Wiltshire Police – still a ‘work in progress’ but we need more data regarding that progress

Our Chief Constable recently celebrated the anniversary of her appointment. In a press release, the Chief stated, ‘When I took up office, I said that, within a year, the organisation would look and feel very differently from February 2023, and it does.’

The press release goes on to herald changes in policy and procedures, such as the launch of the Neighbourhood Harm Reduction Unit, which provides crime prevention, community engagement, and harm reduction interventions across Wiltshire and Swindon.

Similarly, other initiatives to tackle violent crime, particularly knife crime, have been implemented under the Chief’s leadership. Operation Sacramento focused on youth gang violence during the summer of 2023 and resulted in 322-foot patrols, 80 stop searches, and 30 arrests; no mention is made of the number of weapons seized or persons being prosecuted.

The third area of focus was domestic burglary. The reintroduction of the Burglary Unit begs the question of why the very effective Swindon-based team was disbanded in the first place; I suspect funding would have been a causal factor.

The press release commends two specific outcomes. Firstly, attendance at 100% of residential burglaries is ‘being regularly achieved’. No indication is given how often this target is being satisfied.

Secondly, victim satisfaction for burglary has risen by 7.3% points compared to the same period last year and is now 85.5%. I suspect that 100% of victims would have preferred not to have been burgled in the first place.

The significant omission from this press release is hard performance information, i.e. is the incidence of crime being reduced following the implementation of these initiatives, and are detection rates improving?

Despite the absence of performance information, our Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) asserted at February’s Police and Crime Panel meeting that ‘Wiltshire Police were now delivering value for money.’ I want to believe him but where is the evidence to support this claim?

During the same meeting, the PCC was enthusiastic about the suggestion that temples and gurdwaras should be visited to improve ethnic minority relations. When did Wiltshire Police stop making these visits, which should be routine?

It remains to be seen whether Wiltshire Police will be removed from special measures by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. The recent failures concerning the application of Clare’s Law reflect badly on Wiltshire Police as well as the Inspection regime.

The upbeat tone of the Chief’s press release, on one level, encourages optimism for the future. However, unless we benefit from reductions in crime, the initiatives risk amounting to nothing more than window dressing.

In closing, turning performance around was always going to be a tough task for the Chief. Negating the impact of austerity and the historic reduction in officer numbers will take time.

The police precept will be increased for 2023/24. If the PCC wants us to believe that value for money is being achieved, give us the data to support this claim. The Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel has a significant role to play in providing scrutiny when it comes to managing performance.