Chief Constable Andy Prophet has highlighted the progress made by Hertfordshire police over the past year, with more crimes investigated, more crimes solved, and more people arrested.

Mr Prophet took over as Hertfordshire’s top cop in January last year – just months after an inspection by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

That inspection had rated the force as “inadequate” at recording data about crime, and as requiring improvement in several areas. Those areas requiring improvement were responding to the public, investigating crime, protecting vulnerable people and leadership.

On Monday, Mr Prophet highlighted the constabulary’s progress at a meeting of the county council’s public health and community safety cabinet panel – while stressing there was still more to do.

Hertfordshire Chief constable Andy Prophet.

placeholder image — Hertfordshire Chief constable Andy Prophet.

“It’s been a really brilliant 13 months,” he told councillors. “There has been lots of hard work, lots of changes, lots of improvements – and lots of work still to do.”

At the meeting, Mr Prophet reminded councillors of the constabulary’s ‘inadequate’ inspection rating for the recording of crime, with estimates then having suggested that almost one in five reported crimes went unrecorded. But he reassured councillors that this had already been addressed.

“My assessment is the ‘inadequate’ recording of crime has been closed as a cause for concern,” he said. So, the inspector has revisited us on that – and closed it. We are now recording far closer to all crimes, not quite all crimes, but in a much better place, we are recording more crimes properly.

“[…]We are investigating more crime, solving more crime, arresting more people. And I hope providing strong leadership the organisation needs.”

Mr Prophet also highlighted the improvement in the time taken to answer emergency and non-emergency calls and in the number of crimes being solved in the county.

Throughout 2025, he reported that 10,750 crimes had been solved across Hertfordshire. And that’s almost 1,500 more crimes than were solved by the constabulary in 2024.

But the chief constable stressed that, with 88,000 crimes reported overall, he wanted the number of crimes solved to be higher. He told councillors: “In 2025, we solved 10,750 crimes. And that was an increase of nearly 1,500 on the year before.

“It’s not enough. It’s not enough. We want to solve more crime. Because we had 88,000 recorded crimes – to say we solved ten-and-a-half thousand of them isn’t a claim to fame, but we are solving more crime. But my ambition is that we solve far more crimes than that.”

Meanwhile, Mr Prophet also highlighted the 150,000 emergency 999 calls that were made to the constabulary last year, with 90% answered within 10 seconds. And he highlighted the 204,000 non-emergency 101 calls, with 80% answered within 90 seconds.

“In terms of answering the phone, we are doing that quicker than ever,” he said. “Last year, there were 150,000 emergency 999 calls, with over 90% answered in 10 seconds, and 204,000 ‘101’ calls, with nearly 80% answered in under a minute-and-a-half.

“A lot of organisations in policing would envy those figures. Eight out of 10 non-emergency calls are answered in 90 seconds. It’s a really strong service now, and improving.”

At the meeting, Mr Prophet told councillors that his mission for the constabulary was to prevent crime and harm, to catch criminals and solve crime and to help victims and the vulnerable. He said that in the past year the constabulary had arrested and charged 160 burglars, almost 2000 drug dealers, 61 car thieves, 130 street robbers and nearly 1,000 domestic abusers.

He said the constabulary was currently investigating 19 known ‘county lines’ gangs in Hertfordshire. And he said that over the past 12 months they had dismantled 51, with 81 arrests and seizures of almost £250,000 drugs, £50,000 cash, 12 firearms and 40 weapons.

He also highlighted the constabulary’s continuing focus on known crime hotspots, with 560 arrests, 1,100 stop and searches and 100 knives seized in those areas in the past 18 months. And he also highlighted the increasing use of Clare’s Law in the county, which enables a resident to check on the history of a partner or ex-partner if they feel they are at risk.