📢 We are outstanding at tackling organised crime and achieving value for money for the people of County Durham and Darlington, inspectors have found. In one of the first reports to be published since the Covid-19 pandemic, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has today praised Durham for its innovative work taking on Organised Criminal Groups (OCGs), awarding it an Outstanding rating for its work at managing and disrupting serious and organised crime across the force area. The report also judged the force to be Outstanding at efficiency and achieving value for money, highlighting how it had “a firm grip on costs” and that its plans were “both ambitious and sustainable.” Two forces – Durham and Gloucestershire – are the first to be assessed under the new-style PEEL inspections, which no longer give individual forces an overall grading, but instead assess 10 different strands of police work. Over the last year, officers from Durham’s OCG disruption team have broken up or seriously disrupted 20 gangs – seizing drugs, weapons and cash from criminals and protecting victims from their activities. In particular, the force was praised for its work to prevent vulnerable people from falling into the hands of criminal gangs where they can be exploited by others. The HMICFRS report found: “The force has the right systems, processes, people, and skills to tackle serious and organised crime.” In particular, inspectors praised Durham’s use of specialist investigators including digital intelligence officers, surveillance teams, forensics and financial investigators to put the squeeze on organised crime from all directions, including confiscating cash to disrupt the OCGs. Inspectors praised Durham’s use of emergency legislation during the pandemic to tackle and disrupt OCGs and the work done with neighbours and partners to dismantle criminal gangs. The report found: “The force has the capacity and capability to meet the demand it faces in terms of serious and organised crime. The leadership and culture is evident throughout the organisation.” And, after seeing the disruption team in action, inspectors concluded: “The passion to reduce the impact of this type of criminality is exceptional.” The report also found Durham manages current demand well, ensuring that “it tackles what is important locally and nationally”, highlighting money-saving partnerships such as joint premises with the fire service and shared IT functions with neighbours Cumbria Police, when discussing the force’s ability to deliver good value for money. Additionally, inspectors also highlighted a number of areas of innovative practice, including management of registered sex offenders, the digital leadership programme which develops learning on digital topics among officers of all ranks and the force’s response to cyber threats. They also praised the force’s commitment to fairness and inclusion, paying particular attention to the work of BUS Panel (BAME arrest, Use of Force and Stop and Search) – an independent panel to scrutinise the arrests and stop and searches of people from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, which identifies any training or development gaps or problems. 🗣 Chief Constable Jo Farrell said: “This has been one of the most challenging years in recent memory and to have achieved these results while policing the pandemic demonstrates the outstanding dedication and commitment of our officers and staff to protect the communities we serve. “We are constantly trying to deliver a better service and we will make improvements whenever and wherever we can. But, despite the unique difficulties of last year, the inspection shows we are tackling the things that matter most to our communities and are delivering on our values to ensure we provide the very best value for money for the people of County Durham and Darlington.” Read more ➡️ https://bit.ly/3Clgb1N