Wiltshire Police is failing in several areas and urgent improvements must be made, the police inspectorate has said.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Wiltshire Police’s performance across eight areas of policing and found the force was ‘inadequate’ in three areas and ‘requires improvement’ in the other five areas.
Inspectorate’s Engage monitoring process
HMICFRS said the inadequate areas included how the force responds to the public, how it protects vulnerable people and strategic planning and value for money.
In June 2022, the force was moved into the inspectorate’s Engage monitoring process, which provides additional scrutiny and support to help forces make improvements.
Wiltshire Police’s performance
Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, Wendy Williams, said: "I have serious concerns about Wiltshire Police’s performance, particularly how it responds to the public, protects vulnerable people and makes use of its resources."
She adds, "The force is missing opportunities to protect vulnerable and repeat victims of crime. It needs to improve the way it manages victims’ calls, so that all vulnerable people are identified. Some domestic abuse victims have received an unacceptable level of service and have continued to remain at risk. The force is not supervising investigations well enough and doesn’t always follow all investigative opportunities."
How it understands and protects vulnerable people
Wendy Williams continues: "More positively, the force has recently developed plans to address violence against women and girls and intends to make progress in how it understands and protects vulnerable people."
She further states, "Given our findings, we are now monitoring Wiltshire under our Engage process, which provides additional scrutiny and support. In addition, I have been in regular contact with the Chief Constable and will continue to work with the force until the required vital improvements are made."