Police force must improve its response to calls

Norfolk Police was rated as requiring improvement in three areas

A police force must improve its response to answering emergency and non-emergency calls, a report has found.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary said 22% of 101 calls made to Norfolk Police in the year to March 2024 were abandoned by callers before they were answered - four times the national target.

Inspectors also found the force was at risk of missing opportunities to safeguard vulnerable adults and children, including domestic abuse victims.

Chief Constable Paul Sanford said the force remained committed to providing "exceptional policing" and with the right funding in place, would work hard to make improvements.

Of the nine areas of policing graded by inspectors in the Peel report (police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy), three were rated as "requires improvement".

They included responding to the public, protecting vulnerable people and managing offenders.

Inspectors praised the force for the way it recorded and prevented crime.

'Insufficient oversight'

Writing in the report, Roy Wilsher, Inspector of Constabulary, said while he was satisfied with "some aspects" of Norfolk Police, the force needed to improve its response to incidents "at all levels".

"The 101 call abandonment rate is too high and, although the number of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds is higher than in most other forces in England and Wales, it is just below the national target," he said.

Mr Wilsher said he was also concerned with how the force "manged demand" in the multi-agency safeguarding hub (Mash) - a partnership between agencies in Norfolk working to keep vulnerable people safe.

"Important information about victims isn't always being shared with other agencies," he added.

"And there is insufficient oversight of standard risk domestic abuse cases."

Chief Constable Paul Sanford says improvements are being made

Inspectors also raised concerns at how a growing numbers of sex offenders were being managed in the community, along with concerns around the safeguarding of children at risk of online abuse.

Norfolk Police said the concerns related to "workload demand" and "training" within the Public Protection Unit (PPU) and the Safeguarding Children Online Team (Scolt).

It said through investment, the issues had now been resolved.

"While I accept the findings in this report, I have to be realistic about the measures we can put in place to make the necessary improvements, all of which require investment either in people or technology," Mr Sanford said.

"We moved people from one part of the organisation to support our PPU and Scolt teams, but this clearly comes at an expense to other areas of the constabulary."

Last year, crime in Norfolk fell by almost 12% and Norfolk Police said it was "charging more criminals than any other force in the country".