Police told to improve on tackling organised crime

An HM Inspectorate of Constabulary review looked into Surrey and Sussex police forces

Surrey Police has been told it needs to improve the way it tackles serious and organised crime, following an inspection.

The force was judged as requiring improvement in an HM Inspectorate of Constabulary review, with concerns raised over resources, intelligence sharing and monitoring of known offenders after release from prison.

Sussex Police was deemed adequate, but was also given areas to improve, in the review of the South East regional response.

Det Ch Supt Till Sanderson of Surrey Police and Sussex Police, said: "Since the inspection we have made significant progress and I am confident that we will continue to do so."

Inspectors heard from staff at Surrey Police they spent much of their time analysing data to support reactive investigations and had little time to look for emerging threats.

Their report revealed one team that should have had six constables had three vacancies when it was dealing with 83 live investigations and additional case work.

Some teams said their equipment was not fit for purpose, such as a covert team that was using radios that were too conspicuous for covert operations.

The inspection also found some neighbourhood officers knew how to access information about threats, but in other neighbourhood teams, officers were not aware of organised crime groups in their local area.

Inspectors found none of the staff in a specialist high harm unit knew if any of the offenders they were managing were part of an organised crime group.

'Shortage of detectives'

In Sussex, which was found to be adequate, inspectors found investigation teams were frequently short-staffed.

At the time of the inspection, a team that should have had 18 detective constable posts had five vacancies, the report said.

The force said it should have had 430 trained detectives at that point, but only 373 posts were filled and of those, 99 posts were held by officers still in training.

Det Ch Supt Sanderson said: "Our officers and staff work tirelessly to identify, disrupt and prevent serious and organised crime, focusing on protecting victims and providing the best possible service to our communities.

“There are however some areas of our service that we continue to invest in and improve, and are recognised in this report."

In a further statement, a Sussex Police spokesman said the inspection found the force was working well alongside partners and had highlighted its work to engage with victims of cuckooing and its management of serious organised criminal offenders.

He said: “We acknowledge the report’s findings, including the challenges of investigative capacity and a shortage of detectives, which is a national issue for policing.”