PEEL is an annual assessment of police forces in England and Wales. Forces are assessed on their effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy. They are judged as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate on these categories (or pillars) based on inspection findings, analysis and Her Majesty’s Inspectors’ (HMIs) professional judgment across the year.
The pillars each comprise three or four questions that focus on core areas of the work of the police. Judgments are also applied to these questions.
At the end of the PEEL year (in February), HMIs bring together all the judgments made throughout the year together with other findings and information to produce a rounded annual assessment of each force.
HMIC inspection staff visit all 43 forces in England and Wales to gather information for the PEEL assessments. As part of each inspection they speak to police officers and staff, hold focus groups and interviews with other interested parties, carry out document reviews and collect data.
The inspections take place throughout the year. The findings are analysed and moderated, and then published – pillar by pillar. The individual police force’s PEEL assessments are updated on the website as new information becomes available, and detailed reports for each police force are published.