Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary has a strong community focus and provides an efficient, locally based, policing service. HMIC found strong ommitment 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.
Number | 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. |
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. |
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. |
2c | HMIC recommends that the force review its procedures for allocating incidents to resources and the process whereby attendance is monitored. |
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. |
2e | HMIC recommends that the force review its processes for documenting, storing and auditing productions. |
3 | HMIC recommends that the force make the necessary changes to bring it fully into line with the Working Time legislation. |
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. |
5 | HMIC recommends that the force introduce a comprehensive officer safety policy. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |