Chief constable says Bedfordshire Police doing a "pretty good job" with the resources it has

Bedfordshire’s chief constable said comparing the last two inspections into his force is not comparing “apples with apples”.

And he added that the force is doing a “pretty good job” with the resources it has.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) latest report summary assessed Bedfordshire Police as “good” in recording crime, “adequate” across seven areas and “requiring improvement” in investigating crime.

The force was previously assessed as “outstanding” at managing offenders, “good” across four areas, “adequate” in protecting vulnerable people” and “requires improvement” for investigating crime and responding to the public.

Chief constable Trevor Rodenhurst said: “You have a new head of the HMICFRS from when the last time we were inspected, and their focus and methodology is different.

“And what’s included in each section is different.

“[Comparing the two] gives the wrong impression because it’s not apples with apples,” he said.

The chief gave managing offenders as an example where it “appeared” that the force had been reported lower than before.

“Under the last inspection, they looked at the dedicated teams that are really focused on the high risk offenders, so the dedicated offender management unit and our internet child abuse investigation team,” he said.

“Two high-performing teams, and they’re still high-performing and the commentary says they are.”

The inspection assess the numbers across the whole force and said they were higher than they should be.

“Rightly, they pointed out and said there could be risk there,” the chief said.

“We’ve addressed our risk and we’ve started reducing that down.”

The chief constable said there had been 29 inspections during the current round, and only two forces had no areas that required improvement.

“And only five have one, and we’re one of those,” he said.

“So when I take the context of we’re one of the five with one area to improve, and Bedfordshire is not a quiet place, and the commentary says we face similar demand to many other forces, but actually the funding is less, I would say we’re doing a pretty good job with the resources we’ve got.”