Agenda item

·         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 Police Force.

·         Helping to create facilities to divert youth and young adults away from crime and anti-social behaviour.

 

Victim Support:

 

• Giving the victims of crime a higher priority, tasking a senior staff lead to support victims.
• homelessness and similar projects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tackling Crime and building community trust:

 

• Rural Crime - improving rural policing coverage and dealing with farm equipment and livestock theft, and wildlife crime - hare coursing, badger baiting, fox hunting.
• Proper attention to pet theft.

• Giving violence against women and girls more protection and attention.
• A traveller & Gypsy liaison officer to both assist where they are victims of crime and to help coordinate when travellers are believed to have been involved.
• Build a more visible policing presence through a stronger focus on community policing.
• Protect children and the vulnerable.
• Internet fraud. Build more resources to tackle cybercrime.

 

Speeding and community volunteers:

 

·         Speeding – promoting intelligent speed cameras to target those who seriously endanger all of us, with high speed and often lack of insurance a killer combination. Specifically the recognition of the value of data collected by community speed watch groups using the Auto Speed Watch system (www.autospeedwatch.com), for identifying and targeting repeat serious speeding offenders for Wiltshire Police’s own official speed cameras. The lack of support being shown to community volunteers such as CSW, which is causing a lot of disillusionment.

 

Crown Prosecution Service

 

·         Urgently work to find solutions to the appalling delays in the CPS’s schedules post COVID-19 so that victims of crime can be better served with justice and the guilty punished and rehabilitated in much more timely order.