Agenda item

Members to receive an update report on progress against the aims and priorities of the Police and Crime Plan.

Members of the panel received an update report providing an overview of the activities undertaken in delivering the Police and Crime Plan since May 2021.

The Chair commented that the lateness of reports was not satisfactory and impeded upon members ability to read them fully prior to the meeting. The Police and Crime Commissioner undertook to ensure all future reports were sent through on time.

The Police and Crime Commissioner introduced the report, briefly reminding members of the background to the plan and the 11 strands of themes and objectives that made up the plan

Attention was drawn to a number of the themes and activities undertaken which included the following points:

·       The force had enhanced its recruitment of Special Constables to help fulfil a crucial role in policing of communities, providing an important link between professional police force and the community they serve, with the aim to reach 150 by March 2024

·       A new post had been approved to introduce a Community Network Co-Ordinator to refresh the Watch schemes and bolster the existing Volunteers in Policing Team.

·       The Violence Reduction Network (VRN) although not part of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner had been supported by the Police and Crime Commissioner to move to a more sustainable footing with the successful securing of a 3-year funding settlement for the VRN totalling £3.5 million over the next few years.

·       The Trust and Confidence Strategy was being reviewed at the next Corporate Governance Board in May 2023 to re-invigorate standards across policing which have already begun.

·       More work was being done to make young people aware of what the police do, this included secondary schools within serious violence locations having a named School Liaison Officer, the introduction of 9 Youth Engagement Officers who were available to speak to students in relation to the educational offer that had been developed and could also support the school and neighbourhood policing teams to assist with specific themes affecting students/staff.

·       A pilot of the mini-police scheme had launched across 3 schools to increase the reach to primary school children, aiming to introduce a positive influence and allow early intervention to build trust in policing and instil age-appropriate safety awareness.

·       The enhanced rural crime team introduced in July 2022 was making a good progress and now embedded in every Neighbourhood Policing Area (NPA) outside the city with at least one officer fully trained in dealing with rural and agricultural crime. All call handlers/staff within the crime bureau had also received training on rural, wildlife and heritage crime with another phase of training due to commence for new recruits soon.

·       The issue of violence against women was very important both locally and nationally, and a heavy focus on tackling that with a number of programmes ongoing, such as supporting domestic abuse victims and addressing perpetrators, some of those programmes were funded through the OPCC

·       The health and wellbeing of staff and officers continued to be a priority and the force now had its own occupational health section

The Chair welcomed the report and invited panel members to comment.

Members discussed the report which included the following:

The steps taken to improve rural and agricultural policing were welcomed and it was noted police were communicating more with people e.g., in village halls; with local farmers and generally building up good relationships. Aside from the impact of rural crime on the rural area there was also a human impact, and it was suggested there could be more consideration of that side.

There was some concern that the emphasis on rural crime did not take account of the issues affecting the market towns across LLR which had their own unique problems that did not sit into rural or urban and it was asked if more consideration could be given to bringing those into future discussion to see what work was happening there too. The PCC assured the panel that market towns were important, and acknowledged they had features of rural and urban, and the neighbourhood policing model was being used to address the type of policing needed.

In relation to the mini police scheme this was appreciated as a positive initiative for children. It was queried whether the longer-term impact of that would be assessed, e.g., to see if there was an impact later in life reducing involvement in crime. The PCC replied that the initial impact sought was on building a positive image of the police which was something that would be explored wider through the Trust and Confidence Strategy. In relation to feedback from parents and looking at cost value, sometimes it was subjective rather than objective, but the team would be doing more to look at the overall impact.

Whilst the report provided a list of activity it was felt there should be more data, metrics, and context to enable the panel to fulfil its role in scrutinising performance and delivery of the Police and Crime Plan. The PCC responded that he was responsible for providing the resources to enable delivery of the plan, in terms of commissioned services the OPCC did have metrics in place relating to performance and value for money and future reports could include that information, as regards other details a lot of that was available through other means such as HM Inspectorate reports.

There was further discussion about data and performance metrics that could be made available, and it was suggested that some of the information provided to CSP’s or gathered through programmes such as Safer Streets and other partnerships could be shared with the panel. It was also suggested that the Police and Crime plan should include milestones against the priorities and reports should show where things stood in terms of reaching those.

The Chair invited the PCC to consider how future reports were presented and how the OPCC might facilitate more data and information as requested.

The PCC was also reminded to ensure that financial, legal, and other implications were included in future reports too.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the contents of the report be noted,

2.    That the PCC consider how future reports are presented and how the OPCC might facilitate the inclusion of more data to enable scrutiny and measurement of performance against the Police and Crime Plan.