Wiltshire Police told to make "fundamental changes" to children protection practices
A report has been published today (Friday 5th August)
Wiltshire Police have been told they need to make fundamental changes in order to improve their child protection practices.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services undertook an inspection to see how effective their decisions and processes were at each stage of their interactions with children.
It concluded that, while some practices were good, their arrangements aren’t consistently providing a good enough response to effectively safeguard children in Wiltshire.
The county's force say they have already developed a comprehensive plan to address the issues.
This includes posting additional detectives into their Child Abuse Investigation Teams.
Assistant Chief Constable Deb Smith, the Force’s senior lead on vulnerability, said:
“Protecting children is one of the most important things that we do and every child should grow up protected from harm.
“We take our responsibility to safeguard those most vulnerable in our communities incredibly seriously and we expect to be rightly scrutinised for how we do this.
“We acknowledge the findings of this inspection and accept the recommendations outlined in this report.
“However, it is important to state that many of the areas of concern raised within this report are aligned to those outlined in our recent HMICFRS PEEL inspection, which concluded less than a month prior to this inspection.
“We have, therefore, already taken prompt and comprehensive action to address a number of issues raised within the report. This includes us establishing a dedicated taskforce focusing on re-setting and improving basic investigative standards to improve our service and deliver improved justice outcomes.
“We’ve also focused on delivering enhanced training to our front line officers, our call centre staff and their supervisors, specifically on identifying vulnerability and risk.
“The Chief Constable has been clear that improving service delivery is his highest priority and that we will be relentless in our focus on accelerating our work to do what is needed to improve our service.”
It comes just weeks after HMICFRS placed Wiltshire Police into special measures, following a full investigation.
Wiltshire's Police and Crime Commissioner says he is ensuring that improvements are delivered and that he understands that this news will lose more trust from the public.
Philip Wilkinson said:
“Protecting and safeguarding children from harm is a fundamental role for any policing service and it saddens me greatly that this hasn’t been consistently provided in Wiltshire.
“While progress has been made since the inspection took place, this report has highlighted Wiltshire Police has serious work to do to ensure it is proactively protecting children and subsequently providing a quality service to child victims when they need it too.
“The themes within this report are consistent with those identified by PEEL and work is underway to address them. I am confident the Force have identified the areas which need work and are progressing against each of the recommendations.
“However, we cannot underestimate how reports like today’s chip away at the confidence the public have in their police force. Residents need to know the police will be there when they need them, that they will do a good job investigating, support them as victims and ensure perpetrators are bought to justice as a result.
“I am providing the scrutiny and challenge to the Chief Constable to ensure improvements are delivered, as well as supporting him by making the necessary investments to try and counter the situation the Force currently finds itself in. This year there has been precept-funded investment in additional training and boosting the numbers within the child internet exploitation team, as well as in the child abuse investigation team.
“The Force is also looking at how it responds to victims, especially child victims and how it handles safeguarding issues and multi-agency responses.
“My office regularly holds performance and accountability sessions with the Force’s senior leadership to ensure progress and delivery against HMIC recommendations in both of its latest reports. The latest police and crime plan sets the policing strategies which allows Wiltshire Police to deliver their core policing role without getting wrapped up in excessive governance and national policing issues.
“I have set an expectation the concerns highlighted in today’s report are looked at in parallel with the earlier PEEL recommendations so I would expect Wiltshire Police to be able to demonstrate improvement and change in these areas in the same timeframes as set out by HMICFRS, this will contribute to enabling the Force to exit ‘special measures’ in the shortest time possible.”
What they need to improve on
HMICFRS said specific areas for the force to improve included:
Improving the capacity and capability of investigators and supervisors to respond effectively to vulnerability
Speaking to children, recording their behaviour and demeanour, listening to their concerns and views, and using that information to make decisions about their welfare
Reducing investigation delays
Supervising incidents and investigations more consistently to make sure opportunities are pursued to help children
Making sure children in police detention are supported by appropriate adults and have timely access to healthcare professionals
However, the report did show that Wiltshire Police have some positives in this area, including officers always taking children to appropriate places of safety and having a good multi-agency approach to early intervention and crime prevention.