Wiltshire Police out of special measures

A police force heavily criticized for a series of failings has made a significant improvement and has now been taken out of special measures by inspectors.

However, in a letter published earlier, Her Majesty’s Chief Constabulary, Andy Cooke, said that while there was “more to be done”, he was “pleased with the progress” made by the force and that now returned to routine monitoring.

He said: “I am reassured by the plans Wiltshire Police have in place to continue to make improvements.”

The 2022 inspection found that the force “did not understand and promptly identify the vulnerability of victims at the first point of contact”, “did not protect vulnerable people from harm to an acceptable standard” and “did not have adequate strategic plans in place”.

It also found that 101 and 999 calls were not answered quickly enough, that there was no response to crime in adequate timescales and that the leadership of the force was ineffective.

“We will continue to inspect the force to ensure the people of Wiltshire are getting the service they deserve from their police force,” he added.

However, an inspection since then found that the force is “significantly better at identifying repeat callers” and “provides evidence preservation and crime prevention advice more regularly and effectively”.

It also said it has improved victim protection by improving and increasing the number of domestic abuse risk assessments and by increasing the domestic abuse arrest rate and the number of protection orders issued.

HMICFRS said that while there was still “work to be done” to respond promptly to 101 and 999 calls and deal with incidents within agreed timescales, the force had “made significant progress on issues” previously identified.

On the leadership and management of the force, HMICFRS said the force had reviewed its governance and performance structures after holding “extensive face-to-face consultation with staff”.

He said: “He now has enough oversight of his priorities and understands the challenges he faces.

“It also now has comprehensive force and departmental plans,” it added.

HMICFRS said while “the force still needs to improve its access and understanding of important data” to “better understand the demand it faces”, it was pleased with the improvement in Wiltshire Police’s leadership.

The force will now revert to the standard monitoring process known as “scanning”.