The overall finding of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary on the “Effectiveness” of Surrey Police was that the force “requires improvement”, with particular concern about protection of vulnerable victims “especially children who had been subject to abuse”.
But Kevin Hurley, Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey, is optimistic, saying:
“Most of the content of this report reflects the force’s performance 6 to 8 months ago, since then their situation has very much improved in this sensitive area. The changes include better training, better use of systems and a cultural change in how the force operates, brought in by the current leadership.”
The Surrey force was rated “Good” at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, reflecting the PCC’s approach of zero tolerance policing:
PCC Kevin Hurley said:
“The introduction of Joint Enforcement Teams, initially in Reigate and Banstead, and now adopted in Elmbridge, Spelthorne and likely to go county wide in the coming year, has met with enthusiastic approval of local residents. The joint powers of council officers and police officers working closely together increases the visibility of authority on the streets and enables quick and effective tackling of fly tipping, graffiti, littering and other forms of anti-social behaviour, making a positive difference in the boroughs.”
Also “requiring improvement” was the force’s ability to investigate complex crime and process forensic evidence quickly”. However in the last 12 months Surrey Police have gone up 19 places (to 19th position nationally) for robbery, 3 places for violence without injury and 6 places for serious sexual offences, 7 places for rape and 5 places for total notifiable offences.