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His Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services

HMICFRS

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently assesses and reports, in the public interest, on the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire & rescue services.

“Promoting improvements in policing and fire & rescue services to make everyone safer”

HMICFRS ask the questions that they believe the public wish to have answered, and publish their findings, conclusions and recommendations. HMICFRS use their expertise to interpret the evidence and make recommendations for improvement.

Police and crime commissioners are required to publish their comments on each HMICFRS report within 56 days of its publication, and must include an explanation of the steps to be taken in response to each HMICFRS recommendation or an explanation of why no action has been or is to be taken in that respect.

HMICFRS Powers

HMICFRS provide authoritative information to allow the public to compare the performance of their police force and fire & rescue service against others. HMICFRS also routinely monitor the performance of police forces in England and Wales.

HMICFRS inspects across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

HMICFRS also inspect law enforcement arrangements in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, on invitation from the relevant government, as well as non-territorial services, specialist agencies and international police forces.

Read the latest HMICFRS inspection of Sussex Police and the Met Police.

History of HMICFRS

For over 160 years, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) independently inspected and reported on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces.

On the 150th anniversary of HMIC in July 2006, a book The History of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, The First 150 Years was produced.

In the summer of 2017 HMIC took on the inspections of England’s fire and rescue services, inspecting and reporting on their efficiency, effectiveness and people.

To reflect this new role, HMIC changed their name to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

Public Interest

HMICFRS Police Inspections :-

HMICFRS’s annual inspection programme and framework for police forces in England and Wales is subject to the approval of the Home Secretary under the Police Act 1996.

The Home Secretary may also require HMICFRS to carry out further inspections of police forces, beyond the terms of the annual inspection programme. Local policing bodies may commission HMICFRS to do inspections in their force areas, although HMICFRS is not required to accept any such commission.

In devising its policing inspection programme and framework for the Home Secretary’s approval, HMICFRS considers the risks to the public, service quality, public concerns, the operating environment, the effect which inspection may have on a force, and the benefits to the public of improvements which may follow inspection.

HMICFRS may also carry out inspections of police forces on its own initiative if it considers that the performance or circumstances of a force merit it.

HMICFRS Public Interest

HMICFRS Fire & rescue service inspections :-

The Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 provides that HMICFRS will inspect and report on the efficiency and effectiveness of fire & rescue authorities in England.

HMICFRS’s inspection programme and framework for fire and rescue authorities in England is subject to the approval of the Home Secretary.

The Home Secretary may also require HMICFRS to carry out further inspections of any or all fire and rescue services in England.

In its inspections, HMICFRS focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of each English fire and rescue authority and how well it looks after its people. HMICFRS may also on its own initiative carry out an inspection not in its inspection programme and framework if it considers that the performance or circumstances of the fire and rescue authority merit it.

HMICFRS Public Interest

HMICFRS Powers

HMICFRS is an inspectorate, not a regulator. Inspectorates have powers to secure information, but no powers to give orders for change. Recommendations are not orders.

Regulators, on the other hand, have powers of intervention, direction and enforcement.

It is for chief constables (whose operational independence is a cornerstone of British policing), police and crime commissioners (with powers to set local priorities and budgets) and, in extreme cases, the Home Secretary (who has ultimate democratic responsibility for policing) to take action as a result of HMICFRS’s recommendations. The same applies to the fire & rescue service itself, and the fire & rescue authorities.

HMICFRS Powers

Recent HMICFRS Publications

Check out our articles on Sussex Police, What is Policing by Consent, Two Tier Policing, Wasting Police Time and the highly questionable Sussex Family Justice Board.

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His Majestys Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services was last updated on the 15th January 2025

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