Accountability Board - June 2025

VAWG Crime Volumes

The Commissioner asked about the increase in VAWG crime volumes and the significant increase in the category of ‘VAWG Child’ up by 17.7%.

The data provided by the Constabulary is measured from 2019/20 due to this being the baseline figure used in national data related to VAWG.

Further work is being done to understand if the ‘VAWG Child’ category constitutes a growing concern, increased confidence in reporting, or something else.

Rise in ‘Other Sexual Offences’ category

It was identified that there was a sharp rise in the twelve month trend (shown below) and the Commissioner asked what the key contributors were to this rise and what preventative activity was taking place.

The Constabulary indicated that this was due to changes in the way crime was recorded with this category being a collection of different offences added together, as opposed to any specific spike.

The Commissioner asked about the demonstrable rise in the number of ASB incidents dealt with via telephone, and decrease in the number of standard deployments. He asked if this was a shift in the Constabulary’s approach or the way they are recording.

The Constabulary indicated that phone demand could be related to availability of contact, for e.g requiring multiple calls.

ASB Incidents

The Commissioner asked about the data on robbery and statistics suggesting an increase of 23.6% over the last 12 months. He asked about the crime types that sit below the overarching ‘robbery’ crime type.

The Constabulary said that the increase relates to how crime is recorded.

On serious and organised crime disruptions, the Commissioner asked on the partnership approach to these disruptions with partner agencies, and recognised the growth in overall disruptions

Serious Organised Crime Disruptions

Victim Satisfaction

The National Measures highlighted a drop to 58% for Victim Satisfaction in the year to March 2025. The Commissioner queried this and asked what contributed to this decline.

The Constabulary response indicated that this was due to a change in the way this data was collected. The way this has been collected is now on a purely online basis which tends to, as a surveying tool, provide lower results than over the phone or in-person. This will now be used as the new baseline and the Commissioner will hold to account accordingly on this basis.

Force Control Room

Performance in the Force Control Room was commended with 999 service level consistently very good and recent data published nationally on 101 by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) showing that the Constabulary is a top performing force on average for answering non-emergency calls.