Warwickshire Police inspection report: The good, the bad and the need for improvement

Today (Tuesday June 10) His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has published its findings from a Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (PEEL) report following the inspection which took place between November 2024 and January of this year.

The inspection found the force to be inadequate when 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.”

The report also states that “Warwickshire Police requires improvement at protecting vulnerable people.”

Improvement is needed in how the force identifies and addresses risks to vulnerable people, safeguards victims and their families and it needs to make sure that its central safeguarding unit is resourced to meet current and future demand.

Inspectors also found that Warwickshire Police requires improvement in building, supporting and protecting its workforce.

The force needs to make sure all its staff and officers can access its well-being provision, to make sure why it understands why officers are leaving the force, in particular new recruits, to improve the support it offers them and to do more to support the development and career progression of people from under-represented groups.

Warwickshire Police’s leadership and management also requires improvement, according to the inspectors.

It needs to make sure its governance processes effectively oversee and manage strategic risks, uses relevant analysis and data to operate more effectively and efficiently and it should manage demand more effectively by having the right resources, processes and plans to meet current and future demands.

The inspection found that Warwickshire Police is adequate at using police powers and treating people fairly and respectfully.

Suggested areas of improvement for this section of the report were for its understanding of disproportionality in the use of police powers.

The report states: “Disproportionality refers to whether certain groups of people are affected by police action in a way that is substantially different from people not of that group.

"Many forces provide officers with cultural awareness training to improve policing for ethnic minority groups and improve trust and confidence within communities.

"At the time of our inspection, Warwickshire Police hadn’t provided this training to all officers.

"It does provide training in adaptive communication techniques and cultural awareness for new officers joining through the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship.

“For the year ending 31 March 2024, the force carried out 1,252 stop and searches. During that period, the force was 5.7 times more likely to stop Black or Black British people compared with White people. The national average is 3.6.

“For the year ending 31 March 2024, 19.3 percent of Warwickshire Police’s use of force incidents involved people from ethnic minority backgrounds. People from ethnic minority backgrounds represent 14.3 percent of the force’s arrests and 10.9 percent of the local population.

“A higher use of force compared with arrests and population data could indicate that force is being used more frequently on people from ethnic minority backgrounds.”

The inspection found that Warwickshire Police is adequate at investigating crime.

The report states: “The force needs to make sure that it takes all investigative opportunities and minimises investigation delays.

"It doesn’t doesn’t always achieve the right outcomes for victims of crime.”

The force is also adequate at managing offenders and suspects.

The report states that it needs to “improve its governance and management of suspects and wanted people” and must “make sure that all self-generated indecent images of children are uploaded to the national database”.

The inspection found that Warwickshire Police is good at recording crime but needs to improve how it records equality data particularly in regard to recording the ethnicity of victims of crime.

The report states: “The force should be collecting this information to understand the extent to which each protected group is affected by crime, how this differs from those without protected characteristics and whether a different response is needed for these victims.”

The force also needs to improve how it records crime when antisocial behaviour is reported, according to the inspection.

The report states: "We examined 50 incidents. Of these, 32 crimes should have been recorded, but only 21 were recorded.”

"Victims of antisocial behaviour are often subjected to abuse and torment for substantial periods of time, and crime is often committed by their neighbours.

"Failing to record crimes and provide an effective service to tackle antisocial behaviour can mean victims live in fear in their own homes.”

In response to the report, 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.

"New working practices help us to manage ever increasing demand and reduce the risk to victims of crime.

“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 10 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.

“Overall, in the past year our investigation standards and outcome rates have improved considerably, going from less than eight per cent to now routinely being 15 per cent.”

“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 valuable steer for our areas of focus.”

To read the full report visit: https://tinyurl.com/yw9a6kh8

To read Warwickshire Police full response to the report visit: https://tinyurl.com/2za8m9tu