Timing of police report’s release raising eye brows

Questions are being asked as to why a damning report criticising Dyfed-Powys Police was only released the day after the election for the force’s Police and Crime Commissioner. 

The report, released on Friday by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), resulted in an “accelerated cause for concern” notice being issued after finding that the force had documented just 87.6% of reported crime, despite being told to improve two-and-a-half years earlier.

Inspectors estimate 4,400 crimes are not recorded, including around 2,400 violent crimes and domestic abuse. Similar findings were identified in 2018.

The previous day, voters re-elected Plaid Cymru’s Dafydd Llywelyn for a second term, but one Conservative commentator that we spoke to said that voters may well have changed their minds had the report been released before the election.

Last night, a HMICFRS spokesperson told us: “Our standard procedure is to not provide comment on why our reports are published on certain dates, so we will not be commenting on this occasion.”

But it hasn’t stopped those from the parties who lost the vote, particularly the Conservatives in second, from voicing their frustration.

However, the report has made it a frosty first week back in the chair for Mr Llywelyn who yesterday said he was “extremely disappointed and concerned that despite my scrutiny over the years, it has been confirmed by HMICFRS that there are still significant failures, but I am pleased however, that improvements are already being made”.

He also said that “the force has plans in place to improve its crime recording and I am determined we will get this right”.