Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Cllr Glenis Ansell – Wiltshire Council, Cllr Oliver Donachie – Swindon Borough Council and Carlton Brand – Corporate Director, Wiltshire Council.

The Chairman thanked Kirsty Butcher – Senior Democratic Services Officer, Wiltshire Council and Emma Dove – Scrutiny Officer, Wiltshire Council, for their hard work in supporting the Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Peter Hutton and Cllr Andrew Bennett for their help in the interview process for the vacant Independent Panel member.

Resolved:

·       The Panel endorsed the appointment of Cindy Creasy as an Independent Co-Opted member.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2014.

Decision:

The minutes of the meeting held on the 11^th June 2014 were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Chairman welcomed the Commissioner back to the meeting after his recent illness.

The Chairman advised that he had partaken in a number of constructive conversations with the OPCC about how to ensure that the Panel was doing everything it could to support the Commissioner in the delivery of his Police and Crime Plan.

The Chairman felt that in order for the Panel to do this it was important that:

·       Give an appropriate amount of time and focus on the Commissioner’s key work areas.

·       Where possible, do this from the beginning of the process – giving the Commissioner feedback on projects and initiatives when they are being developed, rather than at the end of the process when they were being implemented.

The Commissioner had provided a letter that detailed what his four key work priorities were at the moment, these were:

1.     The strategic integration with Wiltshire and Swindon Borough Council.

2.     The Regional Vision for Collaboration.

3.     The Performance Culture Review.

4.     The Systems Thinking Review of Service Delivery.

The Chairman advised that the Panel had already been invited to contribute to the Police Performance Culture Review, with members being invited to take part in a working group to engage with the OPCC on this review.

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 29 August 2014. 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 were no issues raised under Public Participation.

The Police and Crime Commissioner and Paul Mills, Business Analyst for Wiltshire Council, will give a presentation on the new Wiltshire and Swindon Community Messaging system.

From Monday 18 August 2014 Wiltshire and Swindon Community Messaging went live in four initial neighbourhood policing areas - Malmesbury, Pewsey, Swindon West and Warminster.

Wiltshire and Swindon Community Messaging is part of a national system called Neighbourhood Alert, which is used by national Neighbourhood Watch and other police forces.

Further information can be found at https://www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk/

Paul Mills, Business Analyst for Wiltshire Council, gave a presentation on the new Wiltshire and Swindon Community Messaging system.

Points made included:

·       Wiltshire and Swindon Community Messaging had been live since Monday 18 August 2014.

·       The service was being initially piloted in four neighbourhood policing areas - Malmesbury, Pewsey, Swindon West and Warminster.

·       Wiltshire and Swindon Community Messaging was part of a national system called Neighbourhood Alert, which is used by national Neighbourhood Watch and other police forces.

·       The system was a localised version of social media, using real time messaging.

·       Further information could be found at https://www.wiltsmessaging.co.uk/

Questions raised included:

Would local officers all receive the same level of training, to ensure the same level of service in all areas?

a.Yes, Sector Inspectors were all on board to use the system.

Will this system be able to help with food warnings etc?

a.Yes,The system is very much a localised version of social media, using real time messaging.

How is the system being promoted?

a.Through the Neighbourhood Policing Teams, social media, Area Boards and Parish Councils.

Can we be assured that the system would not be swamped with community messages, rather than police related issues.

a.Yes. Individual users can chose just how much information they wish to receive.

When will the system be rolled out?

a.Full roll out is scheduled for October/November 2014.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the presentation.

The Chairman thanked Paul Mills for his presentation.

To receive the PCC’s diary report.

The PCC Diary report which set out a summary of commitments the Commissioner had undertaken since the last Police and Crime Panel meeting on 11 June 2014 was presented to the Panel.

The Commissioner advised that:

·       He was pleased that the OPPC had functioned well during his enforced absence and thanked his staff for their hard work during this period.

·       Since being back in the office he had attended several meetings with the constabulary and was pleased to have chaired the Commissioner’s Monitoring Board which brought together chief officers and OPPC senior staff.

·       That it was hoped that members would visit the Crime & Communications Centre.

·       Police and NPT teams were now working out of Bourne Hill, Salisbury with the old Wilton Road site now available for the UTC development to commence.

·       Plans were on track to re-site a custody suite back in Salisbury, Mellksham custody suite was currently being used by Salisbury Police.

Questions raised included:

When would the old Chippenham Police station be sold?

a.It is currently on the market, any updates on a sale would be given at future PCP and Chippenham Area Board meetings.

What is the status of Police Cadets?

a.Purely voluntary. It’s all about engaging young people, many who have struggled with behavioural issues. It a great way of fostering team spirit etc.

The Commissioner advised that he would give an update on the Police Cadets in six months time to the PCP.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the PCC’s diary report.

The Police and Crime Commissioner to present a report on the progress made to deliver the priorities set out in the Police and Crime Plan 2013-17. These are:

·         Reducing crime and anti-social behaviour

·         Protecting the most vulnerable in society

·         Putting victims and witnesses first

·         Reducing offending and re-offending

·         Driving up standards of customer service

·         Ensuring unfailing and timely response to calls for help

·         Unlocking the resources to deliver (the priorities)

Members are asked to consider the performance information provided and comment as appropriate.

