Crime chief slams police performance

POLICE and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright has told the South Yorkshire force that it “must do more and do it faster” to improve performance across a number of areas.

Improvements were called for in crime reduction and preparing for policing in austerity so that it can meet future challenges.

Commissioner Wright said that performance in key areas was “unacceptable” and it was failing to meet the objectives set out in his Police and Crime Plan, published earlier this year.

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Although overall crime within the county is down, the general rate of reduction was too slow and lagged behind national figures.

The force still ranks in the top five worst performing forces nationally in terms of overall crime per 1,000 population.

For domestic burglary and vehicle offences, the force ranks as the second and third worst performing force respectively.

When measured against its most similar forces, South Yorkshire has not recorded monthly crime levels below the average for the grouping since January 2011 for burglary of dwellings or at all for vehicle crime over the last five years.

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Commissioner Wright said: “Despite the pressure on budgets of reduced government funding, I have maintained financial support to the force to avoid it having to reduce the number of officers at the same rate other forces have had to do.

“So it is extremely disappointing and frustrating that other forces continue to perform better.

“I have done my best to provide the force with the financial resources it needs to achieve the objectives I have set in my Police and Crime Plan which are based on what the people of South Yorkshire have told me are their main concerns.

“I and the people of South Yorkshire are entitled to expect better. But Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary also believes that the force should be performing better with the resources that it currently has; indeed they believe it should be doing better with less resources.

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“Real transformational change is required to shape the future operating model of the force and that change is not happening fast enough. The force now needs to step up to the mark, do more and do it faster.

“I have made it clear to the Chief Constable that I want to see improvements and I want to see them fast.”