Vital improvements have been made to meet Derbyshire Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster's Police and Crime plan key priority to deliver strong local policing across the county.
The Commissioner has reviewed Derbyshire Constabulary's progress so far in providing a better policing service to the public to prevent neighbourhood crime, engage with residents and safeguard victims.
The Commissioner prioritised the delivery of strong local policing in her Police and Crime Plan and made it clear to the Chief Constable that she expects consistently high standards in the prevention and detection of neighbourhood crime, the provision of visible policing and the protection of the public.
The meeting heard how Derbyshire Constabulary is ahead of the curve in its response to victims of domestic burglary, with the force committing to attend every home burglary well before the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) made a national commitment on the issue.
The assurance was made in support of the Commissioner's Police and Crime Plan pledge to clampdown on Neighbourhood Crime. The force has been undertaking daily monitoring of their target and plan to act swiftly if gaps emerge.
The meeting also revealed how the force met its three-year recruitment target last month (October), recruiting 283 extra police officers as part of the national Uplift Programme before the deadline of April 2023.
Police and Crime Commissioner Angelique Foster said: "I know that people want a police force that is visible, proactive and ready to act when it is needed. This is what strong local policing is all about.
"While it is encouraging to see that the force has made improvements since I published my expectations in my Police and Crime Plan, I am aware that there is still much more for the Constabulary to do. The recent report from HMICFRS (His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services), corroborated my views, making it clear that it too expects to see improvements in key areas.
"Having discussed this and heard the Chief Constable's updates at the meeting, I have confidence that she will deliver. I will scrutinise the progress being made closely and on a regular basis.
"With regards to burglaries, I made clear very early on my expectation that the support victims receive must be improved. The Chief Constable has made this an operational priority and realigned staff, invested in new technology, vehicles and training and improved overall response to victims from the first call.
"There is a clear commitment from the force to attend every home burglary, and there are further plans to increase investigative capacity for burglary and robbery offences. I will continue to monitor progress closely and hold the Chief Constable to account for further improvements in standards. This year, we have seen a significant reduction in overall numbers of burglaries and we want to make sure those numbers keep going down.
"Our Neighbourhood Policing Charter is now fully embedded across the force, and I will continue my scrutiny to ensure that officers understand their responsibilities. This includes updating our communities with local plans, promoting two-way communication and building trust and confidence in their efforts to support victims, bring offenders to justice and resolve the issues that matter to residents.
"The force has also confirmed that it is well on its way to meeting the target for increasing Taser provision with 56 of 100 officers having gone through training already. This is in addition to the 502 already certified.
"There has also been significant improvement to crime reporting integrity with a 92.5% compliance rate now compared to 67% in 2018, which will help improve confidence in reporting crime, another key priority in my Police and Crime Plan."
The force has also restructured fortnightly policing tasking meetings to discuss localised priorities and neighbourhood issues including drug dealing and anti-social behaviour at the start of the meeting to encourage partners to prioritise a multi-agency approach.
In other developments, the force has improved its call handling response. In the six months to October 2022, the force ranked 12th out of 43 forces for 999 waiting time. Additionally, since the introduction of a triage service in December 2021 to enable non-emergency 101 calls to be assessed and processed more quickly, the percentage of abandoned calls has decreased significantly.
Derbyshire Constabulary is also investing in 60 new vehicles to boost the local response to crime and support the work of the Roads Policing Unit and Rural Crime Team.
Among the new vehicles will be those configured for prisoner transport as well as those providing specialist Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) capability. An additional vehicle for the drone team is being delivered while the force is also introducing new technology across the fleet early next year to ensure vehicles are used in the right places to maximise value to the public.