Performance and Measurement

Summary

Lancashire consists of four major conurbations, extensive rural areas, two universities and numerous popular tourist destinations. The constabulary is home to a wide range of communities from differing ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds, and has a proud industrial history. In general, the local economy is strong, but with areas of significant deprivation. The constabulary’s ambition “to consistently be the best police force in the country” is supported by its four strategic priorities: neighbourhood policing, diversity, quality of service and protecting people. It aspires to be a truly citizen focused organisation renowned for quality and sustained excellence.

In the 2008 HMIC inspection of major crime, the constabulary was assessed as ‘Meets the Standard’ and graded as ‘Exceeds the Standard’ for neighbourhood policing. Despite its continued success, the organisation has made significant progress to further embed this style of policing as part of the Sustaining Excellence programme. Examples of innovation and good practice include the contribution to neighbourhood management, multi-agency problem solving and effective community engagement. The constabulary is portrayed as actively leading the field and recognised nationally as a beacon force. Lancashire was also graded as ‘Exceeds the Standard’ for developing citizen focus policing, highlighting the constabulary as a national leader. The Quality Counts programme is a key strength, radically shifting the approach to service provision, by aligning internal systems and processes with the safety and needs of the public. Listening to customers, establishing how satisfied they are with the service and asking what could be done better, has enabled the development of bespoke products including a victim re-contact system and customer surveying programme. Strong leadership in citizen focus and quality has enabled the establishment of a partnership approach to the issues faced, including integrated offender management, family intervention initiatives and strategies concerning young people.

The local priorities for 2007/08 are in line with the constabulary’s strategic priorities and relate to keeping victims informed of progress, and repeat victims of domestic abuse incidents.

The high levels of victim satisfaction during 2006/07 have been sustained. Protective services have seen increased investment. Lancashire has achieved reductions in both acquisitive and violent crime; the levels of domestic burglary and vehicle crime are now the lowest in 35 and 28 years respectively. Also, the high sanction detection rates and the percentage of offences brought to justice achieved during 2006/07 have been sustained and improved upon, (9% reduction in recorded crime for 2007/8 and 19% over the last three years). Staff now have access to 3,000 personal data assistants and 400 mobile data terminals, allowing access to e-forms and systems anytime, anywhere, allowing more time out on patrol. The constabulary has also engaged Operation Quest , delivering sustained benefits in officer time savings, increased performance and improved customer satisfaction force-wide.

Lancashire is one of ten forces participating in the Home Office’s Tackling Knives Action Programme, for which it has been awarded a Home Office grant. Lancashire’s approach to knife crime involves three strands: prevention (removing knives from circulation using media campaigns and neighbourhood policing teams to spread the message about the dangers of carrying weapons); education (targeting those most vulnerable to carrying knives, namely young people in their teens and late teens; and enforcement (using proactive police powers and community intelligence to target areas where people are thought to routinely carry knives, using stop and search powers, arch metal detectors and detector wands to prevent and deter people from carrying knives).

The main challenge for the constabulary is ensuring sustainability of current performance and continually improving and becoming truly citizen focused.