10 March 2000
Audit Commission performance indicators for 1998/99 reveal that although spending per head of population has increased in most forces over the past four years – only the Metropolitan, Surrey, Wiltshire and Warwickshire forces spent less – wide differences in performance remain. On average, £118 is spent per head of population on policing.
Dyfed-Powys police authority, which spends under the national average, has the highest detection rate – 60%. Thames Valley, which spends a similar amount, has the lowest detection rate of 20%.
There are high variations between similar authorities. West Midlands clears up 33% more cases than the Metropolitan Police. Greater Manchester has one of the lowest detection rates, West Yorkshire one of the highest.
The number of crimes detected per police officer varies widely. In Gwent it works out around 22, in Hertfordshire about 8. The average is 12.
There are also discrepancies in the proportion of 999 calls answered within target times: from 98% in Durham, Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Gwent and the West Midlands to 72% in Hertfordshire, a fall of 11% on the previous year.
'The overall message is of improvements, but there is still a wide range in performance,' said Steve Evans, associate director at the commission.
Embarrassingly for a government trying to prove itself tough on crime, the figures show the number of police officers fell by almost 1% in 1998/99. Although there have been increases in constable numbers, senior ranks have suffered the biggest losses.
Overall crime levels are decreasing, although new counting rules employed by the Home Office mean there was an increase in 1998/99.
The Association of Police Authorities accepted the figures, but called on the Home Office to introduce an 'activity-based costing regime' to break down the money needed for each type of crime in each type of authority.
'One of the things that concerns us is that there is not enough evidence to show why there are differences,' said Catherine Crawford, executive director with the APA. 'Police authorities are pressing very hard for this [new funding regime]. The Home Office is very keen as well.'
PFmar2000
