Cambridgeshire police may not be protecting vulnerable people - report

Inspectors said Cambridgeshire Constabulary did not "fully understand the harms linked to serious and organised crime"

Cambridgeshire Constabulary might be missing chances to safeguard vulnerable people, inspectors have said.

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has rated the force as inadequate at tackling serious and organised crime (SOC).

HMICFRS assessed how seven police forces in the east and south east of England responded to SOC.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary said it "acted swiftly" on the report findings.

Norfolk Constabulary's deputy chief constable praised his teams for disrupting so-called county lines gangs, despite the force's "requires improvement" rating

The report said Cambridgeshire did not have the "necessary intelligence management processes to fully develop its understanding" of modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT).

"This means that some vulnerable and exploited people may not be identified, and opportunities to safeguard them missed," read the report.

"Cambridgeshire Constabulary doesn't fully understand the harms linked to serious and organised crime."

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Inspectors said it was told the force did not have enough intelligence gathered from local communities about MSHT and said the constabulary should do more to help communities "understand this type of crime".

The report also said there were two lead responsible officers - who typically take charge of dismantling organised crime groups - who were "struggling to meet demand" and that there was "little evidence" they received the "training or mentoring" for the role.

Inspectors also said the force:

• Was now categorising SOC threats according to "crime type and harm" and was allocating to "appropriately skilled" lead officers

• Had "effective governance to oversee SOC management"

• Was "increasing its emphasis on safeguarding"

Assistant chief constable Vicki Evans said the force had "moved on a huge amount in the past 12 months since the inspection took place".

She highlighted Cambridgeshire's "biggest ever operation to tackle exploitation and illegal drugs" in October which resulted in 44 arrests, 31 charges and 30 county lines "dismantled".

HMICFRS rated Norfolk Constabulary as requires improvement, which was told it should "improve how it shares information elating to SOC with partners and frontline staff".

Norfolk's deputy chief constable Simon Megicks said his team accepted the grading and had "already addressed the majority" of the recommendations.

He added that the force was focusing heavily on county line violence during the time of inspection, and that its county lines team had secured more than 300 years in prison sentences.

The overall eastern regional response to SOC - along with police forces in Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk and Kent - were all rated as good.

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