Performance and Measurement

Summary

Norfolk Constabulary polices the county of Norfolk, an area of some 1,285 square miles with a 90-mile coastline. The main ports/resorts are Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn and Wells. The county has 249 miles of waterways, forming one of its main tourist attractions (the Broads). Norfolk is a sparsely populated, largely rural county; some 38% of the population of 824,000 live in the three major urban areas of Norwich, Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn, and a further 18% in various market towns. An estimated 4.7 million people visit the county annually. Exceptional policing demands arise from Norwich International Airport, the royal residence at Sandringham and Norwich City Football Club. The force is also responsible for offshore emergency plans, which include the key economic site of Bacton gas terminal (terrestrial policing extends 12 miles into territorial waters).

The new Chief Constable has commissioned a comprehensive force review with four major workstreams: understanding the expectations and requirements of customers; a staff cultural survey; resource demand analysis; and an examination of how support functions are delivered.

The 2005/06 baseline assessment graded Neighbourhood Policing as Poor, reflecting a failure to roll out local policing across the whole force area and institute genuine community engagement. Consequently, this area was re-inspected in spring 2007, when marked progress was evident. Responsibility for the delivery of Neighbourhood Policing has now been brought under the control of a formal project board, reporting directly to the Assistant Chief Constable. Having identified, in consultation with partners, 52 neighbourhoods, the force has invested considerable effort in implementing Neighbourhood Policing. Much of this work has taken place since January 2007, and a number of Safer Neighbourhood teams are therefore still comparatively new. Nonetheless, the force is well on target to meet implementation deadlines and provide an acceptable level of service in this area.

The 2007 HMIC Phase 1 inspection noted robust and evolving performance management arrangements, for which an assessment of Good was awarded. There has also been a consolidation of an already strong position in respect of Protecting Vulnerable People. Last year the force received an overall grade of Fair for this area, but it is now assessed as performing particularly well in child abuse investigation, with the existence of strong accountability arrangements and innovative practice in converting and loading all child/adult protection referrals and sexual offences crime files onto a dedicated IT system.

Offences brought to justice and the sanction detection rate have both risen, while the rates of violent crime, life-threatening and gun crime and acquisitive crime have fallen. User satisfaction has also increased.

The police authority has identified one priority for 2007/08. This is to improve public contact and meet the national call handling standards, by answering 91% of 999 calls in 10 seconds. With the support of its police authority, the force has moved away from specific reduction/detection targets in order to focus on an all-crime reduction target of 1% (while still monitoring the core crimes of burglary, vehicle crime and violent crime and criminal damage) along with satisfaction and confidence measures. Delivery against this change represents a key challenge for the force over the coming year, especially when combined with the requirement to support Neighbourhood Policing against ever-increasing operational pressures and the need to develop capability in respect of protective services.