Humberside Police Rated 'Inadequate'
They've become the first force to ever be rated inadequate.
Humberside Police has become the first force to ever be rated 'inadequate' by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.
Inspectors visited all 43 UK police forces earlier this year to see how they plan to cope with reduced budgets in the years ahead.
They found Humberside Police had a limited understanding of the current and future demand - which they say is affecting public services.
In a statement Chief Constable Justine Curran told us public safety is their top priority and since the report, they've been working with HMIC to 'close any gaps'.
HM Inspector of Constabulary Mike Cunningham said:
“We inspected how Humberside Police uses its resources now and how it plans to do so in the future and have judged that it was inadequate. Humberside Police has a limited understanding of the current and future demand for its services and, as it is unable to fully match resources to demand in some important areas, this affects its ability to provide a good service to the public.
“Humberside Police is working to provide a quality and timely service to the public, something which has been compromised this year by problems with the introduction of a new operating model but its current workforce model is not sustainable.
“However, Humberside Police has achieved its savings requirement and balanced its budget. It has set up a strategic partnership with South Yorkshire Police to improve efficiency by pooling resources and it is considering further collaboration.”
Chief Constable Justine Curran said:
“Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary carried out their inspection earlier this year in June. Of course I am disappointed by the assessment but would stress that we have moved on since then. The findings may have been accurate at the time but much progress has been made since then and we are continuing to learn and make adjustments.
“We have been working with HMIC since their inspection, overseen by the Police & Crime Commissioner, to close any gaps.
“I want to reassure the public that their safety is our absolute priority and we do many things extremely well and we have extremely dedicated and committed police officers and staff who give excellent service every day. Local people should have the confidence to contact us and trust in our ability to respond to their needs. Community policing will remain the foundation of how we connect with local people.
“It’s important we have our people where and when they are most needed. To achieve this we implemented a major restructure programme in April and, as expected, there have been a few initial problems.
“These are challenging times and we are doing things differently such as working more closely with other forces. We need to do this if we are to continue to protect frontline policing in our communities. HMIC has recognised that we have increased the proportion of officers on the frontline to 89% in 2015. As we improve hand held technology this will increase further.
“Positive results are starting to emerge. There are improvements in our call handling, we are working on a new shift pattern and have started a new pro-active policing operation across the force area called Operation Impact which is already showing positive results.
“The public can rest assured that we are all determined to deliver the best service we can and will not compromise on this.”