Performance and Measurement

Summary

2007/08 saw the forcewide rollout of 47 Safer Neighbourhood Teams covering the whole of Suffolk, with a named contact point now available to every location, backed by the capacity to resolve local crime and disorder issues.

This year, HMIC’s reviews have assisted the Force to further understand its service provision in relation to major crime, neighbourhood policing and citizen focus. All inspections identified that Suffolk Constabulary met the required standard. The major crime review acknowledged the Constabulary’s approach to developing collaborative arrangements with Norfolk Constabulary. The force’s progress in developing its approach to neighbourhood policing was recognised along with its commitment to delivering quality services as part of its citizen focus philosophy, identified as being particularly strong around a well embedded ethos of taking pride in keeping Suffolk safe.

Confidence and satisfaction with service provision has remained consistently high over the period, with the most recent set of comparative figures placing Suffolk among the top forces nationally for each of the determinates of satisfaction. Of particular note is the consistently high performance around public confidence, with Suffolk performing well nationally. Another significant improvement was seen around satisfaction of victims of racist crime (up 6%), which has coincided with the introduction of Safer Neighbourhood Teams.

2007/08 saw the Force Contact Centre become truly embedded within the contact management structure, resulting in a significant improvement in the local indicator for the percentage of non-emergency calls answered within 30 seconds. For the other local objective of “public awareness of their local police team members”, there was significant improvement recorded over the period, directly attributable to the introduction of Safer Neighbourhood Teams and the teams’ effort to improve visibility, accessibility and community engagement.

In the 2007 HMIC Phase 1 report, the Force received a Poor grading for child abuse investigation, however it has made considerable strides to secure the necessary improvement. Management responsibility for child abuse investigation, along with all other aspects of protecting vulnerable people, has been moved away from basic command units and now rests with a centralised public protection directorate, to better coordinate and provide consistency in service delivery.

In February 2008, the Prime Minister congratulated Suffolk Constabulary for the successful conviction of serial killer Steve Wright who murdered five women over a ten day period in December 2006. The conviction was the culmination of a major investigation undertaken amidst world media scrutiny known as Operation Sumac, the largest investigation in Suffolk’s history.

Suffolk is reaching a key point in collaboration with Norfolk where a number of critical decisions are being made. The modernisation of custody facilities remains a key challenge, to ensure guidelines published by the National Policing Improvement Agency are met. An ongoing review is underway and has already led to changes to ensure that current facilities are fit for purpose. Suffolk Constabulary are prepared to meet the challenge of identifying £10 million of cashable efficiency savings over the next three years, progress of which will be overseen by a Strategic Review Group. Criminal Justice reform is still a key challenge for the immediate future, with Suffolk working hard to maintain its ‘Beacon Site’ status (one of only ten counties chosen to lead on implementing Criminal Justice Reforms). Other important challenges ahead include the enhancement of Safer Neighbourhood Teams, and continued work to tackle terrorism and domestic extremism under the four strands of the CONTEST strategy (pursue, planning, prevent and protect).