Agenda item

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 of ethnic officers into the force.

·         Complaints – the importance to getting things properly investigated and the culture changed where needed.

·         Frustrations re CPT Inspectors and officers that keep moving on, would like better continuity and be able to form better relationships with local officers, and a better handover process when they move onto other duties.

The Commissioner gave a brief update on Operation Uplift.

That the Force remained on track to deliver the requirements of Uplift and increase the number of officers in Wiltshire Police. The year to 31 March 2022 would be the second year of the Uplift Programme.

That plans were in place to achieve the second phase of the requirement and assessments by the national programme team placed Wiltshire in a good position.

Wiltshire had been allocated 46 extra officers by March 2022. Allocation of additional officers in year two also included allocations specifically to tackle Serious and Organised Crime (SOC), and an allocation to Counter-Terrorism Police (CTP). Funding for tackling SOC would be shared across the network of Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs).

In order to achieve the uplift numbers, in addition to maintaining the numbers required due to officers leaving the organisation, Wiltshire would be required to recruit approximately over 400 officers up to March 2023. It was estimated at this stage that one in eight applicants got through the process, resulting in needing approximately 3,200 applicants for police officer jobs in Wiltshire.

That Wiltshire Police ran a campaign in May 2021 which were currently going through the recruitment process which included familiarisation, vetting, fitness, assessment and qualification checks. Successful candidates would be starting in January 2022 at the earliest. The next intake advert was being planned for early 2022, taking the learning from previous campaigns.

Decision

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

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