Lincolnshire Police '˜punching well above its weight'

Lincolnshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable has said that the force is '˜punching well above its weight' after securing a '˜good' grading in '¨an official evaluation.

Last Thursday, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) gave the force a ‘good’ rating for effectiveness - meaning that the force now has a ‘good’ rating across the three pillars of inspection: efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy.

This is a particularly significant improvement as the force was told it ‘required improvement’ in efficiency and effectiveness in 2015.

Assistant Chief Constable, Paul Gibson, said he was ‘very proud’ of the latest report, adding that it is a testament to the ‘continuing dedication and application to task of every member of 
the organisation’.

Mr Gibson said: “It is very satisfying to see our long-standing plans coming to fruition to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our services.”

The report published last week states that ‘Lincolnshire is good at keeping people safe and reducing crime’, 
adding that crime reduced by 19.7 per cent in Lincolnshire compared with 0.5 per cent nationally between June 2011 and June 2016.

In the last year, there was an increase of 1.3 per cent in Lincolnshire compared with a national increase 
of 7.8 per cent.

The HMIC report deems Lincolnshire Police to be ‘good’ at preventing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour, keeping people safe, investigating crime and managing offenders, tackling serious and organised crime, and leadership arrangements.

HMIC found that the force still required improvement in protecting vulnerable people and supporting victims - but Mr Gibson is ‘confident of improvement’ in those areas.

Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said he was ‘delighted’ the report recognised the force’s ‘fantastic strides forward’.