Executive Summary and Recommendations
Overview
1. Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary has a strong community focus and provides an efficient, locally based, policing service. HMIC found strong commitment to quality of service to the public and partnership working. The inspection team spoke with representatives of the council, partnership agencies, community groups, voluntary bodies and other stakeholders and found consistent positive comment regarding their support for the Chief Constable, senior management and force in general.
2. The performance of the force in terms of national indicators is generally very positive when compared with the Scottish average and the force's own historical performance. In key areas such as housebreaking and violent crime the level of crime is falling, while in other areas such as detecting drug dealing offences, the rise reflects the positive work of the force to identify and address this crime type.
3. The force's commitment to continuous improvement is reflected in the number of areas identified for review at the next inspection. HMIC found that although it does perform strongly, the force was addressing a number of areas for potential improvement at the time of inspection.
Key Issues
4. The purpose of HMIC's inspections is to add value and support continuous improvement. To that end, 12 recommendations have been made and 12 instances of good practice have been identified that HMIC would encourage other forces to consider.
5. Previously, the linkage between the force's strategic and financial planning has not been as clear as would be desirable - an issue that had been identified by the force, HMIC and Audit Scotland. At the time of this inspection, the force was about to prepare its next strategic plan, with the intention of drawing together several strands, including finance, within the process. The new strategic plan will be reviewed at the next inspection.
6. Several recommendations directed at the force reflect the growing importance of Best Value in the public sector. These include increasing the involvement of council members in Best Value and consulting with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland ( ACPOS) to develop an ongoing Best Value regime.
7. HMIC has recommended that the force review its approach to internal monitoring, audit and inspection, and has identified four specific areas that it would expect to be addressed within that work. While the force does have several mechanisms in place already, there would be benefit in adopting a more systematic approach.
8. While overall performance is good, the force is aware that its performance in addressing road collisions is, like other areas with rural road networks, not achieving the desired reduction in those resulting in serious or fatal injury. HMIC's recommendation in this area encourages the force to work with its partners to address this matter in a structured way.
Conclusion
9. Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary provides a good service to the people of Dumfries and Galloway, while also making significant contributions to national policing matters.
List of Recommendations
Recommendation 1 - To ensure greater resilience and distribution of tasks at executive level, HMIC recommends that the force examine the reporting lines for the operational and functional groups, with a view to reducing the demand on a single post.
(paragraph 1.8)
Recommendation 2a - HMIC recommends that to ensure confidence in the force's processes for delivering and monitoring its strategy, particularly those that are the subject of public performance reporting, a review be undertaken to clarify the ownership and frequency of monitoring, audit and inspection within the force.
(paragraph 2.14)
Recommendation 2b - The force should develop a structured approach to auditing force IT systems, which considers system support and maintenance arrangements, physical and logical access controls, input/processing/output controls, existence/operation/review of audit trail, back-up and recovery arrangements, business continuity and disaster recovery arrangements.
(paragraph 4.43)
Recommendation 2c - HMIC recommends that the force review its procedures for allocating incidents to resources and the process whereby attendance is monitored.
(paragraph 5.10)
Recommendation 2d - HMIC recommends that to ensure compliance with accepted national standards and to retain public confidence in the force's performance figures in respect of crime, an appropriate Force Crime Registrar and Deputy be identified. It is anticipated that this would be combined with a programme to increase understanding of the SCRS throughout the force. HMIC accepts that due to the low levels of crime in the area, these roles are unlikely to be full-time commitments for the staff members identified.
(paragraph 5.24)
Recommendation 2e - HMIC recommends that the force review its processes for documenting, storing and auditing productions.
(paragraph 5.131)
Recommendation 3 - HMIC recommends that the force make the necessary changes to bring it fully into line with the Working Time legislation.
(paragraph 3.39)
Recommendation 4 - HMIC recommends that the force review the training and deployment processes for Special Constables, to ensure that they meet the needs of both the force and Special Constables themselves. This review should also examine the provision of storage accommodation for Special Constables' personal protective equipment, in terms of the Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.
(paragraph 3.45)
Recommendation 5 - HMIC recommends that the force introduce a comprehensive officer safety policy.
(paragraph 3.67)
Recommendation 6 - The force should encourage the active involvement of elected members in the Best Value agenda, and should ensure that its senior officers play an integral part in planning and monitoring Best Value.
(paragraph 4.33)
Recommendation 7 - A framework should be introduced, with reference to the ACPOS Best Practice Guide being developed by the Business Benefits Unit, for identifying and prioritising the service areas to be reviewed. Progress against this programme should be regularly monitored and reported to the Policy Group and members. In addition, a system of performance measurement and monitoring should be established to allow both senior officers and members of the Police Fire and Rescue Committee to confirm that actions agreed following review are fully implemented and are effective in meeting identified objectives and targets.
(paragraph 4.35)
Recommendation 8 - Given the current financial pressures faced by the force and rising targets for efficiency savings, it is important that a formal savings plan is approved to ensure that future efficiency targets are achieved.
(paragraph 4.36)
Recommendation 9 - HMIC recommends that to enhance officer safety, the force review its ability to pass safety-related intelligence to officers prior to arriving at incidents.
(paragraph 4.39)
Recommendation 10 - HMIC recommends that the force develop an overarching property strategy which brings together the disparate elements of work being undertaken and planned, prioritises them, clearly states the financial planning and funding arrangements, and considers exercising prudent borrowing powers.
(paragraph 4.52)
Recommendation 11 - HMIC recommends that the force enhance processes to allow road traffic collision information to be analysed regularly; the results should be disseminated within the force and amongst partners, and should inform how the Mobile Support group and Safety Camera Partnership resources are deployed.
(paragraph 5.107)
Recommendation 12 - HMIC recommends that improved CCTV coverage in custody areas be extended to include the point of entry to each custody suite, and that an appropriate level of lighting be put in place in these sometimes challenging working environments. Such improvements would not only facilitate prisoner handling, but would also provide more complete video coverage of the time an individual is in custody.
(paragraph 5.138)