Performance and Measurement

Summary

Sussex Police is responsible for policing the two counties of East and West Sussex, including Gatwick Airport, and the unitary authority of Brighton and Hove. More than 35 million passengers pass through Gatwick Airport each year, making it one of the UK’s busiest international airports. There are also a number of sea ports. The counties are demographically diverse, covering both urban and rural communities. The force area has a resident population (based on the 2001 census) of approximately 1.5 million, significantly supplemented by the seasonal influx of visitors to the south coast holiday resorts. During 2007/08, the force invested in additional neighbourhood officers, increased its capacity and capability to deal with protective services as well as hosting the recently created South East Counter Terrorism Intelligence Unit.

HMIC has recently carried out inspections, assessing performance in tackling major crime, neighbourhood policing, and citizen focus. The force met the required standard in each area under inspection.

Following wide consultation with the public and the force, the Sussex Police Authority set a range of local targets, published in the 2007/08 Policing Plan. The force exceeded a number of its targets, reducing the number of domestic abuse victims the subject of repeat victimisation to 20.8% (target 22%), increasing the proportion of domestic abuse crimes which are detected to 53.4% (target 52%) and answering 82.5% of non-emergency secondary calls within 60 seconds (target 75%). The force however failed to meet two targets, increasing its detection rate for vehicle crime from 8.3% to 8.6% (target 10%); and increasing the proportion of female officer recruits from 40% to 42% (target 45%). Overall, Sussex Police’s performance shows improvement over the previous year, particularly in detecting crime and bringing offences to justice. Fear of crime levels have decreased, whilst victim satisfaction rates have increased.

Since the findings of HMIC’s 2007 inspections, the force has significantly invested in the area of Special Investigations. With increased capacity, it is designing and executing a robust audit and review process of all its specialist investigation functions, including the review of policies. Through training, the force is providing operational officers with the skills and knowledge required to enhance the standard of investigation and protection.

In respect of Neighbourhood Policing, HMIC’s findings were augmented by feedback received from National Police improvement Agency support visits and internal scrutiny, to form a comprehensive action plan used to steer activity. In particular, Neighbourhood Policing policies and guidance have been, and continue to be reviewed with a view to simplification and reducing bureaucracy.

Key achievements for the force during 2007/08 include a headline crime reduction of 10.3%, equating to 13,500 fewer victims than in 2006/7. The risk of burglary to people’s homes has halved over the last seven years, with Sussex residents now having one of the lowest risk of burglary of any force in the South East. Additional investment has increased the force’s capacity and capability to deliver protective services, and the force continues to develop plans to further enhance this business area through collaboration within the South East region. Sussex Police is fully engaged with Thames Valley police in the transition to a counter terrorism unit from April 2009. The force and police authority achieved strong grades in the Audit Commission’s Use of Resources Evaluation.

The main challenge for the force is to deliver to the public on its key strategic priorities of neighbourhood Policing, keeping People Safe and making Best Use of Resources.