Avon and Somerset Police rated as 'requires improvement' when it comes to serious and organised crime
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services inspected the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit.
Last updated 12th Jun 2025
A report has found that improvements are needed in the South West’s regional response to serious and organised crime
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspected the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit and regional police forces.
They graded the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit has been graded as adequate and Avon and Somerset Police has been graded as requires improvement.
Inspectors found that across the region, learning from operational activity was inconsistent and that the unit needs to improve the governance of regional resources and support assigned to forces.
HMICFRS also said that the unit and its regional forces were not assessing their serious and organised crime threats consistently.
Some forces in the region didn’t have enough personnel to fully assess the intelligence.
Examples were found of forces undertaking investigations involving organised crime groups, even though the groups hadn’t been formally threat assessed.
The inspectorate found that the unit had found it difficult to recruit personnel.
While the vacancy rate had reduced in the 12 months prior to the inspection, HMICFRS said that to address resource problems, the unit had recruited staff with little experience of investigating serious and organised crime.
Inspectors heard that personnel in regional forces have difficulty accessing individual IT systems, making it harder for them to do their jobs.
Inspectors said that the unit and police forces in the region need to work together to successfully improve their response to tackle serious and organised crime.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Andy Cooke said: “The South West Regional Organised Crime Unit regularly reviews what worked well in its serious and organised crime operations. It was positive to see it effectively manages support requests from forces and other agencies, and appoints senior officers to lead on regional priorities.
“But the unit and its regional forces need to improve how they assess threats and how they work together to tackle serious and organised crime. We found inconsistences among the performance of the regional forces. It was troubling to hear about the recruitment issues faced by forces, meaning personnel are not always as experienced as they should be. And IT across forces isn’t well connected, making it harder for personnel to do their jobs.
“We will be working closely with the unit and monitoring its progress against our recommendations.”
We've contacted Avon and Somerset Police for comment.