Police force 'short of detectives and needs to improve'

A police force has been told to improve how it investigated crime after a watchdog found it does not have enough detectives.

The Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (Peel) report found Bedfordshire Police had 245 trained detectives but needed 412 in March 2024.

This led to a high workload where one police constable was investigating 29 crimes at once.

Inspectors also graded the force as adequate in a seven other areas of policing, including how it manages offenders, which in the last assessment was considered outstanding.

Chief Constable Trevor Rodenhurst KPM said progress has been made to improve the areas identified in the report.

In his summary of the report, Roy Wilsher, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said: "Bedfordshire Police has listened to our feedback and has responded quickly to address some of the issues in this report.

"I hope the changes result in improvements that help it meet the public's needs. I will be monitoring its progress closely."

The report was most critical of how Bedfordshire Police investigated crime which it gave a rating of "requires improvement".

A lack of detectives meant crimes were "managed by inexperienced investigators who aren't detectives" and has caused a "real strain on the rest of the workforce", according to the inspector.

Only 23 officers were being trained to become detectives against a shortfall of 167.

The report said: "The force has a plan to increase the number of detectives, but more progress needs to be made to make sure serious and complex investigations are managed effectively."

In the year ending 31 March 2024, the force recorded 42,175 victim-based crimes and only 7.8% were received a "brought to justice outcome".

The report noted this was lower than expected when compared to other police forces in England and Wales.

The force was rated "good" for how it recorded data , which inspectors noted helped increase the use of preventative orders.

However, inspectors added it should improve how it recorded antisocial behaviour, rape crimes and equality data.

Bedfordshire Police was commended in the report for improving the speed it answered both 999 and 101 calls but was told to attend incidents more quickly.

Mr Wilsher wrote: "I was disappointed to see that it was still not giving callers appropriate crime scene preservation advice.

"This will negatively affect investigations. It is essential that the force improves in this area."

Parts of the report did praise the force for how it engaged with young people about knife crime and tackled male violence against women.

The chief constable said: "This report makes clear that Bedfordshire is a well-led force which is on the front foot despite our financial challenges."

He said that since the inspection, the force had "made good progress against the areas identified for improvement".

"We will continue to develop our processes and people to ensure we are giving the best service possible to the public," he added.

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