"I’m not saying he’s the wrong person, but was it the right time?" Criticism over Bedfordshire Police performance as chief constable's contract extended
Questions have been raised over the extension of Bedfordshire Police’s chief constable – with the police and crime panel being told inspection “doesn’t paint the force in the most glowing terms”.
Independent member Paul Downing raised the issue, questioning whether now was ‘the right time’ for the contract to be extended.
But the PCC defended the chief constable saying he “has done an exceptional job, and continues to do so”.
Not all the areas for improvement highlighted by the force’s last inspection have been signed off yet, the police and crime commissioner (PCC) John Tizard said.
He told last night’s Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel meeting (Tuesday, March 31) that the majority of the areas for improvement following the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspection report published last year have been signed off.
But “two areas that will remain a challenge would be responding to the public in a timely fashion, and also solving crimes related to victims,” he said. “I think great progresses [has been] made in both of those… but we may not get those signed off.
“There are three areas where we hope that they might be signed off in the next few months,” he added.
The admission came as he was questioned about his decision to extend chief constable Trevor Rodenhurst’s contract to 2031.
Independent member Paul Downing asked whether it was “the right time” to extend the contract, and referred to meeting minutes published by the PCC, starting with an accountability held in January.
He said: “A comment made by yourself [was] that there are essential performance improvements required to be made in terms of responding to incidents and improving initial investigation. Only in February, I see that the chief constable is going to prepare some KPIs for prevention.
“Prevention is one of your seven mission statements within your Police and Crime Plan and it’s been active now for 18 months.
“But only in February are we looking at KPIs to be brought for the next spotlight meeting whenever that may be, based on those few statements, and robbery up, business robbery up, solved rates of 13.1 per cent?
“He had a contract until 2028, which is still two years hence, we’re about to enter another inspection, the inspection for 2023 has only just been signed off.
“[The] areas for improvement, as I understand it, included a number of issues which… I won’t repeat now, but don’t paint Bedfordshire Police in perhaps the most glowing terms.
“I’m not saying he’s the wrong person, but was it the right time to extend the contract that was going to end in 2028 at a time of police reform and extend it to 2031? I’m just wondering why the decision [was taken] so early?”
The PCC responded that the solve rate is better than when he came into office.
“Overall Bedfordshire Police is in a better place than it was two, three years ago,” he said,
“I took the view that we had a chief constable who is very capable, is showing good leadership, and we’re seeing that in a whole range of statistics and performance data, has a good reputation and relationship with the community of Bedfordshire, and is highly regarded at a national level.
“This was the right moment to ensure as we go into a period of what will be very, very, uncertain choppy waters [in relation to the police reform agenda], we have somebody at the helm who understands Bedfordshire, is committed to Bedfordshire, and can steer the ship of Bedfordshire Police through that storm.
“It’s the right decision at the right time,” he said.