Agenda item

To receive feedback from the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel.

21.1           Members received an update from Councillor R E Garnham, the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, on matters discussed at the last meeting of the Panel held on 16 July 2015.

21.2           Councillor Garnham advised that the main Agenda items had been the appointment of the Chairman of the Panel; the annual report from the Police and Crime Commissioner; a refreshed version of the Police and Crime Plan; the Chief Executive’s report; and a presentation on “Accessibility and Accountability”, one of the main policing priorities.  The Chief Constable and the Chief Executive had given their apologies for the meeting.  

21.3           As it was the first meeting of the new municipal year, Councillor Roger Wilson had been elected as Chairman and Councillor Barry Kirby appointed as Vice-Chairman.  The new Chairman had stated that he wanted to work more closely with the Police and Crime Commissioner and, in the spirit of working in a more co-operative manner, he hoped to have regular meetings with him.  The Police and Crime Commissioner, Martin Surl, had presented his annual report for the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015.  There had been a general debate about the report and the good work around child sexual exploitation; forensic services and how the service had stayed in-house rather than merging with other forces, but had still managed to make savings of £300,000; and the new custody facility at Compass House which had opened a week ahead of schedule and was one of the leading custody suites in the country.  Following on from an item in the Minutes, and in the debate around the annual report, it had been noted by several Panel Members that there was no quantitative analysis of crime figures.  Given that the mission statement of the Police and Crime Commissioner was to have “less crime, more peace and good order” Members had questioned whether the public could be reassured that crime was actually being reduced.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had explained that he was reluctant to put figures into the report if they had no meaning for the public and any figures which were included would need a commentary.  The Panel had formally voted to move a recommendation that the report should be redrafted to include figures showing the levels of crime throughout the previous year.

21.4           Whilst there had been a refresh of the Police and Crime Plan, only minor changes had been made.  There was an update from the Police and Crime Commissioner that, in the coming year, he would be “conducting independent reviews of various Police functions and, maintain oversight of the financial position and any resultant impact from changes to government funding”.  He had added that he would also “maintain oversight of the implementation phase of the new Police operating model, and the development of the Safety Cyber priority and Centre of Excellence”.  There had been further discussions around mental health; stop and search; and poverty and its possible influences on crime.  The Deputy Chief Executive had given a brief presentation, in the absence of the Chief Executive, which had covered use of the neighbourhood engagement vehicle; freedom of information request; complaints; and the recent Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) inspections.  The inspections had focused on domestic violence and the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults.  The reports on the inspections would not be available until the autumn.  The Panel had discussed the burden on inspections and the Assistant Chief Constable, Sally Crook, had highlighted how much time and resource had to be devoted to the numerous HMIC inspections that took place.

21.5           The Assistant Chief Constable had given a brief presentation on how the Constabulary was meeting the priority on “accessibility and accountability”.  She highlighted that the Chief Constable would give a presentation on the force’s new Operating Model at the next meeting of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel, which would add weight to the priority, and the Council’s representative undertook to provide an update to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 8 September.  On being asked about police visibility, the Assistant Chief Constable stated that, under the new model of working there would be an increase in the numbers of neighbourhood police.  In addition, all new recruits would undertake 400 hours of foot patrol.  The Constabulary’s overall aim was to be responsive to need rather than being “a force which simply responds”.  He confirmed that the next meeting of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel would be on 1 September 2015.

21.6           With regard to crime figures used to compile the annual report, a Member questioned whether account was taken of crimes investigated by the military as he was aware of a number of crimes in Innsworth which had occurred within the estate covered by the military.  The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel undertook to ask that question as it was possible that not all crimes were being captured.  A Member welcomed the commitment to increase the number of neighbourhood police and stressed the importance of community cohesion in terms of the prevention of certain crimes.  Another Member went on to raise concern that he was a representative of Rural Watch, however, he had not received any alerts for some time.  Other Members indicated that they had continued to receive the alerts and the Environmental and Housing Services Group Manager explained that there had been amendments to the Neighbourhood Watch co-ordination work which had resulted in several changes of personnel.  She undertook to find out the latest situation and to circulate a Member Update on the new arrangements.  In addition, the Chief Executive explained that he had met with the Chief Constable to discuss the new Police Operating Model and he had been advised that there would be a small increase in the number of staff at Tewkesbury.  The new Model would focus on a ‘response’ policy with a view to resolving crimes as they actually happened.  He had requested a two page briefing note setting out the basic changes which would be circulated to Members when available.  If appropriate, the Police could also be invited to give a presentation at a future meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

21.7           A Member noted that the new Police Operating Model would include Police Officers going back to wearing white shirts and he raised concern as to the costs associated with that change.  The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel felt that there was likely to be quite a considerable cost and he undertook to find out how much that would be.  Another Member questioned what would happen with the land in Bishop’s Cleeve, that had been purchased for a custody suite which was now not being built.  In response, the Council’s representative advised that a decision had been taken to have a divisional headquarters with a new custody suite rather than a separate custody suite in Bishop’s Cleeve.  The land was still owned by the Constabulary, which did have an estate strategy, but he would try to establish whether there were any immediate plans in place.

21.8           The Chairman thanked the Council’s representative for his presentation and indicated that the update would be circulated to Members via email following the meeting.  It was

RESOLVED          That the feedback from the last meeting of the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel be NOTED.