Failing police forces will be compelled to implement reforms recommended by their watchdog under Labour plans for Ofsted-style inspections in policing.
His Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary could even order the removal of chief constables if standards drop so low that they threaten public safety.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, will announce the plans in her speech to the Labour conference. They will form part of a blueprint for boosting the proportion of crimes investigated and solved by forces and improving overall policing standards in England and Wales.
Cooper said that forces should be forced to implement reforms urgently in the same way that failing schools are compelled to enact measures proposed by Ofsted. A “carrot and stick” approach would be introduced whereby forces would be given support by the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs Council to help “turn outcomes around”.
The measures would be enforced on police forces marked “inadequate” on areas that affected public safety. The announcement is designed to address widespread failings in forces that at present are under no obligation to implement reforms and are given no extra support after dire inspection reports. Four police forces have been languishing in special measures for years: Devon and Cornwall, the Metropolitan Police, Staffordshire and Wiltshire.
Andy Cooke, the chief inspector of constabulary, called for the powers to enforce recommendations in his latest annual state of policing report. He said: “On too many occasions, forces have either failed to act or not acted quickly enough to address our recommendations.”
Cooke cited the example of how the watchdog made a series of recommendations to address police officers abusing their position for sexual purposes in 2016, but since then many forces had not taken “meaningful action”.
He said: “There are only so many times we can say the same thing in different words.”
Cooper also cited the Gloucestershire force, which in 2021 was rated “inadequate” on its service to victims, recording data about crime, investigating offences and responding to the public. Despite being given a set of recommendations, the force had failed to act, Cooper said.
Under Labour’s reforms, Gloucestershire police would be forced to enact Cooke’s recommendations or face being placed in special measures, have commissioners sent in or in the most extreme case, the removal of its chief constable.
Another example was the Metropolitan Police’s failure to address failings with its child protection services seven years ago.
Cooper said that the inability to compel forces to address problems found by inspections had contributed to a 60 per cent drop in the proportion of crimes being solved since 2015. Last year a record number of cases were dropped because of evidential difficulties and a record 1.6 million victims gave up on the criminal justice system.
There has also been a trebling of the average number of days taken to charge a suspect since 2016, from 14 to 44 days, according to analysis by Labour.
Cooper accused Suella Braverman, the home secretary, of a lack of action to turn around failing police forces.
Ooh, are they going to do the thing where they reduce a massive complex organisation down to a one-word judgement for police too?
Alright. Good to see Labour supporting sensible ideas.
I also hope they address all the funding issues that are if not causing most of these issues, are certainly not helping with them.
Growing population, shrinking police force. Sacking the people at the top won’t fix anything.
Can we do the same for Politicians? I’m relatively certain we’d end up with a cabinet full of lettuce in no time, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Smacks of the beatings will continue until morale improves
Sigh.. Cries in Response cop.
Who is carrying out these inspections? – You don’t tell a doctor how to carry out a procedure, you don’t tell a fireman how to put out a fire, you don’t tell a lorry driver how to reverse his truck. Why is the Police a job everyone and their mum thinks they can walk into with no practical experience and revolutionise? If anyone is at all curious how regular civilians react in everyday situations please go and watch “Switched” on YouTube. Great series about civilians and police switching roles and the amount of people who just outright executed someone was mindblowing.
So instead of properly funding the police let’s waste money on people to go in and tell them they aren’t doing a good enough job. SHOCK HORROR WE KNOW!
Police numbers have stayed stagnant for 15 years while the population has grown, the civilian staff have mostly been sacked to save money meaning more cops are in office jobs to fill those roles.
Yesterday my shift had 4 cops including myself to cover 150k people. What the fuck do the public expect? – I’m sitting with 20 something crime reports at the moment, we’re barely keeping up with the immediate calls let alone me having the time to go and get CCTV and follow up on the crime reports I already have.
Hard to enact new measures when there’s nobody there to implement them. Much easier to just moan about it and throw everyone under the bus.
