Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Mamie Beasant & Anna Richardson – Independent members

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 10 June 2021

Decision:

·         The minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 10 June 2021 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman

There were no declarations of interest

·         Panel members discussion document

The Chairman advised that at a recent briefing with Kieran Kilgallen - OPCC Chief Executive, himself and the vice-chairman had suggested that the PCP members could look at setting up a system for members to take on a number of areas of responsibility rather than all of the panel taking on all the details.

Whoever took on the responsibility for a particular area would then be able inform the Panel with greater detail.

That it would be helpful if members of the committee would indicate if they would be interested in taking on one of these topics.

The four areas to cover were:

·         Finance

·         Complaint

·         Performance

·         Work force mix (warranted officers, PCSO’s, police staff and specials)

Points raised included:

·         That time was needed to discuss whether the four headers were the correct ones or should be refined.

·         That it may be useful to carry out a skills and interests audit for all members to help match members to topics.

·         That it may be useful for the Commissioner and PCP Chairman to discuss the structure and the way forward.

·         The need to focus on the key areas, with a flexible and dynamic approach.

Cllr Brian Mathew outlined a discussion document which had been circulated to the panel members.

That following the PCC election it was important that the priorities that were voiced by all the candidates and voted for in large numbers were captured and used to help the incoming Police and Crime Commissioner develop his own policies going forward. These had been assembled from all of the candidates words.

Priorities for Wiltshire:

Funding Formula:

·         The current under funding of Wiltshire Police by central Government.

The Police Estate:

·         A dedicated modern police station for Salisbury. The issue of having a police station and custody centre in Salisbury.

·         Retaining the police stations currently for sale. Once they are gone, they will never return.

·         Cancelling the sale of Parkfields land in Devizes, which is damaging to wildlife and opposed by residents.

·         ‘Pop up Cop Shops’ where police stations have been closed.

Police Management:

·         Improving mental health care both internally while building team morale and externally building on Wiltshire and Swindon’s crisis team and the Bluebell Ward, which is a health-based place of safety in Devizes.

·         Increasing community policing visibility.

·         Improving the current very low detection rate.

·         Moving away from the ‘crime number culture’.

·         Promoting ‘Green’ Policing – Fast electric cars for e-response & electric bikes for visible neighbourhood policing.

·         Wise spending and zero tolerance of corruption in the force.

·         Nurturing the support of the law abiding public. 

Working with schools and youth:

·         Activate and train retired police to volunteer with schools to engage with the pupils. To give talks, show films and act as a trusted ear to help neighbourhood policing teams and the CID tackle county lines drugs gangs, anti-social behaviour and to establish in the minds of the pupils the function and purpose of policing through consent (the ‘Peelian’ Principles), thus helping to establish a healthy attitude among the young to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

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 Friday 10 September. 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.

Philip Wilkinson, OBE – Police and Crime Commissioner

Philip Wilkinson, OBE – Police and Crime Commissioner was welcomed to his first meeting of the Police and Crime Panel.

Points made by the Commissioner included:

The importance of engagement with both civil and un-civil parties in order to put his new plan into place.

The need to have good constructive engagement with our local MPs, PCP, local councils and the Area Boards.

The importance of engagement through representative bodies to get things working better.

The intention to work in a much more executive fashion.

That a good working relationship between the PCP and OPCC would mean that issues could be tackled and things got done.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner and looked forward to working with him.

Philip Wilkinson, OBE – Police and Crime Commissioner &

Kieran Kilgallen – Chief Executive, OPCC

Philip Wilkinson, OBE – Police and Crime Commissioner &

Kieran Kilgallen – Chief Executive, OPCC outlined the Quarterly data report.

That Wiltshire Police were reporting the second lowest nationally for recorded crimes per 1000 residents and considered by HMIC to be ‘better than peers’. For the 12 months to May-21 Wiltshire were second lowest within our MSG.

That 53.3 crimes were reported for every 1000 residents in the county of Wiltshire, significantly below the MSG average of 66.0.

Wiltshire Police had reported a -6.3% reduction in the volume of crime for the 12 months to June-21 compared to the previous 12 months, 3.1 percentage points better than the average national decrease.

The average reported national decrease was -3.2%; South West Region was an average reduction of -4.9%; MSG is an average reduction of -4.9%.

Eight forces nationally had reported an increase within the same time period.

That Wiltshire’s crime volume was demonstrating a long term stable trend with the most recent months experiencing expected seasonal increases. During quarter one crime volume had been below the forecast when using pre-covid volumes. This enabled the force to understand where it was expected to be by removing the exceptional activity as a result of the covid-19 pandemic and the related lockdown periods.

