Gloucestershire Police: Concerns over 'really inexperienced' staff

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone said young officers have a high workload

A police force which made improvements to be pulled out of special measures is struggling with a "really inexperienced" workforce, bosses said.

Gloucestershire Constabulary was discussing barriers to its recovery at a Police and Crime Panel on Friday.

Assistant Chief Constable Richard Ocone raised concerns that increasingly high workloads were placed on young officers who are also required to do a degree.

The force was released from special measures in September after two years.

Mr Ocone told councillors that many issues officers faced would not come as a surprise to them.

"We've got a really inexperienced workforce... [and] some economic and financial pressures ongoing in the system," he said.

He said that included the effect of the cost of living on staff.

He added that national issues also impacted "morale within the organisation", according to the Local Democracy Reporting Services (LDRS).

'Vast improvements'

However, he told the committee the force received praise over the summer, including with the National Police Wellbeing service award, being regional winners of the Police Federation of England and Wales Bravery Award and National Police Chiefs' Council Awards for tackling violence against women and girls.

This comes after "vast improvements" in crime recording, call handling and victim services addressed the shortcomings previously raised by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in December 2021.

ACC Ocone said the force still needs to focus on reducing the number of 101 calls which are abandoned, with figures decreasing around 6% since last year but still sitting at around 40%.

"The 999 answer times are effectively dealt with. They are now consistently under ten seconds," he added.

He said he was pleased the "significant improvements" they made were recognised with them being released from Engage in September.