Northamptonshire Police chief responds to independent report

The acting chief constable, Ivan Balhatchet, said there were issues with the "capability and capacity" of some officers

The acting chief constable of Northamptonshire Police has said he is aware of concerns about his officers' capability to solve crimes.

An independent report said offenders were not always brought to justice by the force.

Ivan Balhatchet admitted that it raised issues about the "capability and capacity of some of our officers".

But he said "real progress" had been made and outlined a commitment to support victims of domestic abuse.

"I've got to say there's other parts of investigating crime that we're really good at," Mr Balhatchet told BBC Radio Northampton.

"However, yes, [the report] does raise some issues about the capability and capacity of some of our officers dealing with our crimes."

The peel report said not enough 999 calls were answered within 10 seconds

The acting police chief said an influx of new recruits was positive but that it was having "quite a strain" on the force's training and mentoring programmes.

The police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (Peel) report, by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, measured Northamptonshire Police's performance in a number of areas.

The way the force collected data about crime was rated as "outstanding", and use of police powers and treatment of the public were graded as "good".

Several other areas, including preventing crime and responding to the public, were labelled as "adequate".

The force was graded "adequate" in six out of nine areas, with others labelled outstanding, good and requiring improvement

Mr Balhatchet said he was doing his best to ensure victims of "really distressing" domestic abuse cases were best supported.

"People who are victims of domestic abuse are some of the most vulnerable. This is why I've commissioned the end-to-end review to ensure we are doing all we can," he said.

The senior police chief added that more specialist officers were being deployed to support victims.

"What I've got is a police force that is committed to serving Northamptonshire, making Northamptonshire the best it can be and having the best police force we can," he said.