To receive a presentation from Chief Superintendent Phil Staynings.
Minutes:
Chief Superintendent Phil Staynings delivered a presentation about neighbourhood policing, including the introduction of the new Target Operating Model that would reform the structure of response teams from 8 January 2024. Points included:
Target Operating Model
· Based on feedback from staff and external partners, the new model was being introduced to ensure the best use of resources so that demand was being met at the right times.
· The changes aimed to improve support for victims and build resilience within the team to improve morale.
· The Target Operating Model would be based around five hubs with officers shifting from a five shift to four shift model. The shifts would be slightly longer under the new model, ensuring a better overlap in the numbers of experienced staff on duty and improved visibility for the public.
· The changes focussed on response teams and there would not be any changes in the structure of neighbourhood police teams.
· Staff were looking forward to the changes, anticipating that it would ensure that the right resource was available at the right time.
Community Commitments
· Each local team from Wiltshire Police would establish a set of community commitments, which would be published in January 2024.
· The community commitments would include attending a public meeting at least once a month as well as stepping up online engagement.
· Wiltshire Police were looking to broaden engagement through watch schemes.
· The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) had funded two additional mobile police stations for use by neighbourhood police teams.
Neighbourhood Harm Reduction Unit
· Neighbourhood Harm Reduction Units were being introduced to focus on early intervention to prevent issues from escalating at a later stage. The team would work alongside partner agencies, such as health providers and with the criminal justice system to prevent demand.
· The team would help to empower communities through a primary, secondary and tertiary approach to harm reduction.
· The Chief Superintendent provided further information about the four pillared approach to reducing neighbourhood harm:
Ø Community safety
Ø Community initiatives
Ø Volunteers
Ø Children and young people
· Recent community activity in the area included safety sweeps to identify weapons, work with special constables, and mini police groups in schools. The Chief Superintendent also highlighted the role of several watch schemes including, Community Speed Watch, Lorry Watch, Dog Watch and Farm Watch.
Governance
· The Chief Superintendent was chairing the monthly Local Policing Board with oversight of operational delivery, which a number of sub-boards reported to. One of these boards was the Performance Board, which was attended by inspectors on a rotational basis, allowing them to meet regularly with the Chief Superintendent.
During the discussion, key points included:
· The Panel thanked the Chief Superintendent for his presentation and requested that the slides were circulated to them.
· The Chief Superintendent highlighted that he was excited about the progress being made including the new model for the response teams.
· In response to a query about how resources were allocated between the five hubs under the new Target Operating Model, the Chief Superintendent stated that it was based on demand.
· When asked about how the new model would impact morale in the force, the Chief Superintendent reported that he had led an extensive three-month long consultation on the new Target Operating Model and that close to 80 percent of the workforce preferred it to the existing model.
· The Panel sought assurance about the action taken in relation to domestic burglaries (excluding outbuildings), given that the percentage of cases where further action was taken was 4.8 percent since April 2023. They also requested greater detail about outcomes in future reports. In reply, the Chief Superintendent recognised the huge impact that residential burglaries had on victims and stated that it was a key priority for the Chief Constable. He reassured that Panel that Wiltshire Police had a dedicated team focussing on burglaries and that every burglary was attended by an officer.
· The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) emphasised the importance of communication in translating improved performance into the public feeling safer. He spoke of the need to work collectively, highlighting that he had attended a large number of Area Board meetings and taken steps to improve the quality of reports to those meetings.
· Detail was sought about what could be done to improve the timeliness of court services. In reply, as Chair of the Wiltshire Criminal Justice Board, the PCC, emphasised the importance of different agencies working together to find a collective solution. He noted that funding was provided by the Ministry of Justice. The Chief Superintendent reported that a new system had been implemented to speed up the transfer of large files of evidence from the police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS were also being encouraged to provide early advice on how to improve the files.
· The five regional hubs under the Target Operating Model would each have a neighbourhood police team inspector allocated to them.
· When asked about what teething problems were anticipated during the implementation of the new Target Operating Model, the Chief Superintendent emphasised the importance of monitoring and forward planning. He noted that he chaired a meeting to review shift patterns and explained that they were already looking at the balance of resources for 2024/25.
· In response to a query about how trust and confidence in the police was measured, it was noted that the OPCC conducted a confidence and trust report and that they were monitored by a public service board. Sense checks were also carried out using mobile police stations and other forms of community engagement. The Chief Superintendent noted that public confidence was improving.
· Details were sought about whether the increase in online reporting impacted on the quality of information that was received to aid investigations. The Chief Superintendent noted that structures were in place to deal with the increase. There was also consideration being given to establishing an allocations team with the aim of giving more strategic overview of demand and helping to identify risks and repeat offending at source.
· The Chief Executive of the OPCC explained that they had invested in new technology to reduce demand on staff to free up capacity to answer calls. Online reporting had to meet requirements set out by the Home Office to ensure that crime recording practices were complied with.
· When asked about how councillors should advise the public to report crime, online or via 101, the Chief Executive of the OPCC stated that they public should use the method that they feel is most appropriate as both followed the same process.
· In response to a query about the responsibility of officers to record video ‘phone data, it was noted that every crime had a digital footprint, and that evidence was collected by the regional forensics service. The Chief Executive of the OPCC highlighted that there were challenges nationally in the private sector in training people with the right specialist digital analytical skills. However, regionally they were investing in the digital forensics service and moving towards a tiered approach with different levels of specialisms.
· There were not widespread reports of illegal animal slaughter in Wiltshire. The PCC was on the board of the National Rural Crime Network so had a broad overview. He also praised the fantastic Rural Crime Team in Wiltshire.