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The police inspectorate has raised serious concerns about Lincolnshire Police’s performance, particularly how it investigates crime and how quickly it responds to incidents.
In its latest PEEL Report on the force’s performance, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Lincolnshire Police ‘inadequate’ in four out of the eight areas inspected. The other four areas inspected were all found to be requiring improvement, meaning that Lincolnshire Police did not score adequately in any area.
Following its previous PEEL report, Lincolnshire Police was moved to an enhanced state of monitoring by the inspectorate. Yesterday’s report notes that standards of investigations at Lincolnshire Police have deteriorated since its previous inspection.
The inspectorate said the force needs to improve how it allocates, supervises and carries out investigations to make sure victims are getting the support they need. HMICFRS also raised concerns that the force isn’t effectively managing registered sexual offenders and needs to have a greater understanding of the risk and make sure there is appropriate capacity and capability.
Nevertheless, HMICFRS did note that Lincolnshire Police has made some progress in its control room, including increasing staffing levels and improving training and its systems. However, despite being raised in its previous inspection, the force still isn’t attending incidents as quickly as it should or meeting its own targets, the inspectorate said.
“I have serious concerns about Lincolnshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service, particularly on how well the force investigates crime and how quickly it attends incidents following calls to service.
“Since our previous inspection, investigation standards have deteriorated. The force needs to improve its management of investigations to achieve better outcomes for victims of crime.”
Roy Wilsher, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary.
Responding to the inspectorate’s latest PEEL report, both Lincolnshire Police’s Chief Constable and the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) cited the force’s chronic underfunding as a primary contributor to the inadequacies raised.
PCC Marc Jones said: “I would thank them [HMICFRS] for taking the almost unprecedented step of placing the crippling financial situation of the Force front and centre in their report. Throughout the document the lack of capacity and resources is clear and a huge contributor to the situation currently being faced.”
Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Paul Gibson said: “Last month we were offered and have accepted a £5.7m financial support package from the Home Office who have accepted that we are an outlier in how we are funded.
“Along with PCC Marc Jones, we have had regular and meaningful engagement with the Policing Minister, the Home Office, local MPs and other stakeholders for some months now, for which we are grateful, and this funding means we will not have to significantly reduce our number of police officers or police staff for at least six months.”
However, Chief Constable Gibson added that, “without any further financial assistance, I will have to start to reduce the numbers of officers and staff in the organisation by around 20% from October this year.”
For more information, read the full Lincolnshire PEEL Assessment 2023–2025.
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