Bedfordshire Police 'has plans in place' to improve investigations and better support victims in wake of latest inspection

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Bedfordshire Police’s performance across nine areas of policing and found the force was adequate in four areas, requires improvement in four areas and inadequate in one area (investigating crime).

Inspectors found Bedfordshire Police is operating in a challenging environment but hasn’t made enough improvements in leadership and force management, preventing and deterring crime, responding to the public or investigating crime since the force’s last inspection.

Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst said: “We welcome the independent scrutiny provided by HMICFRS and accept the report’s findings and recommendations. We recognise the need to progress further and have improvement plans in place focused on strengthening the supervision and quality of our investigations and improving how we support and keep victims informed.

“The report acknowledges the wider context of the significant funding and demand pressures facing Bedfordshire. These directly affect our performance, capacity and pace of change, but do not lessen our responsibility to improve.

“Despite these challenges we are responding to incidents quicker, solving more crimes, have strengthened our management of outstanding suspects, increased our use of domestic violence prevention orders and invested in more trained detectives to improve outcomes for victims and communities.

"I am proud of our officers and staff for their professionalism and commitment in delivering that progress in what is an incredibly difficult environment. Bedfordshire faces some of the most complex crime issues in the country while our demand continues to increase.

"As one of the lowest funded forces in England and Wales it is vitally important that improvements are delivered in a sustainable way. The PCC and I will therefore continue to make the case nationally for a fairer funding settlement that better reflects the demands we face in Bedfordshire.

"We are committed to working closely with HMICFRS, our partners and our communities to deliver lasting improvements to the service victims and the public receive.”

John Tizard, Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire, added: “My ambition is for a police service in which the residents of our county have confidence and trust. The HMICFRS assessment provides indicators of what is going well and what requires improvement.

"I am pleased that HMICFRS has acknowledged areas of success including Bedfordshire Police’s pioneering use of technology, its successful collaboration with Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire police services, partnership working, the strength of the use of powers, and its supportive programmes for officer and staff welfare.

"The Inspectorate has found performance challenges such as poor investigation of crimes, which is common in many other police services across the country. It has identified other problems and challenges which require improvement.

"Plans are in place to address these and there has been significant performance improvement in many aspects of policing since the last HMICFRS inspection and indeed since the field work for this latest one. The inspection criteria and standards have changed so direct comparisons are not easy.

"I have confidence in the Chief Constable and his senior team and their ability to lead the necessary change to address the problems. I am pleased that the inspectorate has acknowledged that Bedfordshire Police has “well-regarded and visible leaders who understand their operating environment.

"I accept that ultimate accountability rests with me and recognise my responsibilities to the people of Bedfordshire.

"In turn as Police and Crime Commissioner my duty is to hold the Chief Constable to account for an effective and efficient policing as I have been doing for the last two years. I now will hold him to account for addressing the findings of the inspection, and as importantly, to ensure that communities and businesses across the county are served by a police service which assures their safety.

"Through our governance arrangements including monthly reviews, I will rigorously monitor and scrutinise the implementation of the improvement plans and progress in securing significant sustained improvement.

"The report recognises that Bedfordshire has historically been and continues to be one of the lowest funded police services in the country, whilst experiencing some of the country’s most complex and challenging crimes.

"The report rightly says we need more police officers; we estimate that we currently have 500 too few officers because of government funding levels for the last decade and more. This gap makes a difference.

"The Chief Constable and I continue to press the government to revise the police funding formula and fund our police service in ways that match the volume and complexity of demand. More money used wisely and prudently would contribute to securing long term performance improvement.

"The PEEL report must be read in the context of these challenges.

"The government’s police reform programme offers an opportunity to address systematic challenges across all police services, including Bedfordshire and I see this as part of our improvement journey.”