Gwent Police 'not answering calls and attending emergencies quickly', report says

  • Wendy Williams from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary has spoken about the reasons why the report found issues

Gwent Police needs to improve the speed of answering, attending calls and identifying vulnerable callers, the police inspectorate has said.

A new report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary looked at Gwent Police’s performance across eight areas of policing.

It described the force as "inadequate" at answering emergency calls "quickly" and attending incidents.

The force said it recognises that there is "more to do" to improve the speed of their call answering and "deployment management".

The report added that "too often" the force has failed to give "appropriate crime prevention or safety advice to callers" waiting for officers to arrive.

However, the force was praised for "some promising early intervention initiatives with young people", and its "investment in novel approaches to help people feel safer in public places".

Wendy Williams, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, told ITV News:

"There were delays because the force wasn't complying with its own time scales, so, because it wasn't properly assessing risk, that had a bearing on the nature and the speed of the response.

  • "Victims aren't being kept informed of delays to responses"

Ms Williams added: "That has also a knock on effect in terms of preserving evidence, because it means victims aren't being kept informed of delays to responses.

"If they're not being advised as to how best to preserve evidence, that can cause them to lose faith and also it can effect confidence in policing.

"They can really disengage from the process."

Pam Kelly, Gwent Police's Chief Constable, said she is "pleased" with the report's praise and said an "improvement programme" is underway.

The force's Chief Constable, Pam Kelly, said: “Gwent Police has one of the highest new joiner rates in the country; with this young and developing workforce, we’re determined to ensure that we provide the best possible service.

  • "We fully acknowledge our areas for improvement"

Ms Kelly added that the inspection also found that the force "works well to protect children and adults who are at risk of criminal exploitation and modern-day slavery.

“In the current climate of scrutiny over officer standards of behaviour, we’re heartened that inspectors acknowledged active leadership to promote strong ethical standards and acceptable behaviour, including the importance of reporting misconduct within the force.

“We acknowledge that there are matters that we need to improve upon, and coupled with investment in new technology in our purpose built control room, our improvement programme is already underway.”