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Strategic policing requirement

The Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR) sets out  those threats which, in the Home Secretary’s view, are the biggest threat to public safety and must be given due regard by PCCs  when  issuing  or  varying Police and Crime Plans. It supports PCCs as well as Chief Constables to plan, prepare and respond to these threats by clearly linking the local response to the national, highlighting the capabilities and partnerships that policing needs to ensure it can fulfil its national responsibilities.

A revised version of the SPR was published in February 2023 which provided strengthened detail around the action required from policing at the local and regional level to the critical national threats. The 2023 SPR sets out seven identified national threats. These are:

  • Serious and Organised Crime (SOC)
  • Terrorism
  • Cyber
  • Child Sexual Abuse
  • Public Disorder Civil
  • Emergencies
  • Violence Against Women and Girls (added in 2023)

Given this annual report is for the year April 2022 to March 2023, it will not respond in detail to the revised SPR due to the timing of its publication. However the PCC has given due regard to the six threat areas identified in the previous SPR of 2015 in the Police and Crime Plan and in the role of holding the Chief Constable to account. VAWG, while not previously contained in  the SPR, nonetheless is a key and pressing issue which is already covered by several projects and successes contained in this report. It will be also prioritised in future annual reports.