Improvements needed in response to serious and organised crime in Staffordshire
The report by the inspectorate came out today
A report into how police forces across the West Midlands tackles serious and organised crime has found improvements need to be made.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) inspected the West Midlands ROCU and made graded judgments on how the unit and its four constituent police forces tackle serious and organised crime:
• The ROCU for the West Midlands has been graded as adequate.
• Staffordshire Police has been graded as requires improvement.
• Warwickshire Police has been graded as requires improvement.
• West Mercia Police has been graded as inadequate.
• West Midlands Police has been graded as adequate.
The inspectorate said that the West Midlands ROCU has effective structures and processes in place to gather and assess intelligence, and that it makes effective use of its specialist capabilities.
However, HMICFRS said that the West Midlands ROCU should improve its management of serious and organised crime offenders, and how it records disruption activity.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Andy Cooke said:
“The Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) for the West Midlands has effective processes in place to collect and assess intelligence, supporting its ability to set priorities and tackle serious and organised crime. We found that the ROCU has a range of specialist operational capabilities, which it ensures its personnel and forces are aware of. It also prioritises tackling vulnerability, identifying opportunities to safeguard vulnerable people.
“However, the ROCU and its regional forces need to improve how they work together to tackle serious and organised crime. It’s also important that regional change is managed effectively by the newly appointed leaders in this area, to reduce any impact on services.
“We will be working closely with the ROCU and monitoring its progress against our new recommendations.”
Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, said: “The inspection has identified we have some clear gaps around our ability to effectively tackle SOC, but it also recognises we understand this and have plans in place and underway to address some of these issues.
“They also acknowledged our clear aspiration to improve our work in this area through a measured approach and that we know our operating model needs to be a sustainable one. We are working on this, some remedial work has been done since the inspection and plans for the longer term work is ongoing. We are committed to reducing the harm caused by serious and organised crime and protecting those vulnerable to this threat.”