The Area Board received two updates. The first from
Insp Pete Foster who provided a written update and presentation on
the following matters:
·
Police community commitment
·
Retail Working Group
·
Speed enforcement
·
Night-time economy
·
Community engagements
·
Chippenham town and rural areas crime
and incident statistics, and
·
Operational priorities
The second update was received from Catherine
Roper, Wiltshire Police Chief Constable. The update included the
following points:
-
Members were reminded that in the summer of 2022,
Wiltshire Police had been placed into “Engage” by the
independent auditor after it had not provided a satisfactory
service. In May 2024, the force had been taken out of
“Engage”, which demonstrated that it was making process
with investigations, protecting the vulnerable and responding to
crime.
-
Wiltshire Police had since had a further PEEL
inspection on 15 August 2024, where significant improvements had
been made over the ten graded categories, with no areas graded
inadequate with all areas showing an increased improvement,
particularly in the area of community engagement.
-
Whilst some areas were recognised as improving, some
were recognised as not being where they should be, therefore the
Chief Constable aimed to continue improvements in these
areas.
-
It was outlined that regarding the Control Room,
there was a statutory duty to respond to 999 calls within 10
seconds and that previously Wiltshire had been the worst performing
force for this but had since improved to rise 8 places and answer
more calls within 10 seconds.
-
The impact of the re-establishment of dedicated
Neighbourhood Teams was discussed.
-
It was outlined that there had been a drive to
increase the Police’s online presence.
-
A press release from Wiltshire Police regarding the
HMICFRS PEEL report publication can be found at this
link.
Following the two updates the Area Board raised a
number of points and asked questions as detailed below:
-
The Area Board thanked the Chief Constable and her
officers for their work in the community and for the significant
and positive changes evidenced during the first 18 months of the
Chief Constables being in post.
-
Insp Foster confirmed that additional patrols were
taking place in the northern villages of the Area Board locality
following an increase in rural crime, resulting in no burglaries
for the past month. A number of arrests have taken place although
there have not been any convictions at this stage. The Chief
Constable provided assurance that rural crime was within the three
priority areas that she had identified for the policing approach,
which was aligned with data and demand.
-
Town and Parish Councils were being encouraged to
invest in the use of Speed Indicator Devices, and they help to
reduce speeding where they are in operation.
-
Issues were raised of speeding and traffic
contraventions at Eastern Lane, Marshfield Road, Hungerdown Lane,
Malmesbury Road, Canal Road, Sutton Benger High Street. Insp Foster
confirmed that engagement CCTV vans were being fully utilised in
targeted areas and the CCTV van had a few technical issues which
were being fixed. Discussions were taking place with supermarkets
to reduce the use of their car parks after hours as a meeting place
for car enthusiasts who speed in the area.
The Chairman, on behalf of the Area Board thanked
the Chief Constable for the positive impact being made in
Wiltshire, especially the Chippenham area, and thanked Insp Foster
and his officers for their continued hard work in Chippenham and
surrounding villages.