News Item - News - Surrey Police

Surrey Police recognised for high performance and putting public first

Submitted: 11/03/2010 10:44:19

SURREY Police is committed to focusing on the issues that matter most

SURREY Police is committed to focusing on the issues that matter most to local people, rather than on chasing national targets. However, our inclusion in the latest HMIC assessment as one of the best forces in the country is most encouraging and we are pleased that the findings recognise our high performance, especially in public confidence.

Surrey is one of only four forces to receive a “good” grading in all three overall categories of Local Crime and Policing, Protection from Serious Harm and Confidence and Satisfaction, and Surrey remains ‘one of the safest counties in the country.’

Zoe Billingham, Her Majesty’s Inspector (HMI) for the Eastern Region, including Surrey, said: “Surrey is one of the safest counties in the country. Surrey Police is one of the best performing forces in the country. It provides a consistently high standard of policing service to its local communities. Its performance is rated as good in each of the three key areas of policing that HMIC have looked at.”

The HMIC report acknowledges that despite a population density of twice the national average and being more vulnerable than other counties to criminals travelling into Surrey due to its proximity to London and a major motorway network, Surrey still maintains “low levels of burglary, robbery, car crime, violence with injury and criminal damage and equally low levels of more serious crime, such as knife offences.” It also states that “the percentage of people who have confidence that the police and their local council are dealing with anti-social behaviour and crime is the highest nationally.”

The report continues: “The Force has performed excellently in reducing the number of serious collisions on its roads and is also taking an effective joint approach with local councils to tackling the root causes of crime and disorder, like youth anti-social behaviour and dangerous driving.”

Chief Constable Mark Rowley said: “The statement that Surrey Police is one of the highest performing forces across the board is very welcome, as are the ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ grades for many of the categories. Whilst these types of reports are helpful and give us an indication of how we are performing, what is most important is the level of confidence and satisfaction that the public have in us, and it is this that we judge ourselves by.

“Since early 2008 Surrey Police has focused on improving public safety and public confidence. This approach, that we call Surrey Public First, has led to high and rising levels of public confidence, placing Surrey top in the country in terms of national confidence in the latest British Crime Survey. Our focus on serious violence and serious acquisitive crime saw major reductions in 2008/09, 30 per cent year on year for most serious violence and ten per cent year on year for serious acquisitive crime. We are now, after an early increase in 2009/10, set for further reductions.

“We are not complacent, and recognise that our detection rates are an area for improvement although more recent data shows that we are moving in the right direction. The Force has, however, been focusing on disrupting criminal activity at a much earlier stage with, for example, Operation Shield which aims to stop criminals travelling into the county in the first place. In addition, in line with the Policing Pledge, Surrey Police has empowered and encouraged officers to use their discretion and to seek community resolutions, which are not taken into account in the detection rate data.

“The report has indicated that there may be further opportunities for Surrey Police to give ‘greater value for money’ - as we received a “good” grade for providing value for money from the Audit Commission last year - and we have been addressing this with our Operational Policing Review, which will reduce the number of senior leaders, simplify the structure of the Force and replace a number of older and underused police stations with better ways to engage with our public. These bold measures will enable us to recruit up to 200 more police constables, mostly based in our neighbourhoods while reducing the budget gap facing the Force.”

Peter Williams, Chairman of Surrey Police Authority, added: "The Authority is pleased that Surrey Police's high level of performance has been recognised in this Report Card. Our thanks go to all the officers and staff at the Force whose sterling efforts have kept crime down and confidence high in Surrey over the last year.

"However, there is always more that can be done and the Authority is soon to agree a Local Policing Plan which will set testing targets for the Force to achieve over the next three years. With up to 200 additional constables joining Surrey Police over this period, we expect to see significant improvements in service.

"The Report Card highlights the high level of council tax that Surrey residents have to provide for their policing, but it does not qualify this with the historically poor funding Surrey Police receives from the Government, which leaves us no choice but to ask local tax payers to contribute more.

“In 1996, we received £96 per head of population in Government police grant for Surrey. In 2009 we received £93 per person. The average across all forces was £150. Our share of council tax is the only way we can make up for this shortfall, which has resulted in Surrey taxpayers providing nearly half of our funding, against a national average of around 25 per cent.

"We remain extremely concerned about our level of Government funding, and the impact this has on our tax-payers, but we are resolutely determined to protect the excellent service provided to the public by Surrey Police.”

Call 0845 125 2222 for all non-emergency policing matters.

Call 999 if you have a genuine emergency requiring the attendance of the police (eg a crime is in progress or someone is in immediate danger).

Call independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 if you have information about crime and don't want to leave your name.

Ends JAW /26/10

For more information call the Surrey Police Media Relations Office on 01483 632000 or email: media.relations@surrey.pnn.police.uk

For up-to-date news see our website at www.surrey.police.uk

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