A report by the national policing inspectorate (HMIC) today singled out Staffordshire Police as one of five forces that stood out from the rest in successfully recording crime. Responding to the report the county’s Police & Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis commented:
“Staffordshire Police has made good progress in the accuracy of its crime recording. It’s a critical part of reinforcing public confidence but the unhealthily strong target chasing which has existed across policing for many years has been a serious problem in ensuring honest and accurate recording of crime.
“I promised to scrap policing targets and 15 months ago that happened. Not only has it supported accurate recording it also means officers can use their professional judgement and training to manage their workload instead of chasing targets.
“It’s improved performance and because victims are at the forefront of ‘no targets policing’ it has led to better outcomes. This has been highlighted in today’s HMIC report on Crime Data Integrity. The exceptional accuracy of crime reporting makes Staffordshire Police one of the very best forces in the country.
“The strongest ever independent scrutiny of crime recording in Staffordshire has also been helpful. Members of the public who make up the Ethics, Transparency and Audit (ETA) Panel I established last year also brings further rigour to the way crime is recorded.
“This approach is about to be extended when the first Safer Neighbourhood Panels are launched to increase local communities’ ‘ownership’ of policing. Panels will enable people to influence the way their local area is policed through regular meetings with their local police commander where they will also scrutinise restorative justice decisions and monitor the way police record crime and other areas of public interest.
“My ambition, which the Chief Constable shares, is for policing in Staffordshire to be the most open, transparent and ethical in the country.
“As we would expect from HMIC, there is always room for improvement. It says that when crimes are referred from other agencies, recording needs to get better. HMIC acknowledge that positive change is already happening. This involves new procedures and investment in technology around agencies involved in sharing safeguarding information. It’s part of a
radical and different approach being adopting to technology that will put Staffordshire at the forefront, and make it the most effective, efficient and agile police service in the UK.
“Staffordshire Police have responded to the challenges set down and now have a strong platform on which to build so that public confidence in policing can be increased even further.”
Deputy Chief Constable Nick Baker said: “We welcome this HMIC report which recognises the force’s accurate and ethical crime recording. When it comes to crime recording our integrity is absolutely critical to ensure the public have confidence in us as a police force. Accurate crime recording is also key to tackling and reducing crime.”
“The report complimented Staffordshire Police’s centrally-based crime audit team. The team play a key role in ensuring we record crime ethically and that we comply with the standards expected of us.”
“We also benefit from the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Ethics Transparency and Audit Panel who offer an independent scrutiny of our crime recording.”
“HMIC identified a need for improvement in the recording of crimes received as referrals from other agencies (third parties). This area had already been identified by the force and our improvements to strengthen this area have been acknowledged by HMIC. We continue to improve our standards and are continually working on developing systems to support this.”
