HMICFRS responses

His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS – previously HMIC) oversees, inspects and reports upon the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces. HMICFRS undertake local inspections as well as national thematic inspections across a range of areas and provide recommendations for improvement. The Inspectorate routinely monitor the performance of police forces and provide information that allows the public to compare the performance of their police force to other areas.

In the PEEL 2023-25 inspection report, HMICFRS graded West Mercia Police across 9 areas of policing and found the force was ‘good’ in 1 area, ‘adequate’ in 4 areas, and ‘requires improvement’ in 4 areas.

This page contains details of all reports published by HMICFRS which relate to West Mercia Police, along with the subsequent response to these reports from the Police and Crime Commissioner from 2021 to present. To view reports and responses prior to 2021 please click here.

Date	HMICFRS Reports	PCC Response
April 2026	The policing response to the investigation of online child sexual abuse and the management of registered sex offenders	View response
October 2025	An inspection report into response to group based CSE: A progress report	View response
September 2025	State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing 2024-25	View response
September 2025	West Mercia Police: Accelerated Cause of Concern	View response
August 2025	PEEL spotlight report- How effectively do the police record crime	View response
September 2025	Joint child protection inspection of identification of initial need and risk in Telford and Wrekin	View response
August 2025	PEEL spotlight report- How effectively do the police record crime	View response
July 2025	Joint case building by Police and Crown Prosecution Service	View response
May 2025	Tranche 2- Police response to public disorder	View response
May 2025	Organised Immigration Crime	View response
May 2025	PEEL 23-25: An inspection into West Mercia Police	View response
March 2025	An inspection report into how effectively the police investigate crime	View response
December 2024	Tranche 1- Police response to public disorder	View response
October 2024	The policing response to antisocial behaviour	View response
September 2024	An inspection report into activism and impartiality in policing	View response
August 2024	An inspection report on progress to introduce a national operating model for rape and other serious sexual offences investigations in early adopter police forces	View response
July 2024	State of Policing: The Annual Assessment of Policing in England and Wales 2023	View response
May 2024	An inspection of the West Midlands regional response to serious and organised crime (SOC)	View response
December 2023	Meeting the needs of victims in the criminal justice system	View response
December 2023	An inspection of the effectiveness of the police and law enforcement bodies’ response to group-based child sexual exploitation in England and Wales	View response
October 2023	West Mercia Police revisit: service to victims cause of concern	View response
August 2023	Race and Policing: A review of the police service’s leadership and governance arrangements for race-related matters	View response
March 2023	Values and culture in fire and rescue services	View response
August 2023	An inspection of the police contribution to the prevention of homicide	View response
July 2023	Management of terrorist offenders in the wake of terrorist attacks	View response
July 2023	An inspection of how effective police forces are in the deployment of firearms	View response
July 2023	Police performance: Getting a grip	View response
April 2023	An inspection of how well the police and NCA tackle the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children	View response
March 2023	An inspection of how well the police tackle serious youth violence	View response
November 2022	A report into the effectiveness of vetting and counter-corruption arrangements in West Mercia Police	View response
November 2022	An inspection of vetting, misconduct, and misogyny in the police service	View response
August 2022	The police response to burglary, robbery and other acquisitive crime – Finding time for crime	View response
July 2022	Twenty years on, is MAPPA achieving its objectives? A joint thematic inspection of Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements	View response
January 2022	Report on an unannounced inspection visit to police custody suites in West Mercia Police	View response
April 2022	PEEL 21/22 Police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy: An inspection of West Mercia Police	View response
May 2022	The Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the criminal justice system – a progress report	View response
February 2022	A Joint Inspection of the Police & CPS Response to rape Phase 2: Post Charge	View response
February 2022	Safe to share? Liberty and Southall Black Sisters’ super-complaint on policing and immigration status. A joint investigation by HMICFRS, College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (first published Dec 2020)	View response
September 2021 March 2021	Police response to violence against women and girls – Final inspection report Interim report: Inspection into how effectively the police engage with women and girls	View response
August 2021	A review of ‘Fraud: Time to choose’	View response
August 2021	Review of policing domestic abuse during the pandemic – 2021	View response
April 2021 April 2021	Policing in the pandemic – The police response to the coronavirus pandemic during 2020 Custody services in a COVID-19 environment	View response
March 2021	Getting the balance right? An inspection of how effectively the police deal with protests	View response
February 2021	Disproportionate use of police powers spotlight on stop search and use of force	View response
February 2021	An inspection of the effectiveness of the Regional Organised Crime Units	View response