Sussex Police crime investigations require improvement, report says
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has published its inspection of Sussex Police.
The Police Efficiency, Effectiveness and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection programme is an assessment of the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of all 43 police forces in England and Wales.
The inspection report highlights many areas of good performance seen in the Sussex Police, including innovative and promising practice, as well as areas where improvements should be made.
Sussex Police was rated either 'good' or 'adequate' across most categories, but received a lower grade of 'requires improvement' for its approach to investigating crime.
CC Shiner said: 'We are absolutely committed to delivering an outstanding service to the people of Sussex, as they rightly expect.
'We recognise at the time of the report, our charge rate for investigations was below the national average and there was a significant number of live and outstanding investigations, particularly in our Safeguarding Investigations Unit, which was impacting our ability to deliver an effective and efficient service.
'Since then, we have made a start on our long-term plan to improve investigations, with large-scale changes underway to move officers into more specialist teams for adult and child protection, and high-risk domestic and sexual offence investigations.
'Over the last two years, we have increased the number of victim-based crimes with a successful outcome by 51 per cent. We have also seen our charge rate for victim-based crime increase to 6.9% in the year ending June 2025, compared to the 5.3% referenced in the inspection report from the year ending June 2024.
'We have implemented multiple changes in the year since the inspection took place and while I know there is more to do, I am confident these steps are moving us firmly in the right direction.'
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