Tidworth Area Board is pleased to welcome the Police & Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson OBE.
Minutes:
The board welcomed the Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson OBE, who gave a verbal presentation.
Points to note:
The Police and Crime Commissioner had been in post for 2 years and described his main aim as to challenge the Wiltshire Police Force to perform better than it had been in order to reach the level it should be.
Wiltshire’s Police Force was described as having some fantastic police officers, which unfortunately had not been given the support and resources needed.
Four priorities were stated as central to the work of the PCC and his office:
• A more effective and efficient Police Force, including an improvement to response times.
• A reduction in violent crimes, specifically sexual crimes which has improved from a 2% conviction rate to over 11%, with the expectation that this figure will continue to improve. Drug crimes have also been prioritised through Operation Scorpion to focus on specific targets committing drug crimes. Wiltshire Council is now the top Force in county line drug disruption.
• Tackling crimes highlighted by the community, specifically road safety. Community Speedwatch was highlighted as really important to this priority and enforcement statistics had massively improved through ticketing and other enforcement actions. Antisocial behaviour was also highlighted as a community priority.
• Rural Crime. The local Rural Crime Unit had been given better equipment in the form of drones and night vision to better tackle specifically organised crime gangs committing rural crimes against farmers. Operation Ragwort was highlighted as a specific initiative to tackle this.
The board also welcomed the Chief Constable, Catherine Roper, who gave a verbal presentation.
Points to note:
The Chief Constable had been in post 6 months and described policing in Wiltshire as a situation where fantastic staff had earned her trust and confidence, however, operational issues had led to the force being graded poorly and placed in special measures. This was noted as largely being due to not recognising vulnerable persons and their challenges. Although Wiltshire is the safest county in the country, when incidents had occurred the response was not adequate.
The Chief Constable was very conscious that the foundations of Wiltshire Police needed to be rebuilt, and that as trust and confidence in the force had declined the morale within the force had declined as a result.
Rebuilding the fundamentals of Wiltshire Police would lead to being brought out of special measures. This included work already underway on the business-as-usual delivery plan, restructuring the senior management and performance frameworks and refocusing crime-tackling priorities.
Other areas of improvement included:
• Visibility on the roads to deter criminals.
• Recruitment activities, with emphasis given to opportunities for those in a gap year.
• The Evolve programme, allowing those most involved in day-to-day activity to give their views on where improvements can be made.
• Auditing and inspections, ensuring progress had been made through regular reports to the PCC. Every 6 months the Chief Constable and PCC attend Whitehall to face numerous questions and explain how improvements had been made.
• The speed at which calls are answered. The Chief Constable receives a daily report on the number of calls and how quickly the needs of the caller had been understood and actioned. Teams have arrived quicker than national targets.
In response to a question about recruitment, it was clarified that 162 new police officers have been recruited since the PCC was appointed. Recruitment was mentioned as having been overhauled to improve these numbers further and making use of military veterans who had a lot to offer to Wiltshire Police. Recruitment had been made not just at Police Constable level but at every rank and department.
In response to a question about foot patrols, it was clarified that mobile police stations had been deployed to improve contact with the public. Commitments had been made to ensure regular patrols and presence and “hotspot” policing based on intelligence that was gathered.