Police Fire and Crime Commissioner reacts to report that Northants force needs to to improve crime investigation

Northamptonshire Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold has welcomed the news that Northamptonshire Police has improved in most areas.

Stephen Mold said that he is confident that the Force is set on the right path and moving in the right direction to make further improvements.

Since its last inspection, Northamptonshire Police has improved its performance in six of the nine areas of work measured by the Inspectorate. The inspectors also found areas of innovative good practice that are at the leading edge, particularly around the approach to retail crime.

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner said that he was pleased that the Inspectors found that the Force is doing well in some fundamental areas – it communicates well with communities, uses powers such as stop search fairly and treats victims of crime properly.

The report also says the Force is outstanding in the way it records crime, which is important so that victims of crime receive the service they deserve and so the public can hold the police to account.

However, the Commissioner said that the Force clearly has immediate work to do to improve crime investigation. He said that he would support the Chief Constable to make the necessary improvements and monitor progress.

Stephen Mold said that £590,000 will be invested in further training and development for police officers in the coming year, which will help improve the quality of crime investigations and meet the training needs of the Force, which has seen a major increase in the number of police officers since 2018.

A further £800,000 will go into the Force control room, to help meet the growing demand in emergency calls from the public – an area that the Inspectors also said needed to improve. Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.