West Mercia and Dyfed-Powys police forces told to improve

HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) has today published its assessment and gradings of the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of the country's police force's for 2015.

Inspectors from HMIC graded West Mercia Police as requiring improvement for effectiveness and legitimacy, while being graded good for efficiency

Meanwhile HMIC expressed "serious concern" in some areas of Dyfed-Powys Police's performance, which was found to require improvements in all areas.

HMI Wendy Williams, who assessed the forces, raised particular concerns about the way West Mercia Police assesses risks faced by domestic abuse victims and missing children.

She said: "I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of West Mercia Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime, but there are also areas in need of improvement in order to provide a consistently good service.

"While our inspections have revealed some concerns about the performance of West Mercia Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime, I am pleased to see that the alliance with Warwickshire Police has helped both forces to operate more efficiently.

"The force is good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, and works well with partner agencies. The investigations undertaken by the force are of high quality and well-supervised.

"I am pleased to see the force is addressing all of the issues raised in HMIC's domestic abuse inspection in 2014, and the service it provides to victims is improving.

"However, I remain concerned about the way in which the force assesses the risks faced by domestic abuse victims. I am similarly concerned by the way the force assesses and responds to the risks faced by missing children. The understanding of, and response to, serious and organised crime is also in need of improvement."

In the coming year, Mrs Williams said she will be interested to see how it improves its assessment of risk to victims of domestic abuse and missing and absent children, especially children in care, as well as to see how it develops its partnership with Warwickshire Police.

In her assessment of Dyfed-Powys Police, Mrs Williams said although the force was good at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour and has good arrangements in place to tackle serious and organised crime, she was concerned "that suitably trained investigators are not always available and in particular, at the lack of professional expertise in the investigation of some high-risk domestic abuse cases".

She said: "The force has more to do to improve its response to vulnerable people. I am not satisfied that the risks faced by emergency and non-emergency callers are consistently understood by call-handlers. This is hindering progress that the force is making in safeguarding the most vulnerable."

For the year ahead, Mrs Williams said she will be "particularly interested" to see how the force improves how it deals with vulnerable victims, with particular attention being given to how public calls are handled and how domestic abuse cases are conducted, as well as publishing clear and realistic plans for achieving savings beyond 2016.

Dyfed-Powys Police Deputy Chief Constable Liane James, said: "We are very pleased that today's report recognises our efforts to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour and, praises our approach and abilities in tackling serious and organised crime. However, as with any organisation, we know that we cannot stand still and are always aware that there is room for improvement.

"We are a small service relative to the area we police and in these financially challenging times, we are always thinking innovatively about how we allocate our resources to meet demand.

"We are committed to ensuring our officers and staff receive the most up-to-date training, from the point of the first call being received through to the aftercare of the victim. We work hard to provide the best support possible to those who have experienced crime and will take on board the HMICs observations in considering our workforce model for the future."