Police boss 'frustrated' by special measures status

Acting Chief Constable Jim Colwell has said he now has "clear aspirations" on how to improve the Devon and Cornwall force

Devon and Cornwall Police's acting chief constable is "frustrated" the force is not completely out of special measures, he says.

It comes after it was taken out of special measures on its call-handling performance, said His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

In July, Jim Colwell said his aim was to move the force entirely out of special measures after it was initially moved into an enhanced level of monitoring by the police inspectorate in October 2022.

After the call-handling decision, he said: "I am a little bit frustrated, but that's a good thing as now I have really clear aspirations for where I would like this force to go in terms of improvement."

He added: "It's always frustrating coming away from conversations with HMICFRS and you haven't got the outcome that you wanted, but that demonstrates the commitment that we have as a force to be better tomorrow than we are today.

"And we're going to be pretty good today, but we acknowledge that there is further work to be done and we are committed to doing that further work and delivering that further improvement."

'Sustained' improvements

The HMICFRS said in 2022 the force did not answer or respond to emergency or non-emergency calls within adequate timeframes, and too many calls were abandoned.

It said that, since then, there had been "sustained" improvements.

According to the force, in August, one of its busiest months, 93.9% of 999 calls were answered within the national threshold of 10 seconds.

For 101 calls, in August, 93.9% of calls were answered within the threshold of 20 minutes and 93.4% of other 101 contacts online were answered within 24 hours, it said.

In 2022, the HMICFRS also said the force needed to make improvements in the management of violent and sexual offenders and how such crime was recorded.

Devon and Cornwall Police said it had invested in its Public Protection Teams, which had resulted in a "significant reduction in the number of offenders managed by each officer and overdue visits".

The force was formally discharged from concerns regarding the management of violent and sexual offenders in January.

For the recording of crime, the force remains in special measures.

Rape offences

"The force still needs to improve how it records rape offences and antisocial behaviour," said Andy Cooke, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary, in a letter to Mr Colwell.

He said investigating crime was also a cause for concern.

"The force needs to make sure it carries out effective investigations that lead to satisfactory results for victims," he said.

He added inspectors would "review progress in the coming months".

'Work to do'

Mr Cooke said he was "pleased" with "continuing progress" on call-handling but "the force needs to continue making improvements".

Mr Colwell said he was "pleased that HMICFRS has recognised the significant improvements" in answering 999 and 101 calls.

He said crime recording compliance was improving "but we fully accept that we still have further work to do to improve in this area, particularly around the recording of rape offences and anti-social behaviour".

He added: "We also continue to be focused on our investigation standards and are committed to delivering better outcomes for victims and bring more offenders to justice."

Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez said there was "still work to do to support the force on its improvement journey", but she was "delighted that the inspectorate has formally recognised the significant improvement" in call handling.