Warwickshire Police ordered to improve after damning inspector’s report
CONCERNS about the performance of Warwickshire Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service are voiced in a hard-hitting report published today (Tuesday).
The comments are made by Lee Freeman, HM Inspector of Constabulary, in the latest findings by the body that monitors the work of police forces throughout the country.
In the report – which covers the period 2023-2025 – Warwickshire Police is deemed to be “inadequate” in responding to the public and “requiring improvement” in protecting vulnerable people, developing a positive workplace and leadership and management.
And it is regarded as only “adequate” in its use of police powers and public treatment, investigating crime and managing offenders. In two areas – recording data about crime and preventing crime – it is deemed to be “good”.
The report is published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and is known as PEEL 2023-25 (Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy).
In his summary at the beginning of the report, Mr Freeman says: “I have concerns about the performance of Warwickshire Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service.
“We found sustained improvements in both 999 and 101 call handling. The force now handles most calls quickly. I commend the force for making these improvements.
“However, I have serious concerns about how quickly the force responds to calls for service from the public after it has answered these calls. I am also concerned about the effectiveness of the governance structures that oversee how well the force protects vulnerable people.”
Mr Freeman points out that Warwickshire Police is in a sound financial position. It had made significant investments in recent years to make sure it had a stable infrastructure.
In the year ending March 2024, the council tax precept gave the force 39.7 per cent of its funding and this provided some protection against fluctuations in central government funding. “It should help the force to achieve the improvements needed that we set out in this report,” said Mr Freeman.
In its grading of “inadequate” regarding the force’s performance in responding to the public, the report states: “In our 2022 PEEL inspection, we found that Warwickshire Police wasn’t attending incidents within expected timescales. It wasn’t updating victims about delays.
“The force hasn’t improved in this area and is still failing to meet its own published targets.
“Our victim service assessment found that the force met its attendance times in only 33 of 68 relevant cases. It informed callers of delays in only 15 of 31 relevant cases.
“Force data shows an overall decline in performance of both emergency and priority incidents. However, the force didn’t have complete data, particularly in relation to priority incidents. These didn’t always have an arrival time recorded.”
The report adds: “Attending incidents promptly is important to make sure that evidence is secured and victims and vulnerable people are safeguarded from harm.
“The force knows it must improve and has established a gold group to oversee the changes needed. But there isn’t yet any improvement from this activity.”
The report recommends that within six months Warwickshire Police should:
- Attend calls for service in line with the targets it has published
- Make sure that there are unavoidable delays and that it updates victims and risk assessments
Responding to the report, Warwickshire’s chief constable, Alex Franklin-Smith, said: “Despite highlighting some of the excellent work and progress we’ve made, the HMICFRS inspection results demonstrate that at the time of inspection we were not where we needed to be in our response and investigation measures.
“We are pleased to see we have been positively recognised in the report on a number of key areas, including preventing and deterring crime, reducing reoffending, improving crime outcomes and our commitment to problem-solving.
“We were already taking steps to improve and have been working closely with HMICFRS in the months since the inspection. We have changed how we respond and investigate and now have additional officers and staff in our investigation teams. This has resulted in a better response and outcome rates.”
Mr Franklin-Smith added: “Our positive outcomes on residential burglaries doubled between February 2024 and February 2025, with our burglary charge rate higher than the national average. We are also the best performing police force in the country for adult rape charge rates.
“Between April 2024 and March 2025 we also saw a ten per cent decrease in antisocial behaviour and a 13 per cent decrease in serious violence in targeted hotspot areas thanks to Op Resolve, our dedicated programme to tackle these issues.”
He said: “Our ambition is to become an organisation that is known for policing excellence. Many of the foundations that will enable this to happen have been built in the last few months, and the HMICFRS inspection results provide [a] valuable steer for our areas of focus.”
Philip Seccombe, Warwickshire’s police and crime commissioner, said the force had been quick to accept the findings and had been working to change the way it responded and investigated crime, with additional officers brought into teams.
“This is starting to show improvement, but clearly there is some way to go before we can be fully sure of lasting improvement,” he said. “Nevertheless, the report needs to be seen in its full context: many of the issues it has highlighted come down to an overall lack of people to meet the increased demand or process investigations more quickly and effectively. While the report makes clear that the force manages its finances well, the level of resource needed to fully meet this challenge is simply not available.”
Mr Seccombe said Warwickshire Police received among the lowest amount of central government funding per head of population of any force in the country and similarly ranked among the forces with the lowest numbers of officers compared to the population it served.
He said he had made it clear for some time that the formula on which central funding was allocated was “massively out of date” and left Warwickshire with a baked-in disadvantage that was only growing year on year.
“I urge the government to address this as part of its comprehensive spending review, so that I am able to give the chief constable the full resources that are required to deliver an effective police service for the public,” he said.
For a fuller report and analysis see Thursday’s Herald.
