Performance and Measurement

Summary

The North Wales Police area is mostly rural, with mountains such as the Snowdonia range, a major port at Holyhead and popular coastal resorts such as Llandudno and Pwllheli. The A55 expressway links coastal towns and Holyhead with the north of England, but few routes connect North and South Wales.

The force has established Neighbourhood Policing in all its communities and there is a clear drive for Neighbourhood Policing teams to influence quality-oflife issues. Teams use the skills of a range of police officers and staff and members of the wider policing family to solve problems. The Dyna Ddigon (That’s Enough) force-wide strategy aims to reduce the harm caused to communities by anti-social behaviour. The force’s success in meeting its target allocation of 157 PCSOs has helped to maintain full Neighbourhood Policing team coverage.

The force continues to develop its robust performance management regime, with clear accountability mechanisms at all levels. It has adopted a model that allows quantitative analysis of performance against targets, qualitative analysis, comprehensive survey activity and audit processes; this performance data is then used to influence decision making and long-term problem solving.

Last year, the force was graded Fair overall for the four Protecting Vulnerable People disciplines. For 2006/07, improvement has been evident in domestic violence, which is graded Good to reflect commendable practice in the development of multi-agency risk assessment conferences and the training provided to over 1,600 staff.

Although volume crime reduction has worsened slightly, volume crime investigation has improved, and the force continues to deliver volume crime performance which is in line with or exceeding similar forces in most areas. Contributory factors include focus, effective leadership, sound forensic processes and leading-edge IT systems. Public confidence and satisfaction levels have remained stable overall and reflect the force’s commitment to addressing quality-of-life issues, particularly the need to tackle anti-social behaviour.

The force and the police authority have set a local priority to improve the safety of all road users in North Wales, reflecting both a strategic objective and the concerns of local communities.

The force performed particularly well in the 2006 baseline assessment in many areas of volume crime and local policing. However, as a small force it has difficulty in resourcing the capacity and capability to deliver a wide range of protective services, and it was graded Fair and Deteriorated in tackling serious and organised criminality. A re-inspection of this area in February 2007 noted some progress, with structural and policy changes being made to meet the changing nature of organised crime. Tackling serious and organised criminality relies on co-operation, and North Wales actively collaborates with the other Welsh forces and Merseyside and Cheshire Constabulary. The police authority has agreed to support investment in a major incident team; this will reach full operational capacity over a three- to four-year period, commencing in 2007.

Tackling cross-border criminality continues to pose demands on the force’s resources, but the prospects of effective collaboration are promising. The force is involved in several demonstrator sites to test collaborative models, and will continue to streamline business processes.