Time taken for Wiltshire Police to charge for crimes doubles in a year

The time it is taking for Wiltshire Police to charge for crimes has doubled in one year, the police watchdog has found.

The force takes 36 days on average to bring charges, compared to 18 days last year.

In response, the force explained it is having to deal with many more complex cases, including stalking and sex offences.

The report says many victims are dissatisfied with police efforts on burglary and violent crime.

Despite all of these failings, Wiltshire's police and crime commissioner Philip Wilkinson said work is being done to improve its responses.

He said: "Many of the areas mentioned in the current performance report are consistent with what has been raised during regular internal and external, performance scrutiny sessions and have been highlighted in the Force's HMIC PEEL inspection report.

"I have seen evidence that work is underway to address these and my priority is to ensure this translates into sustainable performance improvements that can be tangibly seen and felt by our communities."

Wiltshire Police says it has been making improvements in other areas, including in the response time to 999 calls.

The constabulary received a total of 9,190 calls to 999 in November and the time to answer these calls averaged around four seconds - a second shorter than the previous month.

Since September, they have seen a 27% reduction in time to answer 101 calls, with almost all of them being answered within 30 seconds.

But the force has faced criticism throughout the year for many serious failings.

Both Wiltshire Police and Gloucestershire Constabulary were among six forces across the UK to be placed in special measures in June.

At the time, a spokesperson for Wiltshire Police told ITV West Country that the force welcomed the opportunity to improve its operation.

Credit: Jude Holden, Local Democracy Reporter