Scrutiny of service failures
Chief Constable Paul Gibson has welcomed his force being placed in an enhanced level of monitoring by the police inspectorate saying it proved Lincolnshire had been underfunded.
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said the force being placed in the ‘Engage’ process was in response to significant service failures, which included attendance times and its management of sex offenders.
The Chief Constable said: “Firstly, I welcome the opportunity to work with HMICFRS and other key stakeholders in policing to develop solutions to the structural underfunding that Lincolnshire Police has endured for many years.
“As reported earlier this week, the Commissioner and I have already written to the influential organisations in the world of policing, including the HMICFRS, to ask for systemic support to, once and for all, resolve the exceptionally low funding base we receive from government.
“Moving into the Engage process facilitates this and places a collective responsibility on the system of policing to work with us, and to enable traction to improve services for Lincolnshire communities.
“When recently starting as Chief Constable, I recognised that the force needed investment and transformation. I welcome this independent scrutiny. There are several areas that I don’t accept are fully accurate, but there are others where I agree that, frankly, we need to do better. We are already working on changes at pace.
“The HMICFRS inspection is an ongoing process and a number of these findings have historically been shared with the force and we have made good progress in addressing these. I am confident that the areas of improvement that are within our control will be delivered.
“However, what we cannot ignore is that the HMICFRS inspects performance against a common set of standards that apply to all forces. The inspection needs to be seen in the context of being the lowest funded force in the country. The PCC (Police and Crime Commissioner) and I have been very vocal on this subject, and the stark fact remains, policing one of the largest geographical counties on a shoestring cannot deliver the gold standard services that HMICFRS and the public rightly expects.
“The letter is clear regarding the low funding base for Lincolnshire Police and many of the themes that run through the findings have a clear root cause: a lack of capacity, resource, and the need to rely on overtime to allow services to be delivered.”
Other areas raised by the Inspectorate were: ensuring victims get the support they need; an improved understanding of demand and having adequate strategic plans in place.
Mr Gibson added officers had one of the highest workloads in the country: “The choice is clear - fair funding and resourcing urgently or an even greater decline in service. That is the simple choice and the public of Lincolnshire deserve better.”
See Police Chiefs call for fairer funding in the News section of Hello Lincoln.