A Welsh police force is not adequately investigating crime, responding to the public or protecting vulnerable people, an inspection has revealed. The inspection found Gwent Police was under "chronic" pressure from a lack of qualified staff, HM Inspector of Constabulary conceded the organisation does well to prevent crime and manage offenders.
A report on the inspection told of how Gwent Police's call handlers "don't answer emergency calls quickly enough," "[don't] give appropriate crime prevention or safety advice," and on many occasions don't carry out proper risk assessments to identify vulnerable callers. It was also said: "Too often, investigations of crime aren’t prompt, thorough or effectively supervised. The force doesn’t yet have a realistic and sustainable plan to make sure it has enough qualified investigators to meet its current or future demand."
The report details a 2021/22 inspection by Wendy Williams of His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. It marked the force as "inadequate" for responding to the public, said it "requires improvement" at investigating crime and protecting vulnerable people and was "adequate" at engaging with and treating the public with fairness and respect, building, supporting and protecting the workforce."
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The force was marked as "good" at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour and managing offenders and suspects," and praised for making arrests in an appropriate time frame and protecting victims in neighbourhood crime and domestic abuse cases.
Gwent Police said it "welcomed" the report, with Chief Constable Pam Kelly saying: "I am pleased that HMICFRS has identified that we are good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour and that we have a good understanding of the issues our communities face. Our problem-solving approach through initiatives such as We Don’t Buy Crime and Safer Streets are also positively acknowledged.
"Gwent Police has one of the highest new joiner rates in the country; with this young and developing workforce we’re determined to ensure that we provide the best possible service to our communities and we fully acknowledge our areas for improvement. The inspection also found that we work well to protect children and adults who are at risk of criminal exploitation and modern-day slavery.
"In the current climate of scrutiny over officer standards of behaviour we’re heartened that inspectors acknowledged active leadership to promote strong ethical standards and acceptable behaviour, including the importance of reporting misconduct within the force. We acknowledge that there are matters that we need to improve upon, and coupled with investment in new technology in our purpose built control room, our improvement programme is already underway."
The report called for Gwent Police to improve how it risk assessed callers to identify vulnerable people and ensure callers were given the right advice. Gwent Police says it has already improved its response times. It added that "the shortage of qualified investigators and supervisors is a chronic area of pressure for Gwent Police," with 65% of its 257 accredited investigator posts filled by qualified staff or those working towards qualification as of March 31, 2022.
The inspection didn't cover allegations made about former and current officers' behaviour, of which there have been several recent examples including an officer sacked after sending sexual and inappropriate messages to vulnerable women and the dismissal of several officers following gross misconduct.
Ms Williams did not refer to specific cases in her report but said: "I am aware of press reports making serious allegations regarding the behaviour of former and current officers of Gwent Police, both about the use of social media messaging and conduct towards colleagues in the workplace.
"These allegations didn’t form part of our inspection and they are being investigated separately. Future inspections of the force will consider the outcome of that investigation and the extent to which conclusions can be drawn about the effectiveness of the leadership's efforts to promote strong ethical standards and acceptable behaviour."
These are the key observations made by Ms Williams:
The force needs to improve how it answers and attends calls for service, and how it identifies vulnerable callers
The force needs to improve how it records its stop and searches and its external scrutiny arrangements to ensure officers' stop and searches and uses of force are monitored, and to show the public its use of police powers is fair and effective.
Gwent Police uses novel and promising ways to connect with its diverse communities and to increase public confidence including work with communities "who may not always have had trust and confident in the police" and early intervention with young people.
The force prioritises the prevention of crime and antisocial behaviour and works with partners to solve problems, neighbourhood policing teams work well with other agencies like housing, health, social services and community safety to do this.
Gwent Police needs to make sure it has enough staff with appropriate skills to effectively investigate crime on behalf of victims, because "too often, investigations of crime aren't prompt, thorough or effectively supervised."
The force works well with partners to take action against people who pose a risk to children, and to safeguard potential victims and works with services including probation to divert sexual and violent offenders, and domestic abuse perpetrators away from more offending, and protect children at risk.
The force needs to make sure it has effective processes and enough skilled staff to protect vulnerable victims because it currently doesn't have enough trained staff "to effectively meet the demands of keeping victims of domestic abuse safe," and backlogs of information requests for domestic abuse processes are too high and not effectively risk assessed.
Gwent Police works hard to create a positive and inclusive workplace with good well-being support and its leadership promotes positive ethical and professional standards.
The force should make sure it has an effective strategic planning framework to meet demand and improve performance and rigorously manages the money available to it "despite some funding challenges," but could take more prompt and effective action where a lack of capacity impacts performance.
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