Here’s when Sussex Police is due to be inspected

Sussex Police is preparing to undergo an inspection of its effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy next year.
Sussex PoliceSussex Police
Sussex Police

Known as a PEEL assessment, the inspection is due to be carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services in November 2022.

The Force was last inspected in 2018/19, when it was rated ‘good’ for its work in reducing crime and keeping people safe, ‘requires improvement’ for its efficiency and sustainability, and ‘good’ for how it treated the public and its workforce.

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During a performance and accountability meeting with Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne on Tuesday (November 16), Chief Constable Jo Shiner laid out how the force was preparing for the inspection.

Officers have developed a Force Management Statement, which looks in detail at every area of business across the force.

They have also been looking at the findings of other inspections carried out throughout the year – not necessarily involving Sussex Police – to see if anything had been picked up which the force could improve.

Causes for concern and areas for improvement are being looked into and routine data collection is carried out.

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The latter is an area in which Sussex Police has performed particularly well, scooping a national award for its proactive use of millions of pieces of data to provide information useful to officers and staff.

Ms Shiner said: “I don’t think that we should under-estimate the way in which that impacts on the delivery of our services to communities and to the victims.

“It’s very much about prevention and us understanding, not just about where crimes happen, but also about where incidents happen and about where offenders may be living or where there is a pattern of repeat victims and we can see individuals who are then targeting those.”

The data can also be used to check the workloads of officers and staff and keep track of those who have been attending high trauma incidents.

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As for the inspection, she said: “We absolutely welcome any kind of assessment or inspection, particularly that which is independent so has that objectivity lens to it.

“The reason we welcome that is because if there can be any observations on how we can improve the service to victims in our communities, then of course we want to hear them so we can take action.

“It’s really important to us to be able to do that.”