Force grades online

The new Police Report Card has been published on the mypolice.org.uk website by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC). The report card is a new performance framework for assessing how well all police forces have achieved against certain criteria.

Building on individual inspections throughout the year, the report card seeks to give a rounded assessment of all 43 forces in England and Wales and will underpin the annual “State
of the Service”.

The card looked at four domains: Local Crime and Policing; Protection From Serious Harm; Confidence and Satisfaction; Value for Money. Within each of these domains, individual component areas were individually assessed and graded where appropriate.

Fair assessments were given for each of the domains except Value for Money which remains ungraded nationally.

The new website allows users to read a commentary against the grades, giving a greater understanding of the grades awarded and progress made within the policing area.

ACPO lead on Performance Management, Chief Constable Steve
Finnigan, said: “The information set out by HMIC attempts to show the breadth of activity that the Police Service is inspected and assessed against, across thousands of daily
interactions between the police and the public.

“The nature of that demand can vary from providing a visible and responsive presence, to other activities that often place police officers in danger. Whatever it may be, the Police
Service is determined to focus relentlessly on where we can improve.

“HMIC has taken a significant step forward in its new role as fierce advocate of the public interest by launching the My Police website. The site aims to present judgments of police
performance and indicators of risk to the public, whilst taking account of the demands and challenges of each police force area.

“Achieving a clear picture of performance that represents the full complexity of policing continues to be challenging, but I am hopeful that further refinements of this assessment
framework will be informed by the wealth of knowledge and experience that exists within the Police Service, its partners and the public.

“There can be no doubt that the task of the Police Service today is more complicated and varied than ever before. To offer an accurate representation of contemporary policing is, therefore, irrefutably in the interest of both the public and
the service.”

The Police Superintendents’ Association cautiously welcomed
the publication of the Police Report Card.

Irene Curtis, vice-president-elect, said: “We welcome the fact that HMIC has endeavoured to understand what information the public wants to know about how their local police are performing, and the fact that the Police Report Card goes
beyond the ‘traditional’ performance data.

“It is important, however, to ensure that the information provided on the website is as up-to-date as possible and includes contextual detail that helps the public to understand the complexity of policing and the difficulty of comparing policing areas.

“Forces are working hard to improve the confidence of the
public in policing and we hope that this new initiative goes some way to communicate that message and helps boost public confidence.”

How did forces score?
The best forces reach very high standards in some areas and, generally, do well in far more aspects of policing than they are weak in.

Hertfordshire, Northumbria, Surrey and Cleveland currently perform well across the board although their costs vary.

The Metropolitan Police Service, Merseyside and West Midlands
achieved an excellent assessment for Protection from Serious Harm, policing against the “big threats” such as murder and organised crime. Lancashire achieved an excellent assessment for Local Crime and Policing.

The forces that have improved on the most fronts over the last year are South Yorkshire, South Wales, West Midlands and Kent. South Yorkshire shows the greatest prospect for
improvement over the year ahead.

Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester Police (GMP) are
currently causing concern. GMP struggles in some key areas, but has a plan and clear commitment to improve. The performance of Nottinghamshire is below average in far too many aspects.

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