployed.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) estimates that the 43 forces will need to devote the equivalent of £480 million in police time to dealing with offenders who breach their licence conditions or commit further offences after being released.
The Commissioner has previously warned that, as more offenders are managed in the community, pressure on probation, policing and other public protection services will only increase. She has argued that unless those services are properly resourced, the prison capacity crisis risks becoming a wider public safety issue.
Responding to the inspectorate’s warning that neighbourhood policing remains vulnerable to rising demand, Claire Waxman said:
Police leaders have also warned that the Government’s early release scheme could create almost £500 million of additional unfunded policing costs through increased licence breaches and reoffending. If forces are left to absorb those pressures, officers may be diverted from neighbourhood policing and prevention work to meet those new demands, undermining one of the few areas where the inspectorate identifies genuine progress in order to cope with pressures created elsewhere in the criminal justice system.
Victims and communities should not be asked to absorb that trade-off.
HMICFRS said policing continues to face significant challenges, including increasing demand and growing complexity in the crimes officers investigate. While the inspectorate highlighted some improvements, it concluded that too many forces are still failing to provide a consistently good service in areas that matter most to victims.
Against that backdrop, the Commissioner has warned that reform must not become a reason to delay action on longstanding failings identified by inspectorates year after year.