The work South Wales Police is doing in the community to safeguard the public has been praised by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
The report, which was published today, commended the force for its efforts in tackling crime, and stated the force showed real potential for continuous improvement with the programme of work it has in place.
Out of 16 categories, the force received fair to excellent grades in 14, which puts South Wales Police in the top four most improved forces throughout England and Wales.
Chief Constable Peter Vaughan said: “We are very encouraged by this assessment made by the HMIC.
“For a while now we have been making concerted efforts to improve in the areas we know mean the most to the communities of South Wales.”
South Wales Police was graded ‘excellent’ for its achievements in suppressing gun crime, and ‘good’ and for suppressing knife crime. In fact, comparative crime rates across the board including serious sexual assault, burglary, and violent assaults, were all lower than could be expected for a force that is the fourth busiest throughout England and Wales.
Mr Vaughan added: “I hope this serves as reassurance to the public that we are doing all we can to prevent the issues experienced elsewhere, from spreading into South Wales.”
The force has also received an ‘excellent’ grade for solving serious sexual offences.
Mr Vaughan said: “A good reputation in this area is key for improving confidence among victims to report incidents. We can demonstrate some excellent practice and collaboration work with other agencies which have been critical in this area, such as the investment in sexual assault referral centres which are designed with victims in mind to help the complex and sensitive investigation processes that follow such traumatic incidents.”
Despite the successes in tackling crime, public confidence, which is measured using the British Crime Survey, has been rated as being ‘poor’ by HMIC.
Mr Vaughan said: “Our aim is to be the best at understanding and responding to the unique needs of our communities. We know we have more work to do in this area, but can confirm that we have experienced significant increases in public confidence according to records which reflect the latest 6 monthly period. This actually reflects a rate of improvement that is one of the best in England and Wales.
“I would like to reassure the public that anti-social behaviour levels in South Wales are actually low when compared to other similar forces, but it is up to us to let the community know what we are doing and we are taking steps to support this.
“We have managed to establish sound structures to support neighbourhood policing, and this has increased the visibility of our officers in the community which is an area of business that has recognised as ‘good’ by HMIC. Every neighbourhood across South Wales has a team of dedicated police and community officers who are there to find out and tackle the problems which really matter to them,” he added.
“Of concern to me is the poor grading we received for the comparative satisfaction of BME communities in South Wales. It is pertinent to reassure the public, and especially people from those communities, that these statistics do relate to 2008 – 2009 and since then the gap in satisfaction has almost halved.
“We constantly review our policies and training, and the roles of our specialist officers, and this has helped us close the gap. Needless to say work is ongoing in this area to achieve parity between the results,” he added.
The force received a ‘fair’ grade for its ability to meet the standards set out in the policing pledge.
In this respect Mr Vaughan said, “We recognise that it is not just about figures, and we are working very hard with our partners to ensure our communities feel safe and have confidence in the service we deliver.”
“We are already starting to reap the benefits of a concerted effort to provide a high standard of service set out in our pledge. Through our own continuous research we know that more and more victims of crimes are satisfied with the service we give them, and there is more confidence in us to deal with the local issues that matter most to people.
“Through our pledge, amongst other things, we are committed to meet with the community on a monthly basis or more, to make sure we know what issues to focus our resources on. We have also introduced newsletters to target communities with updates on what we have done to tackle issues in their area.
“The public’s confidence in us is a top priority for me and my colleagues.
“I will stress that we are not complacent and will continue to go about our business in a proud and positive manner to build upon what is overall a very positive assessment of our efforts.”
Chair of the Police Authority, Councillor Russell Roberts, said: “The results shown in the Police Report Card highlight what we know – that South Wales is one of the most improved forces throughout England and Wales. This is as a result of the excellent work carried out by our officers on a daily basis. However, we must not be complacent, and the Police Authority is working closely with the Chief Constable to ensure that these continue.
“The Report Card suggests that the cost of policing in South Wales is medium to high. The analysis used for this is simplistic, and doesn’t take consideration of our complex and busy policing environment. As a Police Authority, we make sure that any budget and funding decisions are made on the basis of operational and community needs. We have the lowest level of council tax in Wales, with the 2010-11 annual payment of £153.67 per year for a Band D household – or 43p per day, and work closely with the Police Force to ensure the public gets excellent value for money from their police service.
“We also have to recognise the fact that we are responsible for policing Cardiff –the capital city for Wales, and we do not receive any additional funding for this. In addition, we continue to be penalised in terms of the grant we receive from the Home Office. The amount of grant given is calculated using a funding formula, which takes into consideration a number of different elements, such as the size of the force and policing problems that have to be tackled.
“For the next financial year, the formula has found that South Wales Police
should receive £189 million. However, the total we will receive is £186.4 million – £2.6 million less. This has been taken away from our grant and reallocated to the other police forces, as they do not reach the minimum funding requirement. As a result, we start the financial year £2.6million under funded. This is not the first time this has happened. Over past years, we have lost over £17 million from our grant through redistribution – which is equal to 60 police officers on the street.”
