Agenda item

Members to receive a report presenting the draft Police and Crime Plan for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland covering the period 2021 to 2025 in accordance with sections 5 & 7 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

Members will be asked to consider the draft Police and Crime Plan for 2021 – 25 for approval and make any comments or recommendations on the proposed plan to the Police and Crime Commissioner.

The Police and Crime Commissioner submitted a report setting out details of the proposed Police and Crime Plan for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland covering the period 2021 to 2025 in accordance with sections 5 and 7 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) presented the Police and Crime Plan outlining some of the focus and strategic priorities for policing in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and recognising the operational independence of the Chief Constable.

The panel noted key points that:

·         Elements such as the 1-in-4 Recruitment Commitment inherited from the previous PCC would continue to be met and recruitment processes would include other factors to gain fair representation across the Force from the whole area of Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland.

·         During the development of the Police and Crime Plan the PCC had shared details of early versions with the Panel and listened carefully to their comments and incorporated those into this version. The PCC had also engaged with the Chief Constable, his senior team and had undertaken a public consultation exercise with residents across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland to gain their views.

·         The Police and Crime Plan would be supported by a strong suite of measures and key performance indicators (KPI’s) would be brought to the Panel in due course.

The PCC submitted that the Police and Crime Plan was ambitious, designed to give the Police a clear mandate and maintained his Sir Robert Peel philosophy at its core and he commended the Police and Crime Plan to the Panel for approval.

Deputy Chief Constable Nixon addressed the Panel and explained his involvement in the process of drafting the Police and Crime Plan which also took account of national requirements and overlaying those to ensure there was no conflict.

Members considered the proposed Police and Crime Plan for 2021-2025.

Members noted the contents of the Police and Crime Plan and welcomed various aspects including the Mounted Volunteers Scheme; actions to put in place a Rural Policing Strategy; the very clear distinction between rural, urban, business, and cyber-crime set out in the Plan; the approach to the night-time economy and partnership work e.g., North West Leicestershire borders.

In terms of the Rural Policing Strategy, it was noted this was still a work in progress. Rural crime meant different things to different people, and the aim was to also look to define that within the strategy. It was advised that Neighbourhood Policing Areas would receive enhanced rural crime training and there would be other improvements such as better rural response vehicles in the fleet. A bespoke training programme would be introduced at the Training Academy and all neighbourhood officers would have a generic level of awareness of rural crime in their role.

There was a brief discussion around hunting and hare coursing, and it was suggested that the licensing of shot guns should return to the Police.

It was also suggested that there should be a focus on the market towns across Leicestershire and Rutland which often had their own specific issues. The PCC confirmed that market town schemes were being explored and the LLR Police Force were alive to the issues being faced in places such as Market Harborough.

Members were interested in whether any analysis had been done on the types of crime being reported through emergency/non-emergency calls and online and asked that a report be brought to a future meeting around that. In terms of 101/999 calls, it was noted there were plans to upgrade the telephony system but that would be at a high cost, in the meantime the Force were looking to introduce a “3-word” system which would be beneficial for location/mapping especially in rural areas. Software platforms and social media were also being explored to capture incident/crime reports from the younger demographic.

Drug and Knife Crime remained of significant concern to Members, and it was queried how that was being taken forward. The PCC affirmed that drug and knife crime was taken very seriously, and he had visited areas to see for himself policing methods being used. The Violence Reduction Network (VRN) were also doing excellent long term work addressing these topics and an update on the work of the VRN was due to be brought to the next panel meeting.

In terms of prevention, the People Zones concept was being expanded and steps being taken across neighbourhoods to steer younger people away from crime. Members observed that restorative justice was an effective tool that worked with young people as too did community payback and more could be done around that in terms of police contact with victims and confidence building. It was noted that the Victims First contract would be due for renewal in 12-15 months.

Members noted the issue of County Lines was exacerbated by the proximity of the LLR borders with Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Members were informed that Lionheart Operation had been set up alongside other covert ops and there was a 24/7 force team now working on County Lines which included looking at issues around arterial routes. There were several rolling programmes and enforcement was taking place regularly.

Members suggested there was a need to raise awareness of the PCC work with partners and that future commissioning work should build in how that work would be publicised.

Members sought more detail of how the actions in the plan would be taken forward and delivered across the short, medium and long term as well as the pressing priorities. The PCC advised that the OPCC had been exploring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and how best those could be used and there was more work still to be done around that which would be brought to the Panel in due course.

There was some concern that the plan did not outline and reflect the cities needs but it was acknowledged the PCC had given a previous assurance that detailed plans for the city, county and Rutland would be worked up and that assurance was sought again to ensure the Police and Crime Plan would work as well for the city along with other areas.

The PCC recognised the concerns and explained he had visited the city on many occasions to see the work being undertaken to address  crime by the Force and with community partners. It was noted that the city represented a third of the population of the force area and accounted for more than a third of serious crime in the area. There were four neighbourhood policing areas in the city and Members were given an assurance that the Police and Crime Plan would fully encompass the city too. The PCC also stated that there was more partnership work and funding going into the city and that was driven by data. The PCC gave an assurance that nothing was being taken away from the city in terms of policing and there would be several enhancements to the existing provisions.

Drawing the discussion to an end the Chair sought more details of how grant funding in local areas worked and how the funding formula was applied to Community Safety Partnerships; and for clarity in relation to the survey in terms of the methods used to promote the consultation; how many responded as well as an idea of the geographics where people responded from, such information to be brought to a future meeting.

It was moved that the Panel approve the Police and Crime Plan covering the period 2021 to 2025 and upon being put to the vote all those present were unanimously in favour and the vote was CARRIED.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Panel approves the Police and Crime Plan covering the period 2021 to 2025,

2.    That an update report be brought to a future meeting providing details of: the Rural Policing Strategy; grant funding in local areas; funding to community safety partnerships; and details of the consultation/survey responses as set out above.