SATISFACTION levels among crime victims in South Yorkshire have fallen this year in spite of work by police aimed at improving the service provided.

More measures are now being introduced to try to put the force back on track towards its aim of providing an ‘excellent victim-led service’.

Changes in the way the Home Office want victim satisfaction results logged means fewer statistics are needed than in the past, with a central focus on the way domestic abuse cases are handled, though the South Yorkshire force still logs results from a wider range of offences.

They show that increased numbers of domestic violence victims are satisfied with the way their cases have been handled by police rising to 83 per cent from an earlier figure of 81 per cent this year.

But overall figures are down, from 78 per cent to 75 per cent and that is despite the force including work to improve the experience of victims at the hands of its staff in a ‘force vision’ introduced during 2017, which puts delivering an excellent victim led service as a ‘foundation stone’ of the way it works.

According to a report presented to South Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, police know satisfaction levels dip in cases where crimes are reported but police do not attend the scene.

The report stated: “Work is ongoing to understand this reduction in more detail and make the required improvements, for example: We know satisfaction levels reduce when victims are informed of an expected time for attendance by SYP and the force does not meet this expectation.

“Where crimes have been resourced without deployment, satisfaction levels are lower.

“In circumstances where a crime has been resourced without deployment, SYP know satisfaction levels significantly improve where a clear explanation is given as to why resources have not been deployed and how/why the investigation has been finalised.”

More work is now planned for the months ahead to try to improve the work towards crime victims from both police and its partner organisations which also work with them.