HMICFRS Peel Inspection

PEEL 2021/22 – An inspection of Essex Police – HMICFRS (justiceinspectorates.gov.uk)

Responding to the HMICFRS 2021/22 Peel Inspection into Essex Police, the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Roger Hirst, said:

“This Peel report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Policing Fire and Rescue provides a vital independent assessment of the force’s performance, where it is doing well and where it can improve. It confirms our own assessment of the force’s performance and reflects our areas of focus within the Police and Crime Plan.

“It is reassuring to see the consistency in our understanding of the force’s performance and HMICFRS’s inspection results. We share their concerns about Essex Police’s responsiveness to the public. In particular we look to the force to improve the way it deals with vulnerable victims. There is more we can do to respond to non-emergency incidents and ensure we attend and support victims of crime.

“The force has made significant progress in how it supports victims of crime but more still needs to be done to offer a consistent service that maintains the support of victims and provides the best chance to secure successful prosecutions.

“It is also important that Essex Police continue to show marked improvements particularly with regards to the 101 service.

“We need to be better for victims, we need to be better for the public, we need to bring more offenders to justice and we need to reduce crime in our communities.

“It is pleasing to see the positive assessment of how the force engages with and treats the public. This is important for maintaining public confidence so we can work together with communities to prevent crime. It is gratifying HMICFRS recognise so many of the new initiatives the force has taken and acknowledge their effectiveness Including hotspot policing, the domestic abuse problem solving teams, town centre teams and work through community safety partnerships, all these have a positive impact on police visibility and reduce crime.

“It is also good that the force has been assessed as using its resources well.

“There is much in this report that the force should be very proud of and I would like to recognise the efforts of officers, staff, the Chief Constable and his senior team. We should also recognise that these achievements have been secured at a time when the force is growing and as a results is training and developing a significant number of new officers.

“The public have invested in policing and as a result we now have more officers than ever before. The public’s expectation and mine is that as a result of this investment we will continue to see improvement in the service and importantly a reduction in crime and disorder.”