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HMIC Reports 2020

This page provides links to HMICFRS reports either specifically following an inspection of Essex Police or with regard to national policing but with direct relevance to Essex.

Please note that the PFCC response to the HMICFRS reports should be published within 56 days of the report being issued.

Letters from the PFCC to the Home Secretary in response to HMIC inspection reports are available below.

Roads-policing-not-optional-an-inspection-of-roads-policing-in-england-and-wales

Response by Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner:

Dear Home Secretary,

I welcomed the national inspection report published by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which focused on the police response to roads policing. Since I was elected as PFCC, my determination to achieve safer Essex roads remains steadfast. The lives of whole families can be destroyed by a road fatality and accident victims may suffer life changing injuries, all of which could have been avoided with the right interventions.

Improving safety on the Essex roads is a key objective for both the Essex Police Force and the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service. As such, safety on our roads features as one of the main priorities in both the Police and Crime Plan and the Fire and Rescue Plan for Essex, with our objective being to reduce harm on the roads and promote safer driving. We work closely with the Safer Essex Roads Partnership (SERP) to achieve this.

In 2020/21 the Police Uplift Programme funded 21 additional officers for roads policing and in the budget for 2021/22 an additional seven officers have been funded to help meet the capability and capacity demands which HMICFRS reference as a main issue within their report.

The Chief Constable has provided a detailed response on how Essex Police are addressing each of the recommendations as set out in the HMICFRS report for the attention of Chief Constables, attached at appendix A is his response to the recommendations. I am pleased to report that having reviewed evidence provided by Essex Police for each recommendation, our HMICFRS allocated Force Liaison Officer has recommended all should now be closed.

Yours sincerely,

Roger Hirst
Police Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex
cc.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) [email protected]

20210216 PFCC for Essex response to Home Secretary on HMICFRS Roads Policing Report

Both sides of the coin: An inspection of how the police and National Crime Agency consider vulnerable people who are both victims and offenders in ‘county lines’ drug offending

Response by Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner:

Dear Home Secretary,
I write in response to the HMICFRS report ‘Both sides of the coin: An inspection of how the police and National Crime Agency consider vulnerable people who are both victims and offenders in ‘county lines’ drug offending.’

We recognise the findings from this HMICFRS inspection on how county lines drugs trafficking is dealt with at local, regional and national levels. As part of the findings it has been identified that there needs to be a more coherent and integrated system of national tasking, intelligence sharing and response.

In Essex, County Lines are disruptive and destructive of our community and Essex Police are working hard with our immediate partners to address this pressing cross-border issue. Our Police and Crime Plan priorities which include tackling gangs and organised crime, reversing the trend in serious violence and protecting children and vulnerable people from harm have been drivers of this activity to date.

Our Chief Constable has provided me with an update of some examples of great local work and initiatives that are addressing the harm of County Lines in Essex, which I have outlined below:
• The increase of our dedicated ‘Op Raptor’ resources in each Local Policing Area (LPA), supported by Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate (SCD) to tackle county lines where they impact locally and taking out the most harmful county lines at source.
• We work extensively with the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), the Metropolitan Police and the National County Lines Co-ordinating Centre to share intelligence and conduct joint operations under Op Orochi to tackle the issue back in London.
• Some of the excellent work by officers locally includes officers arresting 22 people and seizing over 3kg of Class A drugs in co-ordinated warrants in Harlow, Braintree, Colchester, Brentwood and Basildon.
• Gang injunctions have been successfully applied for in relation to members of the C17 gang in Thurrock and GM gang in Chelmsford, and in November 2019 the successful prosecution of Taliq Mwalim (C17) for breaching conditions of an injunction in Maidstone, Kent.
• There have been numerous arrests and local lines impacted on a weekly basis by our teams and going forward, we are looking to target one county line per LPA from source to local market over the next three months under Op Produce.
• Through the PFCC and supported by Home Office funding, the Violence and Vulnerability Unit staffed by Essex Police, PFCC, Probation and Essex County Council professionals are working together successfully to improve partnership response to delivery of intervention and safeguarding initiatives aimed at individuals drawn into and impacted by gang, county line and violent crime.
We will take the points from this report to inform our work in Essex, working with other forces to tackle the issue and get results.

We know there is room to improve, and the report has outlined some key areas for focus that we are working towards. I would like to praise both the Chief Constable and Essex Police for the positive work and prioritisation already undertaken in order to address this issue.

Yours sincerely

Roger Hirst
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner

c.c. Ben-Julian Harrington, Chief Constable, Essex Police.

CONTACT THE PFCC

PFCC for Essex, Kelvedon Park, London Road, Rivenhall, Witham, Essex, CM8 3HB
01245 291600

If your enquiry relates to operational policing or a crime please contact Essex Police

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