Source · HMICFRS

PEEL Assessment 2023-25: Surrey Police

6 December 2023 PEEL Force Inspection 1 causes for concern 9 areas for improvement

PEEL 2023-25 inspection findings for Surrey Police

Applicable forces

Surrey Police

Causes for concern

Concern Open The force needs to improve how it responds to calls from the public The force needs to improve the time it takes to answer emergency calls for service. When a victim contacts the police, it is important that their call is answered quickly. In the year ending 31 March 2023, Surrey Police answered 77 percent of its 999 calls within 10 seconds. This was below the expected standard of answering 90 percent within 10 seconds. Surrey Police

Areas for improvement

AFI The force is too often failing to record sexual offences, particularly sexual assault, and rape crimes The force doesn’t always record rape crimes and N100s (reported incidents of rape, which haven’t been immediately recorded as a confirmed crime of rape). We reviewed 54 reports of rape, with 43 of these correctly recorded. Of the rest, two had been recorded as another crime type, two had been recorded incorrectly as N100s and seven hadn’t been recorded at all. Of the 54 recorded crimes of rape, 34 were recorded within 24 hours. We reviewed six reports where an N100 should have been recorded and only two were. The force should improve its recording practices to make sure that rape crimes and incidents are recorded correctly, and victims receive the appropriate level of service from the police. In our 2018 inspection, we identified that sexual crimes, including crimes of rape, should be recorded without delay and N100 classifications should be used correctly. Surrey Police does not appear to have made sufficient improvements. Surrey Police

AFI The force should make sure its performance data accurately reflects the demand placed on its workforce The force has a clear governance structure. We saw evidence of this in strategic meetings we attended, and we saw it documented in the force management statement. The deputy chief constable chairs the force performance meeting, known as the force service board. Each division also has its own performance meeting, which reports into the force service board. This governance structure of force performance will help the force achieve its priorities and those of the police and crime commissioner. The force recognises it needs to improve its use of data. The force showed us its developing PowerBI application which will help it monitor performance. But we also found many areas of the force using spreadsheets or other documents to monitor performance and demand. This means the force may not have an accurate understanding of the demand placed on staff and officers, or the activities undertaken to manage the demand. The force is making a large investment in its performance reporting and in developing PowerBI. The force should make sure that this investment supports officers and staff to maximise the use of data and that PowerBI provides an accurate understanding of the work and demand felt across the force, enabling an improved approach to performance management. Surrey Police

AFI The force holds question and answer public events on its use of force and stop and search powers The force holds a live public event on its use of force and stop and search powers. This is held twice a year on social media platforms: Instagram and Facebook. The public can ask the force’s senior officers about the use of force and stop and search powers and receive an immediate response. The event allows the force to inform the public about how it monitors and analyses its use of force and of stop and search powers. The force also uses the event to publicise the opportunity for people to join the external use of force and stop and search independent scrutiny panel. The force told us that in the last year, seven people expressed interest in joining the panel, three of whom became panel members. Surrey Police

AFI The force should regularly inform the public how, through analysis and monitoring, it understands and improves the way it uses force and stop and search powers The force holds quarterly joint use of force and stop and search meetings. It keeps minutes of the meetings and there is a matrix for tracking allocated actions. Surrey Police

AFI The force doesn’t consistently achieve appropriate outcomes for victims The force isn’t always achieving acceptable outcomes for victims of crime. It has low numbers of crimes that are solved following investigations. The force needs to understand the issue and work to achieve better outcomes for victims. Surrey Police

AFI Where it is suspected that an adult with care and support needs is being abused or neglected, the force should safeguard them and carry out a thorough investigation to bring perpetrators to justice to prevent further harm The force does not have effective governance and processes for section 42 of the Care Act 2014 adults at risk investigations. This is where it is reasonably suspected that an adult with care and support needs is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect, and, as a result of those needs, cannot protect themselves from this actual, or risk of, abuse and neglect. The force does not have a specialist team to manage section 42 investigations nor an adult multi-agency safeguarding hub. The force’s policy is that all such investigations will be managed by the criminal investigation department as professionalising investigations programme 2 serious and complex investigations. The detective sergeants in the criminal investigation department have had training in section 42 enquiries with adult social care. During our inspection, we referred a case to the force adult safeguarding lead. The case met the section 42 investigation criteria but was being managed by an officer who lacked experience and training in this area of policing. We found significant issues with the quality of the investigation. The crime had initially been correctly allocated to the criminal investigation department, but a detective sergeant had directed that it was suitable for a response officer to investigate. There had been no contact with adult social care. The finding of the case was highlighted to the force. The adult safeguarding lead was quick to respond to our concerns. A detective chief inspector reviewed safeguarding and oversight of the investigation. Surrey Police

AFI The force needs to do more to understand the workforce’s well-being needs and tailor accordingly The force told us that it hasn’t completed a force well-being survey in three years. And it hasn’t completed the Bluelight self-assessment to understand what affects good or poor well-being. The staff associations and staff networks said that they are listened to. But not all staff are involved with these associations and networks. The force needs to do more to understand the drivers of good and poor well-being for different teams, and roles within those teams. For example, the experiences of police officer investigators and police staff investigators are different, although they do similar work. During our fieldwork, we learnt that police staff investigators do not have access to police radios, unlike police officers. Police staff investigators must use mobile phones to ring 999 if they need back-up. This makes police staff investigators more vulnerable which negatively affects well-being. Surrey Police

AFI The force needs to do more to instil confidence within the workforce in reporting discrimination, bullying and racist behaviour During our fieldwork, we learnt that some members of the workforce lack trust in the force to deal effectively with discrimination, bullying and racist behaviour. We also carried out an anonymous PEEL workforce survey, open from 14 February to 24 March 2023, where we learnt that: • In the last 12 months, 11.3 percent of respondents (68 of 600 respondents) had felt bullied or harassed at work in Surrey Police. Of the 68 respondents who felt bullied or harassed, 22 respondents hadn’t reported the bullying and 35 respondents reported the bullying informally. • In the last 12 months, 9.3 percent of respondents (56 of 603 respondents) had felt discriminated against at work in Surrey Police. Of the 56 respondents who felt discriminated against, 36 respondents had not reported the discrimination, 7 respondents had reported it formally and 13 respondents reported it informally. Line managers should be nurturing an environment of trust and confidence. In focus groups, some of the workforce told us that this wasn’t always the case. This was also supported by our PEEL workforce survey, where 17.0 percent of respondents (103 of 605 respondents) disagreed that their line manager is nurturing an environment of trust and confidence. Only when the workforce is confident to report issues can the force tackle any of this behaviour effectively. Surrey Police

AFI The force needs to better understand why officers and staff, and in particular new recruits, wish to leave the force Due to the high number of police staff leavers the force has a gold group running called Operation ENROL. This is led by the director of people services. The force has a leavers’ questionnaire which is sent to officers and police staff leavers. The force capability, capacity and performance board considers a report of themes from the leavers’ questionnaires every six months. The force recently introduced stay interviews to retain new police officer recruits. But it still lacks understanding of why recruits (or other staff) might leave the force. It doesn’t collect sufficient data at those interviews to understand why people leave or what has made them stay. The force told us that as a direct result of the stay interviews some student officers who resigned have been retained by the force as police staff. Surrey Police