Lack of resources limiting sexual assault convictions says Police
Officers spoke about being "understaffed" at a Male Violence against Women and Girls event in Stroud
Last updated 25th Jan 2023
In the first meeting since August, when reports of two rapes shocked the local community, representatives of Gloucestershire Constabulary and Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson admitted a lack of resources was taking its toll.
Responding to questions from the audience, Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson said they were "understaffed and overworked".
Head of the Investigations Team, Temporary Superintendent Rich Pegler said that his team needs to continue to work hard and "do better" but the lack of resources "delays justice for the victim".
More detectives needed for rape and more serious sexual offences says Detective
He added, "When a officer is carrying an excessive number of cases, you can't bring that case to conclusion as quickly as you want to, you can't spend as much time on any one case as you'd like to, you can't complete and obtain evidence as you quickly as you want to...
"...My officers really want to be able to investigate this thoroughly and as quickly as they can.
"The only way we can do that is with some additional resource.
"We have to have more detectives working on rape and serious sexual offences."
Speaking about how he wanted to tackle this issue Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson told the meeting he was working on a new operating model to make sure Gloucestershire Constabulary have enough resources.
Has there been a change in focus after being put into special measures?
Andrea Durn lives in Wotton under Edge, she said she'd noticed a change in priorities since Gloucestershire Constabulary were put into special measures, "They have had to reconfigure the service for that, so they've been concentrating on response times, that has had an impact on policing.
"We've lost one PCSO and the proactive work that they were doing has had to be changed as they respond to the report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary."
In response, Gloucestershire's Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson denied special measures had this impact but admitted an increase in demand had stretched the service, "We weren't responding to incidents as quickly as we would like.
"We had to redeploy people from neighbourhood policing, school beat officers and other areas within the force, so the most critical incidents were dealt with rapidly.
"That's why we are reconfiguring the operating model so we can be more effective and efficient with the right resources, in the right place, responding at the right time."
Within the event Mr Nelson announced that more than 300 police officers were joining the Constabulary to ensure "we really to tackle serious thing like Male violence against women and girls."