Protective Services Assessment

In January 2007, the Minister for Policing, Security and Community Safety wrote to all forces setting out a timetable within which improvements to protective services should be achieved. This followed on from the report produced by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in 2005 entitled ‘Closing the Gap’, which raised concerns about the ability of many small forces to meet the challenges posed by major, serious and organised crime and set in train the process of force amalgamations which ultimately failed.

A revised approach to improving protective services across England and Wales was subsequently agreed, which focussed more clearly on collaboration between forces in an area to bridge identified gaps. As such, the Minister set specific terms of reference for tackling the issues at hand, these being:

“To examine the arrangements, plans and processes being put in place by forces and authorities to address the issues detailed in ‘Closing the Gap’ with a view to advising the Minister as to the sufficiency, robustness and sustainability of the proposals by the end of 2008.”

In recent months, the force has conducted a detailed threat, risk and capability assessment looking at the thirteen areas of protective services that are covered by the set of minimum standards endorsed by the Association of Chief Police Officers. These areas are:

Counter terrorism
Domestic extremism
Serious organised crime
Major crime
Roads policing
Public order
Civil contingencies
Critical incidents
Firearms
Missing persons
Investigating child abuse
Domestic abuse
Sexual and violent offender management

The assessment completed recently in force, sought to highlight the areas of highest need within the Dyfed-Powys area that must be addressed if the protective services gap is to be bridged. The high need areas identified are as follows.

Analytical Capacity

The Force has identified a capacity deficit in relation to its analytical capability across a range of disciplines, including major crime, serious and organised crime, investigating child abuse and roads policing. In relation to the latter, significant investment has taken place to increase the number of mobile and static ANPR sites around the force and so the number of ‘hits’ arising from the use of technology will rise significantly and will demand analysis. Each Community Safety Partnership is required to produce a Joint Strategic Assessment on an annual basis, which represents new business for our analytical capability.

Organised Crime Group Mapping is a requirement placed upon forces and regions to identify those crime groups who cause the most harm to our communities. The identification and maintenance of such groups requires significant analytical and research support. This is an area that has been commented upon following a recent inspection by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and the force is aware of the need to increase capability and capacity in this area.

Community Profiling

A major area of work for forces given the changing demography of the UK as a result of inward migration is community profiling. To understand the communities we police and effectively deploy resources across our four divisions, we need a detailed understanding of the people that make up our communities and how this is changing over time. This has links to the potential for serious and organised crime as well as the development and recording of community intelligence through neighbourhood policing teams. This is not just a policing matter, however, as partner agencies must be engaged in this process as part of the development of Joint Strategic Assessments. This is likely to be a major issue for public service providers in the years ahead and has links to a number of areas including the exploitation of migrant workers and the trafficking of individuals for exploitation within the sex industry.

Major Crime Support Team

The analysis undertaken and previous reports produced by HMIC have highlighted a potential lack of resources in relation to the Major Crime Support Team. When the team is deployed to support BCUs in the event of a murder or similar serious inquiry, the force’s ability to respond to other serious inquiries can be diminished. However, the incidence of category A murders and other serious crimes are extremely low in the Dyfed-Powys area and the force must make a judgment in relation to the threat and risk posed by these events in determining staffing levels in response to these. The force is considering ways of staffing major crime investigation whilst minimising the impact on BCUs without losing its Level 2 surveillance and investigation capacity.

Specialist Resources Capacity

The assessment raised issues around the force’s ability to deploy Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) and public order resources in accordance with the Police National Mobilisation Plan. To comply with these requirements would lead to significant abstractions within the force and undermine its ability to deliver on other policing services.

Further work will now be undertaken in relation to the strategic assessment undertaken to effectively action plan the areas for improvement identified. The three high need areas above will be the focus of particular attention and will be addressed as part of the force business planning cycle.