Watchdog identifies ‘serious concerns’ in Nottinghamshire Police inspection

Nottinghamshire Police was ranked ‘inadequate’ in three key policing areas in the HMICFRS report.

Nottinghamshire Police headquarters (Rui Vieira/PA) (PA Archive)

A watchdog has said it has “serious concerns” about Nottinghamshire Police because the force is failing to effectively prevent and solve crime.

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) raised concerns about the force’s performance in a report published on Thursday, saying it must “urgently improve how it manages and investigates crime”.

Roy Wilsher, His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary, wrote that the force “isn’t always achieving acceptable outcomes for victims”, because the number of crimes solved is too low.

The report ranked three of the eight areas of policing “inadequate” in the review following an inspection from the end of 2023 to January.

The force was put into special measures by HMICFRS in March because of the failures found in the inspection.

This report comes after the force was criticised for the way it handled of the deaths of Grace O’Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber, and Ian Coates, who were killed by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham last year.

The families of the victims condemned the force after it was discovered that a graphic message had been written by an officer about the victims.

Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police, Kate Meynell, said the force has taken the report “very seriously” and is working with HMICFRS to make improvements.