Agenda item

To receive an update from the Council’s representative on matters considered at the last meeting.

63.1          Members received an update from the Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel on matters discussed at the last meeting of the Panel held on 12 November 2019.

63.2          The Council’s representative on the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel advised that the Police and Crime Commissioner had updated the Panel on recent activity including the new focus on “every crime matters”.  A particular area of emphasis was the retail crime review and a report had been prepared to look at how the Gloucestershire Police had been responding to rising retail crime.  The report was constructively critical of the approach and it was noted that retailers were clearly not satisfied when it had been discussed at a recent conference in Gloucester.  The conference had been attended by a Superintendent who had responded positively to the concerns raised and had committed to producing an action plan to address them within the next month.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had explained that, given scare resources, it was always necessary to consider what response was reasonable. 

63.3           Members were informed that crime had continued to rise over the past year, albeit at a reduced rate, but detection rates had improved.  A rural crime week had recently been held to focus attention and resources on tackling the wide range of crimes across the county’s extensive rural areas.  Finding the people committing these crimes was very difficult and there was a need for greater effort in tackling the disposal of stolen property to stop criminals from making money from it.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had also raised concern about the physical state of the courts in Gloucestershire which were dilapidated with inadequate facilities to segregate witnesses and the public from the accused and a lack of access for the disabled.  It was noted that 80 electric Police vehicles had been ordered and the number of charging points had been significantly increased; the Council’s representative pointed out that the vehicles would be used for dealing with enquiries rather than for frontline incident response.  The annual anti-drink driving campaign would be carried out across the county with a focus on rural areas – the initial focus was on education and prevention changing to enforcement in early December.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had welcomed the extra money for policing promised by the government; however, it could not be spent until it had passed through a budget following the election.  The Panel had also discussed the impact of the “record everything” policy in light of the criticisms discussed at the last meeting - the Police and Crime Commissioner had confirmed this was the approach and that it undoubtedly resulted in additional resources being spent on form filling to ensure compliance.

63.4           The Panel’s representative advised that another key issue discussed at the meeting was the impact of mental health on Gloucestershire Police.  It was noted that only 25% of the annual total of 250,000 calls received by Gloucestershire Police actually related to crimes; 75% related to social services with 148 young people reported missing to the Police in September alone.  The Police and Crime Commissioner had noted that both greater resources and greater co-ordination of national and local responses to the national mental health crisis were needed.  One response had been deployment of the triage car which carried a mental health nurse along with a Police Officer; however, currently this only operated during the peak period of demand for four days per week so additional resources promised by the government could be used to expand this and free up Police Officers to deal with crime.

63.5           The Panel had also received the Chief Executive report from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and there was a general discussion about how the Panel could help to address some of the issues raised, either through sponsoring research or writing letters to appropriate government departments or ministers, for instance, in relation to the mental health issue.

63.6           A Member queried whether anything was being done to encourage greater reporting of retail crime as he worked in that sector and was aware that only 5% was currently recorded.  The Council’s representative indicated that he was not aware of a particular drive to increase reporting but he undertook to ask the question and report back to Members.  He indicated that retailers were frustrated as it took a lot of time and effort to record these crimes – often for very little in the way of outcomes – but without that information the true extent of the crime went unrecognised.  Another Member went on to indicate that there had been a problem with theft in his Ward over the summer and the group of people responsible had been threatening and intimidating; however, there had been no Police response, despite numerous calls to 101 and 999, so he was keen to understand the approach to dealing with anti-social groups.  The Council’s representative provided assurance that the Police were well aware of that issue but he undertook to take up the point about the lack of response.  He pointed out that co-ordination between the constabularies in neighbouring counties could be improved which would help in terms of the disposal of stolen goods – goods were often stolen in one area and then sold on in another in order to avoid detection.  A Member went on to indicate that crimes of violence seemed to be increasing nationally and he questioned if that had been recognised and whether  there was a strategy for dealing with it.  The Council’s representative advised that this topic had not been discussed at the last meeting but the statistics for Gloucestershire were lower than the national average and the county was very safe compared the rest of the country; nevertheless, violent crime, particularly knife crime, was on the increase.

63.7           With regard to mental health, a Member asked whether there was a county view on the impact of the Mental Capacity Act as clearly a lot hinged on mental capacity in terms of the safety of the individual and the community in which they lived.  The Council’s representative advised that anecdotal evidence showed that, on a typical day, frontline Police Officers could spend up to five hours in hospital waiting for a mental health professional to asses someone who had been picked up at an incident – this was clearly not a sensible way to use resources.  He hoped the additional funding which was supposedly coming would start to change things but it was important to appreciate this was a society-wide issue.  The Member questioned whether it was being suggested that young people who went missing should not be reported to the Police and the Council’s representative stressed that the Police had a duty to prioritise missing young persons and that was something which the public would expect to happen; however, the mental health issues being increasingly experienced were very expensive and this was draining an already depleted resource base.

63.8           The Chair thanked the Council’s representative for his update and indicated that it would be circulated to the Committee following the meeting.  It was subsequently

RESOLVED          That the Gloucestershire Police and Crime Panel Update be NOTED.