7 comments
(Article)
—-
Failing police forces will be compelled to implement reforms recommended by their watchdog under Labour plans for Ofsted-style inspections in policing.
His Majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary could even order the removal of chief constables if standards drop so low that they threaten public safety.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, will announce the plans in her speech to the Labour conference. They will form part of a blueprint for boosting the proportion of crimes investigated and solved by forces and improving overall policing standards in England and Wales.
Cooper said that forces should be forced to implement reforms urgently in the same way that failing schools are compelled to enact measures proposed by Ofsted. A “carrot and stick” approach would be introduced whereby forces would be given support by the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs Council to help “turn outcomes around”.
The measures would be enforced on police forces marked “inadequate” on areas that affected public safety. The announcement is designed to address widespread failings in forces that at present are under no obligation to implement reforms and are given no extra support after dire inspection reports. Four police forces have been languishing in special measures for years: Devon and Cornwall, the Metropolitan Police, Staffordshire and Wiltshire.
Andy Cooke, the chief inspector of constabulary, called for the powers to enforce recommendations in his latest annual state of policing report. He said: “On too many occasions, forces have either failed to act or not acted quickly enough to address our recommendations.”
Cooke cited the example of how the watchdog made a series of recommendations to address police officers abusing their position for sexual purposes in 2016, but since then many forces had not taken “meaningful action”.
He said: “There are only so many times we can say the same thing in different words.”
Cooper also cited the Gloucestershire force, which in 2021 was rated “inadequate” on its service to victims, recording data about crime, investigating offences and responding to the public. Despite being given a set of recommendations, the force had failed to act, Cooper said.
Under Labour’s reforms, Gloucestershire police would be forced to enact Cooke’s recommendations or face being placed in special measures, have commissioners sent in or in the most extreme case, the removal of its chief constable.
Another example was the Metropolitan Police’s failure to address failings with its child protection services seven years ago.
Cooper said that the inability to compel forces to address problems found by inspections had contributed to a 60 per cent drop in the proportion of crimes being solved since 2015. Last year a record number of cases were dropped because of evidential difficulties and a record 1.6 million victims gave up on the criminal justice system.
There has also been a trebling of the average number of days taken to charge a suspect since 2016, from 14 to 44 days, according to analysis by Labour.
Cooper accused Suella Braverman, the home secretary, of a lack of action to turn around failing police forces.
Ooh, are they going to do the thing where they reduce a massive complex organisation down to a one-word judgement for police too?
Alright. Good to see Labour supporting sensible ideas.
I also hope they address all the funding issues that are if not causing most of these issues, are certainly not helping with them.
Growing population, shrinking police force. Sacking the people at the top won’t fix anything.
Can we do the same for Politicians? I’m relatively certain we’d end up with a cabinet full of lettuce in no time, but it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.
Smacks of the beatings will continue until morale improves
Sigh.. Cries in Response cop.
Who is carrying out these inspections? – You don’t tell a doctor how to carry out a procedure, you don’t tell a fireman how to put out a fire, you don’t tell a lorry driver how to reverse his truck. Why is the Police a job everyone and their mum thinks they can walk into with no practical experience and revolutionise? If anyone is at all curious how regular civilians react in everyday situations please go and watch “Switched” on YouTube. Great series about civilians and police switching roles and the amount of people who just outright executed someone was mindblowing.
So instead of properly funding the police let’s waste money on people to go in and tell them they aren’t doing a good enough job. SHOCK HORROR WE KNOW!
Police numbers have stayed stagnant for 15 years while the population has grown, the civilian staff have mostly been sacked to save money meaning more cops are in office jobs to fill those roles.
Yesterday my shift had 4 cops including myself to cover 150k people. What the fuck do the public expect? – I’m sitting with 20 something crime reports at the moment, we’re barely keeping up with the immediate calls let alone me having the time to go and get CCTV and follow up on the crime reports I already have.
Hard to enact new measures when there’s nobody there to implement them. Much easier to just moan about it and throw everyone under the bus.