June-21 volumes reported at 4.1% below where they were forecasted to be. Meaning that the seasonal high so far this year had not been quite as high as expected.

The rolling 12 month forecast was showing signs of increase in crime volumes. This demonstrated that although Wiltshire were reporting a year on year decrease crime volumes were returning to expected levels now that restrictions had eased considerably and society was opening back up.

That despite the fact Wiltshire were experiencing these increases, the county of Wiltshire continued to be one of the safest places to live in the country.

Points made by the panel members included:

·         That better outcome rates would be welcomed.

·         That speeding traffic and antisocial behaviour were regular complaints – a police presence in our communities could make a real difference.

·         What was the point in Wiltshire Police recording crime statistics if nothing gets followed up.

·         That a better social media presence outlining what officers were doing may help the public’s perception of how officers spend their time.

·         The need for a more intelligence based culture to find out what was happening in communities – ask young people, re county lines drug issues etc.

·         Tackling Speeding – that auto speedwatch was great way of attacking this crime and also dove tails into other crimes such as burglary and antisocial behaviour issues.

·         That officers needed to feel valued by both government and the local residents that they served.

·         That some people would rather prefer to see more warranted and special constables rather than PCSOs

·         Cyber Crime – the need to have specialist units tackling this global and growing crime.

·         The need to improve the outcome rates of domestic abuse cases.

·         The need to continue to push the recruitment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.

Philip Wilkinson, OBE – Police and Crime Commissioner &

Kieran Kilgallen – Chief Executive, OPCC

The Commissioner and Kieran Kilgallen updated the Police and Crime Panel on the PCC Risk Register.

Points made included:

That the risk register was aligned to the lifespan of the Police and Crime Plan (2017?2021) and the most recent review took place on 12 August 2021.  The format for the PCC risk register were updated in anticipation of the PCC elections in May, including identification of a number of new risks.

All risks were split into two categories – they were either inherent risks and would remain on the register regardless of score, or topical risks which would be removed when they had a score of 10 or under.  This would assist in ensuring focus remained on current risks and what additional mitigations or plans were needed to reduce the score and thus remove the risk from the register.

The register was a dynamic document and was intended to capture live management of risk and mitigation, rather than being a record of all possible risks.

Decision

·         The Police and Crime Panel noted the content of the report and the risk register

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner and Kieran Kilgallen the update and the report.

Philip Wilkinson, OBE – Police and Crime Commissioner &

Naji Darwish – Deputy Chief Executive, OPCC

The Commissioner and Naji Darwish – Deputy Chief Executive, OPCC outlined

the draft version of the PCC Annual Report 2010-20.

Points made included:

That as required by the Police Reform and Responsibility Act 2011, the PCC was required to produce an annual report on the performance against the Police and Crime Plan (P&C Plan).

The report identified the highlights of the year, areas to improve, progress against his plan and future challenges and opportunities. Presenting a short summary of the progress against the progress against the current P&C Plan, the priorities and the performance covering the financial year 2019-20.

Due to the recent PCC election the annual report was drafted to concisely with a focus on specific progress against the P&C Plan, noting this was commenting on a previous PCC’s plan and actions.

During preparation for the next Police and Crime Plan 2022-25 would consider overhauling the annual report and meeting the new requirements for PCCs in publishing local performance information.

A final version would be circulated to PCP members and published on the OPCC website.

That the Commissioner would continue to push the case for fairer funding for Wiltshire Police.

Decision

·        That the Police and Crime Panel noted the Annual Report as provided in draft form.

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner and Naji Darwish the update and report.

To note the forward work plan.

The forward work plan as noted with the panel keen to move things forward now the Commissioner was in post.

To note the future meeting dates below:

·         Thursday 16 December 2021 – Swindon Borough Council Offices

·         Thursday 13 January 2022 – venue to be confirmed

·         Thursday 3 February 2022 - venue to be confirmed

·         Thursday 10 March 2022 - venue to be confirmed

Future meeting dates detailed below were noted:

·         Thursday 16 December 2021 – Swindon Borough Council Offices

·         Thursday 13 January 2022 – venue to be confirmed

·         Thursday 3 February 2022 - venue to be confirmed

·         Thursday 10 March 2022 - venue to be confirmed

Cllr Russell Holland – Swindon Borough Council briefly introduced himself.

The Police and Crime Panel were asked to ratify the appointment of Cllr Russell Holland as the Deputy Commissioner

Decision

·         That the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel agreed the appointment of Cllr Russell Holland as the Deputy Commissioner