Source · HMICFRS
PEEL Assessment 2023-25: Kent Police
17 November 2023
PEEL Force Inspection
5 areas for improvement
PEEL 2023-25 inspection findings for Kent Police
Applicable forces
Areas for improvement
AFI
The force doesn’t always answer emergency calls quickly enough
In the year ending 31 March 2023, Kent Police received 165 calls to 999 per 1,000 population. This was in line with other forces in England and Wales. Call answering time is the time taken for a call to transfer to a force, plus the time taken by that force to answer it. In the year ending 31 March 2023, the force answered 69.4 percent of 999 calls within 10 seconds. This was lower than the standard expected of forces in England and Wales. The expected standard is to answer 90 percent of 999 calls within 10 seconds. Failing to answer calls quickly enough can mean losing both public confidence and investigative opportunities.
Kent Police
AFI
The force provides innovative support to vulnerable victims of crime
An emotional support dog has been used in court by Kent Police for the first time in the UK to help a sexual assault victim give evidence against a couple who abused her as a child. The force is already using these specially trained dogs to help vulnerable people during interviews and when they have been victims of serious crime. The force has 12 volunteer therapy dogs and 3 in training. The force is working with the Crown Prosecution Service and victim support services to standardise the process for requesting a support dog and to raise awareness.
Kent Police
AFI
Kent Police doesn’t consistently achieve appropriate outcomes for victims
The force isn’t always achieving acceptable outcomes for victims of crime. The number of crimes it solves following investigation is unacceptably low. The force needs to better understand the barriers to successfully bringing offenders to justice. It needs to achieve better outcomes for victims.
Kent Police
AFI
The force needs to improve its supervisory processes that make sure that it completes active risk management system assessments at the earliest opportunity
The force has dedicated offender managers who are specially trained in the management of sexual or violent offenders. Each offender has a personalised risk management plan to reduce the risk they pose to the public. As part of the plan, offender managers use active risk management system (ARMS), a structured risk assessment process. It is intended to provide police and probation services with information to help manage convicted sex offenders in the community. We found that the force doesn’t monitor overdue ARM assessments. The force’s mitigation is that it believes that any that are overdue will be found during its supervisory reviews of risk management plans, which will prompt their completion. We didn’t find any overdue ARM assessments during our audit. But the force told us there is a backlog of 253 unsupervised risk management plans with the oldest being over three months old. Without a formal monitoring process, it isn’t possible for the force to reassure itself that there are no delayed ARMs assessments hidden in the supervisory backlog. This poses an inherent risk.
Kent Police
AFI
The force needs to make sure that it has sufficient digital forensic capacity and capability to properly support investigations into online child abuse
Currently, the force’s digital forensic unit can’t meet the demand for examination of digital devices submitted by the paedophile online investigation teams. Examinations often take significantly longer than service level agreements dictate. This can lead to delays in uncovering potential online child abuse images, which may increase the risk to yet-to-be-identified victims who need safeguarding. Delays can also affect the well-being of suspects who are kept longer on bail, often with restrictions on their personal lives. The force acknowledges the challenges it faces. It is restructuring its digital forensic services to improve performance The issue remains on the force risk register pending improvements.
Kent Police