Police boss admits his force is 'not good enough'

"It's not good enough."

That's what the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police, Ivan Balhatchet, says after a report found the force he leads is "inadequate in investigating crime".

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services says it was a "cause of concern" that it was "achieving fewer positive outcomes for victims of crime".

Balhatchet says being in the role is the "greatest honour I've ever had". How is he going to turn things around?

"I think the report is very fair. I wasn't surprised.

"I'm not arguing with any of the findings,” Balhatchet says.

"I should be held accountable and responsible."

He says he does not want to "put a plaster on something, say everything's OK and in six months we fall over”.

"I've got to get this right - we've got a challenge."

Balhatchet, who has served as interim chief constable since October 2023, took on the role permanently in January 2025.

He says the force gets 900 calls daily into the control room. Of those, about 500 need investigating.

"So we're looking at the whole thing, from how many teams we have, who's where, capability and capacity.

"I've been increasing my neighbourhood teams, increasing our PCSOs.

"We've got more officers than we've ever had.

"There will be over 80 PCSOs back in Northamptonshire Police in the next month. That's the highest it's been for several years."

He says he is in year one of a three-year strategy.

"I want it fully implemented by March next year but there will be things happening next month and the month after and the month after. It isn't like, just wait until March. We've got to understand actually what's the right thing to do.

"Our retention rates over the last two years have got much better. We’re going to increase the amount of officers again this year.

"We're upping our volunteer pool as well, which is really important in the way they support our officers and staff as well."

"I want to do more," says Balhatchet.

He says he needs to get the right people in the right role with the right training.

"We've set up a specialist domestic abuse team; the people in it are amazing.

"I have been putting investment into our public protection team. It needs more. We're already working through plans to actually increase the capacity and capability of our rape teams and sexual offence teams.

"We have been too slow at embracing technology, video conferencing. We've trialled things but we haven't been quick enough and we need to get better at that.

"We are sending too many police officers in vehicles to things that we shouldn't be."

He says they could be using phones, apps and video conferencing - but only when it is appropriate.

"I do have some officers, for various reasons, who can't go on frontline duties, who actually could do really good work in static investigation.

"We have started to increase the amount of detectives.

"I've put extra payments in for child protection teams and for domestic abuse teams."

"I'm here because I care about our county, I care about our police force. I want to do the best for this county, as do my officers and staff," he says.

"I've worked through every rank within policing. You’re dealing with some of the things you actually shouldn't witness as a human being.

"There isn't a team in Northamptonshire Police walking around saying, 'what shall I do today?'. Our demand outstrips the amount of police officers.

"We've put hundreds of thousands of pounds into better wellbeing and welfare support to our officers, because that wasn't there before, around trauma support, counselling.

"There's still more to do."

Balhatchet says after being found in contempt of court by judges after his force failed to produce video footage of an arrest, he is still "the right person to carry on".

"I was born here, I live here, I care about it," he says.

"If I thought there was someone better to be the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police I would stand down but there isn't because I've got a job to do and I've got a plan."

He says the stress is more than he ever imagined.

"It's a tough job," he says.

"We've got some challenges. I'm excited about the future and we're going to get to where we need to. So I've got a job to do.

"I'm not standing down.

"I've got confidence in my team, I've got confidence in my officers and staff who are amazing people and will continue doing the very best we can."

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