Agenda and minutes

Election of the Chairman

·         To elect a Chairman for the forthcoming year

Election of the Vice Chairman

·         To elect a Vice Chairman for the forthcoming year

Cllr Richard Britton was elected Chairman for the forthcoming year.

Cllr Junab Ali was elected Vice-Chairman for the forthcoming year.

Apologies were received from Cllr Abdul Amin – Swindon Borough Council, Cllr Peter Hutton – Wiltshire Council, (Cllr Sue Evans sub), Nick Murry – Wiltshire Council and Cllr Tom Rounds – Wiltshire Council.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 28 March 2019.

Decision:

·         That the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 28 March 2019 were confirmed as the correct record.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman expressed the panel’s frustrations that reports which should be included as part of the agenda pack were routinely late.

OPCC advised that they would endeavour to have reports released to Wiltshire Council, Democratic Services to ensure that the reports could be sent to panel members as part of the pack.

It was agreed that reports would be sent to Wiltshire Council, Democratic Services 7 working days before future PCP meetings.

The Panel welcomes contributions from members of the public.

Statements

If you wish to make a statement at this meeting on any item on this agenda, please register to do so at least 10 minutes prior to the meeting. Speakers are permitted to speak for up to 3 minutes on any agenda item. Please contact the officer named on the first page of the agenda for any further clarification.

Questions

Members of the public are able to ask questions in relation to the responsibilities and functions of the Panel at each meeting. Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions in writing to the Head of Democratic Services at Wiltshire Council no later than 5.00 pm on 3 clear wkg days before meeting. Please contact the officer named on the first page of the agenda for further advice. Questions may be asked without notice if the Chairman decides that the matter is urgent.

There was no public participation.

The Commissioner presented his report setting out the quarterly performance data – Quarter Four 2018-19 (1 January to 31 March 2019) contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

·         That there were 10,645 crimes recorded during quarter four and 43,246 in the 12 months to March 2019.

·         This represented a reduction of 317 recorded crimes (0.7 per cent) compared to the previous 12 months.

·         The recorded crime rate per 1,000 population for Wiltshire in the year to March 2019 is 60.3 crimes. This is significantly below the most similar group (MSG) average of 72.4 crimes per 1,000 population. 

·         In the 12 months to December 2018, Wiltshire was one of only seven forces to have reported reductions in their volumes of recorded crime.

·         That Wiltshire were approximately 18 months ahead of the national trend as predicted within previous performance reports.

·         That Wiltshire had a significantly low overall crime and violence against the person crime rate (both 6th nationally), the 2nd lowest most serious violence rate and 7th lowest sexual offences rate.

·         The trend in Wiltshire for the volume of burglary and vehicle offences was significantly better than the national trend and the most improved in the country.

·         That the volume of knife crime in Wiltshire had remained stable in the 12 months to December with 280 (compared to 278 the previous 12 months).

Points raised by the PCP included:

·         Recruitment of Special Constables – was the Commissioner still recruiting.

·         Knife crime – what partnership working was being carried out.

·         In-force training – the pros and cons of in-force v central training.

PCC Risk Register

·         After discussion the report was noted.

The Chairman thanked the OPPC for the report.

Chris McMullen – OPCC and AAC Williams gave a verbal update on Community Policing Resource Management Overview (sickness)’

It had been agreed at the 28 March PCP meeting that a report re Community Policing Resource Management Overview (sickness) would be brought to the June 2019 meeting.

Points made included:

·         That the current model was very much a hybrid service, and very much a work in progress.

·         That the introduction of Community Co-ordinators would help to improve the running of the service.

·         That cuts to the Wiltshire policing budget had impacted on the service.

Points made by the PCP included:

·         That progress was being made re the sickness figures, and it now felt that the issue was moving forward.

·         That NPT visibility appeared to be better, although attendances at Area Board meetings was disappointing.

·         That Wiltshire was a safe county, but because of the lack of NPT visibility residents did not feel safe.

·         That Wiltshire Police should consider how it uses its Special Constables, It was after all, a free resource that knew its communities.

The Chairman thanked Chris McMullen and ACC Williams for their update.

It was agreed that the panel would meet with the OPCC for further discussions regarding the reporting of deployability and the update of the Commissioner’s Police and Crime Plan.

Naji Darwish – OPCC outlined the report contained in the agenda pack.

The report presented the Panel with an outline of the current position, and planned direction for, public surveying on behalf of the OPCC and for Wiltshire Police

Points made included:

·         That key individuals were due to meet again on Wednesday 12 June to finalise actions and develop a delivery plan for progress in this area.

·         A key deliverable to be discussed at the next stage was to commission an annual report on public confidence and satisfaction. It would pull together the range of information from the variety of mechanisms used to obtain public satisfaction in services.

·         This would enable the PCC and the Chief Constable to understand trends, areas for improvement and provide the basis for performance information.

It was agreed that an update would be provided at the September meeting.

The Chairman thanked Naji Darwish for his presentation and report.

ACC Gavin Williams

ACC Gavin Williams outlined the report contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

·        At 0001 hours on 19 April 2019, the Tri Force Specialist Operations collaboration formally returned to the direction and control of the Wiltshire Chief Constable.

·         Despite original concerns, the transition back to Force had passed without incident with risks effectively mitigated in all specialism areas.

·         All officers currently remain in their original teams and on the Tri Force six-team shift pattern. Deployed centrally from Police Headquarters in Devizes, all resources were operationally available throughout a full twenty-four hour duty cycle. First line management sat with dedicated team sergeants holding either an armed policing or roads policing specialism.

·         Second-line management had been moved to thematic responsibility as shown below:

           Head of Armed Policing – Inspector Paul Saunders                          

           Head of Roads Policing – Inspector Mark Freeman                                                

           Head of Dogs Policing – Inspector James Brain

·         All three Inspectors had structured their duty time to secure engagement and alignment with the priorities of their Community colleagues. This included weekly working from the main Community Policing Hubs, attendance at local tasking meetings and development of the Force’s Tasking and Briefing system to support direct deployment to Specialist Officers who can then update associated activity accordingly.

·         Feedback currently suggested this new approach was appreciated and the ability to utilise home force systems was delivering tangible operational outcomes.

·         That fire arms training was still dependent on Tri-force.

The Chairman thanked ACC Williams for his presentation.

The panel noted the report contained in the agenda pack and the PCC’s request for members support.

It was agreed that the Chairman and all members of the panel who wished, would meet with the OPCC for further discussions.

The members questions report included in the agenda pack was noted.

Cllr Seed once again asked a question re the Salisbury City Council application for the Community Safety Accreditation Scheme.  This question was first raised at the 5 February PCP meeting - How long was the vetting of stewards by Hampshire Police going to take?

A further question was raised by Cllr Seed – Were there any outstanding complaints of any nature against the two appointed ACCs?

To note the forward work plan.

The Forward Work Plan was noted, It was agreed that Kev Fielding (Wiltshire Council, Democratic Services would circulate a new Forward Work Plan to panel members.

To note the future meeting dates below:

·         Thursday 5 September 2019 – City Hall, Salisbury

·         Thursday 19 December 2019 - Swindon Borough Council Offices

The next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel will be on Thursday 5 September 2019 at City Hall, Salisbury.

Future meeting dates were:

Thursday 19 December 2019 at Swindon Borough Council Offices.