Police 'poor' at solving crimes

Adam Hewitt • Published 17 Mar 2010 11:00 0 Comments

See also:

THAMES Valley Police has been rated 'poor' at one of its key duties - solving crimes.

The shock rating is among the findings of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary's (HMIC) Report Card for the force, released on Saturday and grading it in 19 different areas.

In 16, it is 'average' or 'fair' or only 'meeting the standard' and in just one, reducing road deaths and injuries, it is 'excellent'.

But its record on solving crimes is 'poor' and not improving, and satisfaction levels among black and minority ethnic (BME) people are 'poor' because they are lower than among white people and are also showing no improvement.

HMIC's inspector, Zoë Billingham, said: "Looking ahead, tighter budgets over the next three years mean that the force, together with its police authority, faces tough choices about policing priorities and future investment."

The verdict comes less than two weeks after Prime Minister Gordon Brown's key crime speech in Reading, where he told police officers in the audience at the Town Hall: "The people of Reading are safer because of the work you do. We owe you and your colleagues a huge debt of gratitude."

The force hit back by protesting that some of the performance data is "out of date", that improvements have already been made and that its own figures show satisfaction ratings among BME people are now rising.

Chief Constable Sara Thornton said: "Our priorities agreed with the police authority over the last few years have been to reduce crime and improve confidence and satisfaction. The Report Card shows we are doing just that. I am concerned about the grade for solving crime and we have agreed with the police authority that this will be a priority for the next year."

On the Police Report Card, 15 of the 19 grades are gathered together for an overall report into three main areas - local crime and policing, protecting from serious harm, and confidence and satisfaction. TVP is rated 'fair' in each.

It said crime has fallen, especially burglary, car crime and robbery, and that it has 1,000 neighbourhood policing staff. It said its 'poor' rating on crime solving is because of a low detection rate for assaults resulting in less serious injuries and promised to improve.

Reading's Lib Dem crime spokesman Cllr Gareth Epps said: "This is what happens when police authorities are underfunded and buried under piles of meaningless Labour Government targets."

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

******
Apr 22, 11:11
Report comment

This comment has been removed by a moderator
******
Apr 22, 15:12
Report comment

This comment has been removed by a moderator
******
Apr 22, 15:13
Report comment

This comment has been removed by a moderator

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @rdgchronicle