Key National Priorities for Policing

Key National Priorities for Policing

The Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) (Amendment) Order 2021 was implemented in May 2021. This Order provides that information relating to a police force’s performance against the Government’s published national priorities for policing, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) performance reports on the force, and complaint handling must be published.

A statement on how Lancashire Constabulary is performing in relation to key national priorities for policing (the new National Police Outcomes Framework).

A critical element of Home Secretary’s strategic priority for there to be a relentless focus on cutting crime are the new National Crime and Policing Measures, which set out the Government’s key national priorities on crime. These measures fall under the following headings (data comparisons are made against a 2019 pre-pandemic baseline):

• Reduce murder and other homicides
• Reduce serious violence
• Disrupt drugs supply and county lines
• Reduce neighbourhood crime
• Tackle cyber crime
• Improve satisfaction among victims – with a particular focus on victims of domestic abuse

Lancashire Constabulary have provided the below information for publication on the 15 February 2021:

Reduce murder and other homicides

In the 12 months up to March 2022 Lancashire Constabulary has seen a reduction in the number of murders and homicides from 28 to 16 compared to the 12-month period leading up to March 2020, a reduction of 42.9%.

Reduce serious violence

The data around firearms discharges paints a slightly different picture, depending on the source used and inclusion criteria applied. In the 12 months up to March 2022 Lancashire Constabulary has seen an increase in the number of firearms discharges from 83 to 141 compared to the 12 months leading up to March 2020, an increase of 69.9%. The increases have largely reflected a return to pre-pandemic volumes after a considerable reduction during 2020-21

The Lancashire data includes recorded crimes where the MO specifies the discharge of a firearm at a person causing injury, at a building causing damage, or fired in threat, as per a quarterly return to the Home Office. The criteria for inclusion in this data return are broad, so these figures include discharges of air weapons, pellet guns and incidents where the reporting individual was unable to confirm the weapon used. An alternative indicator is the number of confirmed firearms discharge investigations according to the Force Intelligence Bureau. These figures only include incidents where ballistic material was confirmed as present at the scene by specialist investigators and the actual volume of discharges relating to lethal weapons remains relatively low (at 13 in the 12 months to March 2022).

One useful indicator of the prevalence of knife crime is the number of individuals aged under 25 who present to emergency departments with assault injuries where the weapon was a knife, blade or sharp object. For the 12 months leading up to March 2022, this figure was considerably below that of the same period in 2020 with volumes down 33.8% from 136 to 90.

Disrupt drugs supply and county lines

One measure of the disruption activity targeting drugs supply and county lines offending is the number of disruptions carried out against serious organised crime. In the 12 months leading up to March 2022 there were 545 overall disruptions recorded, with 755 arrests and 34.6kg of class A drugs seized. In the same period leading up to March 2020 there were 691 disruptions recorded, with 582 arrests and 17.1kg of Class A drugs seized.

Reduce neighbourhood crime

The number of recorded Burglary, Robbery, Theft of/from vehicle, Theft from person saw a decline of 27.6% in the 12 months leading up to March 2022 compared to the same period in 2020 from 23,080 to 16,703.

Tackle cybercrime

The number of recorded online/cyber enabled crimes has increased during the 12 months leading to March 2022 to 6,160 from 5847 in the 12 months leading up to March 2020. An increase of 5.4%.

Improve satisfaction among victims

Whilst year-on-year comparisons show a slight decrease, satisfaction levels across all crime types (including DA victims) have actually increased slightly since the turn of the year.  With a particular focus on victims of domestic abuse, satisfaction levels are generally good. In December 2021, those that agreed with the statement ‘I am satisfied with the way I have been treated by the Police’ was 72% compared to 86% of those asked in a Non-Domestic Abuse survey.

Additional information on the key national policing priorities can be found by accessing the links below:

Letter from Crime and Policing Minister to PCCs – National Crime and Policing Measures 

National Crime and Policing Measures