Performance and Measurement

Summary

Hertfordshire has over 1 million residents, nearly 20% of the East of England population, whilst covering just 8.6% of its landmass. The County borders five other policing areas, including the Greater London Authority, and contains significant stretches of motorways.

The force was assessed as ‘Meeting the Standard’ for Major Crime, and has a good understanding of the historical, current, and emerging trends in major crime, and interventions required to tackle them. Assessed as ‘Meeting the Standard’ for Neighbourhood Policing, and one of only three forces assessed nationally as ‘Exceeding the Standard’ for Citizen Focus, the Force continues to develop key initiatives to improve service delivery across the county, leading to significantly high levels of public confidence and satisfaction from residents.

Building upon strong performance in 2006/7, overall crime was down 12% in 2007/8 and the sanction detection rate improved to 29.6%. Excellent citizen focus performance has been enhanced by improving ‘follow-up’ feedback to customers. Confidence in local police has also improved, with all public perception statutory performance indicators based on the British Crime Survey showing an improvement against 2007. Hertfordshire gained the top score of ’performing strongly’ in the Audit Commission’s most recent Police Use of Resources Evaluation.

The Force and Police Authority agreed six local targets for 2007/8. Stretch targets were exceeded for four: Reducing serious and other wounding by at least 8%, achieving a sanction detection rate of at least 12% for vehicle crime, reducing the number of people who think vandalism, graffiti and other deliberate damage to property or vehicles is a problem in their local area by at least 2%, and increasing the number of active Neighbourhood and other Watch schemes by at least 100. The Force had a sanction detection rate of 12.9% for domestic burglary (missing its target of 20%) and met local improvement targets for increasing the number of arrests per officer on Roads Policing Units, supported by the proactive use of automatic number plate recognition, by at least 20%.

Areas for improvement for protecting vulnerable people have been incorporated into the 2008 Protective Services Improvement Plan. The Recommendations focused on delivery, processes and staff supervision. The Constabulary’s ongoing revision of the structure and investigation of offences involving vulnerable victims, such as introduction of Harm Reduction Units and creation of a centralised Serious Sexual Offences Unit, will resolve many of the issues identified.

The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire combined Major Crime Unit, the first of its kind nationally, went live in 2007, with a combined team of 145 personnel. Additionally, Hertfordshire has joined the Chiltern Fleet Consortium, with efficiencies expected through economies of scale, standardisation and procurement opportunities. The six Eastern Region police forces, led by Hertfordshire, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2007 confirming their joint commitment to tackling serious and organised crime across the region. By March 2008, the Force achieved its target of 10% of recruits from minority ethnic communities for police officers, and has one of the highest proportions of female officers in the country at 29%.

Further investment in Protective Services is still required; in particular, the force intends to enhance services for Protecting Vulnerable People and tackling Serious and Organised crime. Hertfordshire is proactively pursuing further Collaborative opportunities with Bedfordshire and across the Region. Planning has begun for the 2012 London Olympics. Under the East of England Plan, an extra 83,000 homes are proposed for Hertfordshire by 2021, substantially increasing the number of people living and working in the county and impacting on demands on the police. In summary, HMIC finds Hertfordshire Constabulary to be an efficient and effective Force, dedicated to continuous improvement.