The HMIC’s national report into the police’s Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR) has given Leicestershire Police a clean bill of health.
The SPR determines national threats that the police must be prepared for, and tackle effectively, such as terrorism, organised crime, public disorder, civil emergencies and cyber threats which can evolve from local to national issues very quickly.
Over recent years, Leicestershire Police has faced a significant challenge in policing large events and public protest. This has included a large scale protest march by the English Defence League in February 2012 and support to The Met during the Olympics, including protection of the British Team at Loughborough University. Last year, mutual aid was sent to Northern Ireland to assist with policing of the G8 conference and the disorder associated with the marching season.
The HMIC report published today (Thursday 10 April) praises Leicestershire Police for maintaining a clear understanding of the location and availability of specially trained officers. The HMIC also tested the Force’s response to an outbreak of public disorder and found that control room staff demonstrated effective processes to respond to the scenario given in the test and there was a good level of take up of an e-learning package for investigators.
Assistant Chief Constable, Phil Kay, said; “We are pleased with the outcome of the HMIC inspection which recognises that we have sufficient numbers of specially trained officers who can work in Police Support Units to deal with local incidents but also to provide support nationally if required. In fact the Police and Crime Plan makes specific reference to our SPR responsibilities to ensure that we are meeting our local and national obligations.
“There is a lot of working going on collaboratively in the East Midlands and we have recently joined colleagues from three other forces to form an East Midlands Operational Support Unit. The people of Leicestershire can continue to have every confidence in us as we proved during the EDL protest and more recently when our officers went to Northern Ireland.”
The East Midlands Operational Support Unit was formed in February 2014 when specialist police teams from Leicestershire merged with those from three other forces to form a region-wide coalition. Specialist officers, such as armed response, roads policing, and dog units joined colleagues from Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire to provide a bigger pool of resources with streamlined management making the approach to tackling major incidents regional with a pool of resources constantly available.
Police and Crime Commissioner, Sir Clive Loader, added: “This report recognises that Leicestershire Police has the resilience to support national and regional demands thereby helping to tackle the threats to national safety and security, something highlighted in my Police and Crime Plan.
“This is reassuring, but those seeking to cause disruption do not respect geography and our collective approach to meeting the Strategic Policing Requirement, illustrated by the East Midlands Operational Support Unit, further increases the overall capacity to tackle threat and large-scale disturbance without detriment to local policing services.”
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Posted on Monday 9th May 2016