Performance and Measurement

Summary

South Yorkshire covers approximately 600 square miles and has a resident population of 1.3 million, the principal towns being Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and the city of Sheffield. Some 5% of the population is classified as belonging to non-white ethnic minority groups, the majority of whom live in Sheffield. Other areas, particularly Doncaster, are seeing rapid rises in the number of migrant workers entering from the European Union. There are four Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs); three are coterminous with policing districts, while Sheffield CDRP covers two districts. Each CDRP has a police/local authority liaison officer attached to the local council.

In 2007, the HMIC inspection of the force found a substantial investment and commitment towards Neighbourhood Policing, reflected in the adoption of a Safer Neighbourhood area structure. This currently consists of 23 Safer Neighbourhood areas, 55 Safer Neighbourhood teams and five Safer Neighbourhood units, contained within five policing districts.

The inspection found a similar commitment by the force to enhance the organisation’s ability to protect vulnerable people, including the development of district based public protection units together with revised policies and procedures.

The force’s strategic policing priorities for 2007/08 are to tackle crime at all levels, promote community safety, improve confidence and satisfaction and maximise resources.

The force has invested additional funding in the area of protective services to deal with counter-terrorist operations and to create a fully equipped and trained Level 2 acquisitive crime team with a surveillance capability. In addition, the force has invested in an operational arm for the major incident team, which reduces district abstraction levels. Capability has been further developed specifically in advanced firearms tactics to deal with increased threats associated with gun crime and criminality, in collaboration with regional police partners. Recent exercises have tested these partnerships and have strengthened the region’s capacity and capability to deal with protracted operations.

The force has seen sustained reductions in key crime types over the last five years, most notably in burglary, vehicle crime and robbery. However, the delayed implementation of the National Crime Recording Standard has had an impact on recorded levels of violent crime and criminal damage. These volume crime categories have had an effect on total crime levels, resulting in a 5% increase in total crime since 2002/03. The force is focusing on these volume crime categories, and reductions were seen in 2006/07.

Following a grade of Fair/Deteriorated for customer service and accessibility in the 2005/06 baseline assessment, the force has made a sustained and successful effort to improve performance in this area and, in addition, now has one of the smallest gaps in satisfaction between white and minority ethnic victims of crime in England and Wales. This is a major achievement which is making a genuine difference to the quality of service received by victims.

One of the biggest challenges is to continue to reduce and detect criminal damage, a crime that has a real effect on the quality of life of communities. The force has therefore introduced a criminal damage strategy, implemented largely through the Neighbourhood Policing teams in conjunction with partners. Local policing targets include performance improvement for criminal damage and violent crime and levels of service provided to victims of crime, in particular victims of domestic abuse. The incidence of serious gun crime remains low in comparison with other metropolitan areas.