Inspectors have singled out North Wales Police for praise for the pioneering way it deals with crimes against the elderly.

A major report by Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services said they were “impressed” by the new system introduced by the force.

They urged other constabularies in England and Wales to copy the methods introduced in North Wales to ensure investigators had the right skills and training to suit the particular circumstances of each case.

North Wales Police was one of six forces put under the microscope by the inspectors.

The findings were welcomed by the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Arfon Jones, who said the ground-breaking approach chimed with the priorities of his Police and Crime Plan.

North Wales Police Chief Constable Carl Foulkes also welcomed the fact that the report recognises that the police have adopted new and innovative practice.

The report said: “In most of the forces we visited, the crime allocation policies weren’t sophisticated enough to always produce the right decisions for the particular circumstances of the case. North Wales Police has introduced a crime allocation triage process based on a simple-to-use scoring matrix.

“This system, while still relatively new, has the potential to improve crime investigation.”

Chief Constable Foulkes added: “Within North Wales Police we recognised the need to allocate crime in a different way, to ensure crimes are investigated by the right officer with the right skill set.

“Allocation of a crime should not just rely on crime type, but take into account a victim’s needs, any threat, risk or harm, as well as the complexity of the investigation.”

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