Progress being made at Wiltshire Police as PCC marks two years in role
Philip Wilkinson is now halfway through his tenure
Wiltshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner says fantastic progress is being made on three of the four areas in his Police and Crime Plan.
Philip Wilkinson yesterday marked two years in the role, which he says as been as challenging as he expected.
However, Mr Wilkinson says he’s pleased about that as he “likes a challenge”.
PCC seeks 'consistent, upwards improvement'
Mr Wilkinson told Greatest Hits Radio that it isnt appropriate for Police to tell the local area what they will get, which drove his decision to come up with a Police and Crime Plan.
The plan, which considered the concerns of people in Wiltshire, identified four key areas, three of which “fantastic progress” is being made in.
“I'm not interested in targets. I want trends,” the PCC told us, “I want see consistent upwards improvement in performance and that's outputs outcome and I want people to know that they are safer.”
Wiltshire is now the top Force when it comes to disrupting county lines per head of capital and successful outcomes for sexual offences has risen to 11%, having been as low as 2%.
'The Chief's got rid of complacency'
Mr Wilkinson credited new Chief Constable, Catherine Roper, with “accelerating” improvements since she took over the job in March this year.
After the Force was placed into special measures by the Her Majesty’s Inspectorate in July 2022, the PCC and the former Chief Constable implemented VIV – Victims, Investigation and Violence.
The PCC said that, following the report, there was a lot of “hyperactivity”.
“I felt that there was a lot of hyperactivity as a consequence and there was a lot of rhetoric as a consequence, I wasn't seeing that turned into reality and sustained improvement.
“I felt that for a long time we were all a little bit complacent looking after one another in the headquarters. Too many committee meetings, too much bureaucracy. The Chiefs got rid of all that.”
And does the “fantastic” progress mean the special measures can be lifted?
Here’s what the PCC told us.
“I spoke to the The Chief Inspector earlier this week. I'm pretty confident we will be out by the time of the next inspection, which is March next year.”