Police Commissioner: 'Watchdog concerns are opportunity to drive forward change'

Devon and Cornwall’s police and crime commissioner says a decision to put the police force into special measure should be an opportunity to drive up standards.

The comments by commissioner Alison Hernandez come as the national watchdog for police and fire services announced it was stepping up monitoring of the force because of its poor performance in dealing with crimes involving sex, violence and anti-social behaviour.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said it was also concerned about slow response times by Devon and Cornwall Police to non-emergency calls.

HMICFRS continuously monitors the performance of all police forces in England and Wales with a two-stage process.  

All police forces are automatically in the ‘scan’ phase, but this can be escalated to ‘engage’ if concerns arise; effectively placing the force in special measures.

In announcing the move, the inspectorate said it was putting Devon and Cornwall Police into the engage phase because:

• the force’s crime recording has deteriorated since its last inspection. The inspectorate said the force doesn’t always record crimes against vulnerable victims, particularly violent or behavioural crimes and anti-social behaviour
• the force does not answer, or respond to, emergency or non-emergency calls within adequate timeframes, and too many calls are abandoned. Identification of repeat and vulnerable callers is missed, and callers are not always given the appropriate advice on preservation of evidence or crime prevention
• the force is unable to adequately manage registered sexual and violent offenders which means an increasing risk of further offending may not be identified.

Alison Hernandez, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, said: “HMICFRS inspections are among the tools I have that help me hold the chief constable to account for delivering an effective and efficient police force.

“There are few surprises in this report. Emergency and non-emergency contact, for example, have been areas of concern for a number of years, that is why I have invested in this area and am reopening police stations to give more people alternative ways to access the police.

“We must not lose sight of the fact that brave and dedicate police officers, staff and volunteers work tirelessly to maintain a force area that is consistently one of the safest in England and Wales.

“I look forward to working alongside the leadership team within the police and our new chief constable, Will Kerr OBE, on improvements that will satisfy the inspectorate and drive forward change for residents of Devon and Cornwall.”

Mr Kerr is currently a deputy chief constable in Scotland and is yet to take up the post.