Staffordshire Police has been placed in special measures by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

The police watchdog said there are six police forces across the country now in special measures.

These are: The Metropolitan Police (London), Greater Manchester, Cleveland, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire and Wiltshire.

Staffordshire Police was flagged up for two reasons – firstly for how it handles calls from members of the public and secondly for the quality of its investigations.

The inspectorate said there were issues with how the force identifies vulnerable people, and their ability to flag up individuals already known to them through previous contact with the force.

Chief constable Chris Noble – who only took on the role in December last year – said: "We have recently been made aware by HMICFRS that they intend to place Staffordshire Police under closer scrutiny, particularly in relation to concerns they had already communicated to us about how we manage public contact and how we carry out effective investigations.

"We have already developed plans to address the most significant areas of concern and will continue to subject them to the scrutiny of our Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner."

He added: "We will actively and positively engage with this process and we are confident that our new policing model, launched on Monday, will be critical in helping us deliver a police service of which Staffordshire residents can be proud of."

An HMICFRS spokesperson said: "We can confirm that we are monitoring Staffordshire Police through our Engage process, which provides additional scrutiny and support to help it make improvements."

The inspectorate's website says: "If a force is not responding to a cause of concern, or if it is not succeeding in managing, mitigating or eradicating the cause of concern, it is probable it will be moved to the Engage phase.

"In the Engage phase, forces will develop an improvement plan to address the specific cause(s) of concern that has caused them to be placed in the advanced phase of the monitoring process.

"The force may receive support from external organisations such as the College of Policing or the National Police Chiefs' Council, brokered by HMICFRS."

It says 'Engage' is one of two stages in its monitoring process – the other is 'scan' which is the default.

It's understood improvement is usually required within a 3-6 month timeframe.

Police and crime commissioner Ben Adams said: "The new chief constable and I were already working on some of these issues, and it came as no surprise that we could've been doing better in these areas – that's why they're up front in my police and crime plan."

He said in order to see improvement, officers needed more time to investigate complaints and cited the force's new model of local response teams (which began this week) as a way of helping to achieve that.

Mr Adams said the announcement did not mean that inspectors would be seeking to come in and take over the running of the force.

He said: "It is not HMICFRS saying they will monitor our plans, it's quite a supportive process.

"It's support from them and support from the College of Policing.

"They are very comfortable with the plans and they like the new operating model.

"As soon as we can move beyond the monitoring then we will – it's a case of let's get to a point where we don't need that anymore."

He said other police forces hadn't been as self-aware as Staffordshire about the problems which needed tackling.

He also said the force had sufficient resources and staffing in place, and didn't require any additional support from central government.

Mr Adams said he was confident the service would be able to demonstrate the required improvement – and that they additional scrutiny was helpful to provide an extra layer of feedback.

He commented: "I couldn't be more confident at the moment – it's something I discuss every week within the service.

"Having someone from outside is very useful to me.

"You have to recognise your problem, you have got to face up to it and solve it."

He added: "The new chief constable has put in a substantial plan and we want to get back to being one of the best forces in the country."

HMICFRS independently assesses and reports on the effectiveness of police forces and fire & rescue services.

They inspect across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and also inspect law enforcement arrangements in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.