Performance and Measurement

Summary

Warwickshire Police covers an area of 764 square miles, with a population of 534,000 evenly split between the north and south of the county. Until recently, the force was organised into two basic command units (BCUs). Following a major review of the force entitled 150 Forward, the force no longer has a BCU structure, and local policing is delivered by 33 Safer Neighbourhood policing teams working within five boroughs and districts, the borders of which are identical to the borough and district council boundaries. The teams include police officers, police community support officers, special constables and volunteers. Comprehensive neighbourhood profiles and a community engagement toolkit have been developed. The teams hold regular Partners and Communities Together meetings. Strong relationships with the public and partners have led to long-term problems being tackled successfully. Directorate-led services remove duplication and enhance the quality of policing, providing an affordable, acceptable and sustainable service.

The force strategy focuses on protecting people from harm, and through risk assessment, priority is given to protecting people from those harms that are most serious or most likely to occur.

The workforce has been restructured and police staff with specific specialist skills now fill some roles previously occupied by police officers. Recommendations for further workforce development apply to uniformed operations and roles such as road safety, collision investigation, helicopter observers and contingency planning. All of this has significantly improved the force’s efficiency and effectiveness.

The HMIC 2008 inspection for Major Crime and Serious and Organised Crime has recognised the investment and progress that the force has made in the area of protective services over the last two years.

The force’s performance is in line with its most similar forces, and the force achieved an 11.7% reduction in all crime with no significant outstanding or adverse indicators.

Local priorities include reducing harm to communities by prosecuting prolific drug suppliers, reducing the number of vehicle thefts, reducing criminal damage offences and increasing the criminal damage sanction detection rate. Significant performance improvement has been achieved in all areas.

Key achievements for the force in the year included the demonstration of the force’s improved capacity to deal with major incidents which included the resolution of six murder enquiries, including the complex investigation into the murder of the motorcyclist Gerry Tobin on the M40 motorway.

During summer 2007, the force responded professionally to the most severe flooding across the county in living memory. Since November, significant resources have been committed to the large and ongoing investigation into the tragic death of four fire fighters in a warehouse fire at Atherstone on Stour, which also necessitated extensive cooperation with other regional forces to call upon additional resources and expertise. Members of the force receiving national recognition included PC Pete Doherty, who was chosen as the regional winner of the National Police Bravery Awards in 2007.

Major challenges for the future are to continue with the momentum of the change programme and to ensure that the full benefits expected from the programme are achieved. The force will strive to continue to protect the communities of Warwickshire by protecting people from harm and actively examine the way in which it manages the demands placed upon it with the aim of more effectively using the resources at its disposal, and fulfilling its vision of “Protecting our communities together”.