Report finds "serious concerns" over Lincolnshire Police's performance

A new report by the police inspectorate has found “serious concerns” about the performance of Lincolnshire Police.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded the force’s performance across eight areas of policing. It found that Lincolnshire Police ‘requires improvement’ in four areas and is ‘inadequate’ in four others.

Particular areas of concern relate to how it investigates crime and how quickly it responds to incidents.

Lincolnshire Police’s chief constable has responded to the report by acknowledging the areas of concern – while pointing out the force’s “chronic underfunding”.

PEEL stands for police effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy – and is HMICFRS’s assessment of police forces in England and Wales.

The inspection, carried out between March 2024 and November 2024, has resulted in the organisation being placed in the enhanced monitoring phase, Engage, in December last year. Since then, the force has developed improvement plans and HMICFRS is working closely with Lincolnshire Police to focus on improvement.

An excerpt from the report reads: “HMICFRS found the standards of investigations had deteriorated since its previous inspection. The force needs to improve how it allocates, supervises and carries out investigations to make sure victims are getting the support they need. They also raised concerns that the force isn’t effectively managing registered sexual offenders and needs to have a greater understanding of the risk and make sure there is appropriate capacity and capability.”

His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Roy Wilsher said: “I have serious concerns about Lincolnshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service, particularly on how well the force investigates crime and how quickly it attends incidents following calls to service.

“Since our previous inspection, investigation standards have deteriorated. The force needs to improve its management of investigations to achieve better outcomes for victims of crime.

“Lincolnshire Police receives one of the lowest levels of central funding in relation to its population in comparison to other forces in England and Wales. This has created a growing gap between the force income and expenditure, which has caused a budget deficit. But improvements to processes can still be made despite the budget pressures.

Responding to the report, Lincolnshire Police’s Chief Constable Paul Gibson said: “I fully accept the majority of the findings within the report, and since coming back as Chief Constable, I have been working hard to improve the issues raised, which are starting to show considerable progress. I am absolutely confident that with the correct resourcing, Lincolnshire Police will continue to enhance the service we deliver to our communities. It is also worthy of note that the Inspectorate has recognised that demand outstrips our resource, which goes to the heart of the perennial funding challenges we face, while also identifying several areas of good work.

“In response to this inspection, we have introduced a bespoke programme of work to address some of the areas of policing that that have been highlighted in the report, with staff dedicated to these service improvements, and considerable progress already being made to transform the force. This has been implemented while simultaneously continuing to perform well in numerous areas that matter most to the public.

“In addition, last month we were offered and have accepted a £5.7m financial support package from the Home Office who have accepted that we are an outlier in how we are funded.

"Along with PCC Marc Jones, we have had regular and meaningful engagement with the Policing Minister, the Home Office, local MPs and other stakeholders for some months now, for which we are grateful, and this funding means we will not have to significantly reduce our number of police officers or police staff for at least six months. Part of this package is specifically aimed at maintaining our neighbourhood policing services and our PCSO numbers and it remains our ambition to secure a long-term, sustainable agreement that addresses our chronic underfunding. The Home Office have given assurances they will continue to work with us to collectively seek a solution.

“We are still protecting the public effectively in so many areas. Nationally, we charge and summons to court more people as a proportion than many other police forces across the country; we achieve the most rape convictions of all forces, which speaks volumes about our investigations and file quality; we are first nationally for the speed with which we answer our 999 calls; we also come top for finalising a case at a Magistrates’ first hearing, which means swifter outcomes for victims and their loved ones; are second in the country for both our hate crime and domestic abuse conviction rates; and 4th nationally for our 101 wait times. We prioritise our actions to detain wanted suspects based on threat, risk, and harm, and we have been recognised by the inspection team for doing a good job of investigating the most serious crimes.

"Our local teams continue to problem solve and engage with communities to tackle neighbourhood issues, which was recognised positively in this assessment, particularly in respect of tackling antisocial behaviour and rural crime effectively, and we focus on the crimes that will cause the most harm to people in Lincolnshire.

“Whilst improvements have and will continue to be made rapidly, there is a limit within the finance and resources we are allocated. Without any further financial assistance, I will have to start to reduce the numbers of officers and staff in the organisation by around 20% from October this year. My ambition for the force remains strong, and my confidence to deliver is high, but a fair level of resourcing, more equitable to most other forces, will be necessary to reach the standards of public service that I know we are capable of, and the public rightly expect.”