The East of England has an overall good response to organised crime
Norfolk however requires improvement
An inspection of the eastern regional response to serious and organised crime shows an overall good response across the East of England.
The inspection report released today by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) did however show Norfolk 'Requires Improvement' and Cambridge is 'Inadequate'.
As part of police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy inspections, inspectors look at how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime (SOC) which helps to understand how well they work with Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) to tackle the issue.
The eastern region consists of seven forces, with Bedfordshire Police, Essex Police, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Kent Police, and Suffolk Constabulary all being rated 'Good' along with their ROCU and the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).
Norfolk however required a number of improvements including how they share information with partners and frontline staff, improving how they record crimes on a national database and improving their plans for serious and organised crime threats they manage.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary also require work as they were rated Inadequate.
The main area of concern was their corporate plan that identifies modern slavery and human trafficking, as the report said the constabulary didn’t have the necessary intelligence management processes to fully develop its understanding of this threat.
It also shows the constabulary isn’t consistently allocating SOC investigations to appropriately skilled officers.
Roy Wilsher, from HMICFRS, said:
"We are not just about inspecting police forces. We are about helping improve police forces so they can improve their services to the public, so we follow up on the areas that need improvement.
"We will also follow up on the areas that are good practice so that can be spread around the region. The Regional Organised Crime Unit in East of England is good already, but they can improve even further and we will help them do that."
Cambridgeshire Constabulary have until the 1st of September to make improvements, which they are already working on, and Norfolk Constabulary have until the end of the year.