His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has assessed Devon & Cornwall Police performance in eight areas, grading it as good in one, adequate in three, requiring improvement in two and inadequate in two more.
HMICFRS said Devon & Cornwall Police was good at preventing and deterring crime and antisocial behaviour and reducing vulnerability.
It said its performance was adequate when protecting vulnerable people, using police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully, and when building, supporting and protecting its workforce.
However it said its internal leadership and force management performance as well as as its management of offenders and suspects required improvement.
The inspectorate also found that while Devon & Cornwall Police had made improvements in its 999 call-handling it still isn’t responding to the public as quickly as it should, and that its investigation standards had deteriorated, resulting in too few offenders being brought to justice.
It graded the force’s performance as inadequate in both areas, saying it had “serious concerns about how it manages its investigations”.
Devon & Cornwall Police was moved into the inspectorate’s enhanced monitoring scheme eighteen months ago following a previous assessment that was also critical of its performance.
Andy Cooke, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said: “Since our previous inspection, the force has made significant efforts to improve in the areas we highlighted as causes of concern or areas for improvement.
“However, despite those improvements, more is required to place the force in a position where it is consistently providing a good standard of service to its local communities.”
Devon & Cornwall Police has been led by Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell since July last year after its Chief Constable Will Kerr was suspended following allegations of sexual offences.
HMICFRS Devon & Cornwall Police performance grading summary. Source: HMICFRS.
The HMICFRS assessment found that despite some improvements in the management of investigations, Devon & Cornwall Police has “understaffed and inexperienced teams investigating serious offences”.
It found that the force had missed investigative opportunities in 29 of 94 cases and “unnecessary delays” had occurred in a quarter of the hundred cases which were reviewed during the inspection.
It found nineteen of 66 investigations did not have an investigations plan. College of Policing practice guidance says such plans are needed to enable officers to “make the most of all available opportunities to gather evidence”.
Devon & Cornwall Police supervisors told the inspectorate that a lack of skilled investigators had led to large caseloads, limiting capacity for effective case supervision.
The inspectorate also found the force is failing to support victims, identifying cases in which there were “significant failings and victims had been let down”.
The number of crimes solved by Devon & Cornwall Police following investigations is also low.
Of 88,500 “victim-based crimes” recorded by the force in the year to September 2022 – those involving an individual, organisation or corporate body – only 4.7% were assigned a “charged/summonsed” outcome, in which defendants are required to attend court.
This is significantly lower than the 6.1% average across England and Wales.
The inspectorate found that delays in assigning outcomes to crimes identified during its previous inspection had not been resolved, with backlogs of 86,500 reported incidents and 38,000 tasks requiring completion in the force’s crime management systems.
It said such backlogs can lead to staff being reassigned from other activities, causing delays in outcomes and leaving the force without a complete picture of the data held in its systems.
Devon & Cornwall Police told the inspectorate that it dedicated teams, supplemented with agency staff, were working on reducing its backlogs, which have fallen by 40% since November last year.
It also said it has implemented a new investigations operating model which includes the introduction of police investigation “hubs”, the first of which is already operating in Exeter.
It said these would mean that “more complex investigations can be led by detective sergeants and experienced detectives”, improving outcomes.
Devon & Cornwall Police inspection report. Source: HMICFRS.
The HMICFRS assessment also found that Devon & Cornwall Police needs to improve the time it takes to answer non-emergency 101 calls and to reduce the number of such calls that are abandoned because they go unanswered.
National Police Chiefs’ Council guidance says forces should aim for a 101 call abandonment rate of 5%. In February this year the rate for Devon & Cornwall Police was 48%.
The inspectorate said that some callers attempting to get through to 101 call 999 instead, making this service less efficient and effective.
It nevertheless found that Devon & Cornwall Police 999 call-handling had improved since its previous inspection.
While it fell short of the national standard rate of 90% of 999 calls answered within ten seconds in 2023, it met the national standard in February this year.
Jim Colwell, Acting Chief Constable, Devon & Cornwall Police. Photo: Devon & Cornwall Police.
Devon & Cornwall Police Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell said: “In the answering of emergency and non-emergency calls, for example, the performance data quoted in the report is not a fair reflection of our current performance, with limited recognition from HMICFRS of the improvements we have made.”
The 2023-24 annual report from the Devon & Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner, Alison Hernandez, also presents a more favourable picture of the force’s performance.
It says that 89.6% of 999 calls were answered within ten seconds during the period it covered, compared with 75.3% the previous year. Between November 2023 and April 2024 it says this rate increased to 94.9%, with an average answer time of four seconds.
The report also says that during the twelve months to March this year the average wait time for 101 calls was 25 minutes and 56 seconds, with 51% of calls answered within twenty minutes and 45% of calls abandoned.
However it says that between November 2023 to April 2024 three quarters of 101 calls were answered within twenty minutes and just under a quarter of calls were abandoned.
Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell said: “I fully acknowledge that we still have work to do to ensure that our investigations are completed to the high standards that the public would expect of us – particularly when it comes to serious and complex crimes.
“We have made progress since the last inspection, but I recognise there is still much more to do if we are to deliver a better level of service to our communities and reduce some of the pressure on our colleagues.”