The Quarterly data (Q1) report was presented to the Panel by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner advised that for some time, he had had reservations about the use of targets to measure the performance of Wiltshire Police. It was widely agreed that target driven organisations can leave themselves open to perverse behaviour as managers seek to deliver the desired targets, almost at any cost.

These concerns were shared by a number of well respected national professional bodies, including the UK Statistics Authority. In January 2014, the authority announced that it was stripping the official ‘gold standard’ status from police recorded crime statistics. A month earlier, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police conceded that there was ‘cause for concern’ about police statistics.

The Chief Executive advised that a “Gate Keeping” process had been put in place by Wiltshire Police with an independent panel who now decided which incidents should be recorded as crimes and the category of those crimes.

Questions raised included:

If there were to be no targets how do we know that Wiltshire Police was doing its job to a good standard?

a.Wiltshire Police would continue to set targets and measure them.

How would you deal with Performance if no targets were set?

a.The Chairman advised that the OPPC had invited the PCP to become involved more with its Performance, with a task group looking at this topic.

Would the PCP have access to the decisions of the Gate Keeping Panel?

a.Yes. The panel’s decisions would be made available to the PCP.

Well done to Wiltshire Police for trying to get it right, but what about the other Police forces, how would Wiltshire’s statistics match against their’s?

a.Wiltshire Police wants its statistics to be a fair and accurate picture of what is happening in Wiltshire.

PCC Priority Scorecard 2014/15

The scorecard is graded as “Fair”, how do you get from “Fair” to “Good”?

a.The scorecard has a weighted score which is consistently applied.

Reducing Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

Public Opinion Survey - Results for the most recent survey conducted in early 2014 had recently been received by the Force and analysis would commence shortly. Therefore the results within this report are the same as published in the annual report last year?

a.Data for this was not available for this report, but the analysis would go into the next report.

Protecting the most vulnerable in society – the graph shows a difference of 44.4%?

a.This was a national figure and not just Wiltshire.

Putting victims and witnesses first

Neighbourhood Justice Panels – how many have been requested and Completed?

a.25 Neighbourhood Justice Panels had been requested with 17 local resolutions completed.

Victim Satisfaction – Why had the figure dipped and then risen?

a.The figure had to be looked at in context.

Driving up the standards of customer service

Prosecutions that fail due to the quality of Police input – What are Wiltshire Police doing to improve on this?

a.In the short term more Gatekeepers involved in the process,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

The Police and Crime Commissioner will present an update to the Police and Crime Plan 2013-17. This includes updates in the following areas:

Update 1 - Commissioning victims’ services

Update 2 - Restorative justice commissioning

Update 3 - Finance in the new structure

Update 4 - Volunteering strategy

Update 5 - Complaints and professional standards

Update 6 - Structure of the office of the Police and Crime Commissioner

Update 7 - Key statistics

Update 8 - Special Constabulary

Update 9 - Governance of the Constabulary

Members are asked to consider the updates to the Police and Crime Plan 2013-14 and comment as appropriate.

The Commissioner presented an update to the Police and Crime Plan 2013-17. The Commissioner advised that he was looking to getting the Plan back to an April – April time frame.

Questions raised included:

How can you improve engagement to your role and the plan?

a.it is a big job to promote the role of Police Commissioner. Press coverage has become better than it was.

Complaints and professional standards – Complaints against Wiltshire Police increased last year, why?

a.Greater confidence in the complaints process is driving up the number of complaints. Many complaints are also precursors to a civil claim.

Innovation Fund – Will any funds not used be rolled over?

a.It wasn’t planned that the Innovation Fund would be an ongoing scheme. Current recipients of the fund will be evaluated at the end of the year.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the update report.

The Police and Crime Commissioner to present his response to the Final Report of the Volunteers and Special Constables Task Group.

The task group was established by the PCP in November 2013 and its work focused on two key themes:

1. Special Constables

2. Community Safety Volunteers and ‘Watch’ schemes.

The task group’s final report included seven recommendations intended to support the delivery of the ambitions for Special Constables and Volunteers described in the Police and Crime Plan 2013-17. It can be viewed on the Wiltshire Council website here:

http://cms.wiltshire.gov.uk/documents/s74607/13.%20Final%20Report%20of%20the%20PCP%20Volunteer%20Task%20Group.pdf

It was noted by the PCP in June 2014 and referred to the Police and Crime Commissioner for response.

Members are asked to consider the response provided and comment as appropriate.

The Police and Crime Commissioner presented his response to the Final Report of the Volunteers and Special Constables Task Group.

The task group was established by the PCP in November 2013 and its work

focused on two key themes:

1. Special Constables

2. Community Safety Volunteers and ‘Watch’ schemes.

The Chairman expressed surprise that the PCC had made no reference in his Police and Crime Plan updates to the PCP’s review.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the report.

A report from the Senior Scrutiny Officer providing an update on task group activity since the PCP’s previous meeting.

Members are asked to note the update.

A report was presented by the Senior Scrutiny Officer providing an update on task group activity since the PCP’s previous meeting.

Resolved:

That Panel noted the update report.

To note the forward work plan.

Resolved:

The Panel noted the forward work plan.

The next meeting of the Police and Crime Panel will be on the 19 November 2014 at Committee Room VI, Civic Office, Euclid St, Swindon SN1 2JH.

·       19th November 2014 at Committee Room VI, Civic Office, Euclid St, Swindon SN1 2JH.