Agenda item

Open floor session with updates from partners, parishes and free flow discussion.

Verbal Updates

To receive any verbal updates from representatives, including:

·       Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service – District Commander Chris Wood

·       Wiltshire Police – Inspector Ricky Lee

·       Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – John Derryman (Head of Strategy, Performance and Oversight)

·       Town and Parish Councils

The Board received the following verbal updates:

·       Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS).

District Commander Mark Hillier was in attendance to represent the DWFRS rather than Station Manager Chris Wood as stated on the agenda. The DWFRS written update could be found in agenda supplement 1. The service undertook a lot of work on prevention, particularly aimed at those considered most at risk. This was mainly undertaken through their Safe and Well visits. Anyone interested in fire safety should get in touch and further details could be found at https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safe-and-well-visits/. The service was also undertaking business fire safety checks.

Recruitment was ongoing, further details could be found at https://www.dwfire.org.uk/working-for-us/on-call-firefighters/.

Building works were underway at Amesbury Fire Station. The station would soon be fully crewed during the day, and on call fire fighters would cover the night.

Incidents with E-bikes and E-scooters were highlighted, in relation to risks with the batteries failing or ‘exploding’ when being charged, which could rapidly lead to a fire. The advice was to not leave them charging unattended, particularly overnight. Full details could be found here: https://www.dwfire.org.uk/safety/safety-at-home/causes-of-fires/e-bikes-and-e-scooters/.

The representative also announced that very sadly one of the Amesbury fire fighters, Dean Hardy, had passed away suddenly at his home in August. The entire service was shocked and saddened, and thoughts went out to his family.

Incidents of interest were stated to include a large fire in flats in Sandell Place in Amesbury and a collision on the A303 were very sadly an 11 year old boy lost his life.

In response to questions regarding the recent fire at Sandell Place, the representative stated that the fire was being treated as deliberate and started in a rubbish heap. However, the investigation was ongoing and therefore he could not comment further on the matter. 

·       Wiltshire Police – Inspector Ricky Lee

Inspector Lee had been unable to attend so there was no update from the police, other than the written update in the agenda pack.

·       Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson (OBE)

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) gave an update regarding where the force where in terms of getting out of special measures and the ‘engage’ process, and on the Police and Crime Plan which he produced 2 years ago based on the concerns of residents. The PCC’s role was to hold the Police Constable to account.

The PCC detailed how, when he was elected, the force contained some great police officers, however it had been led by Committee, with around 40 boards. He was very robust in his challenges in terms of the huge improvements needed. Then, His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection took place, the results of which led to the force being put into special measures, reinforcing his observations and enabling him to push harder for improvements. The PCC stated that he would never stop pushing for improvement, even when the force came out of the engage process. It was thought that in March 2024 the force would be rated ‘adequate’ and he would continue to push for improvements until the force was rated ‘outstanding’.  

Under the first priority of the Police and Crime Plan: ‘A police service that meets the needs of its communities’, the PCC was working on engaging with the community and on improving the contact centre response, in particular the response to 101 calls. Two new mobile police stations had been acquired, bring the total to four. The PCC hoped to see these make regular appearances at town and village locations. The Chief Constable was revising the shift pattern for officers, reducing bureaucracy and introducing new technology, so that officers could spend more time investigating crimes.

Under the second priority ‘Reduce violence and serious harm’, the PCC stated that he had collaborated with other South West police forces to address county lines drug dealing. ‘Operation Scorpion’ had been underway for two years and tackled drug related crime. Wiltshire Police was now the top force in the country when it came to county lines disruption. Also under this priority were rape and serious sexual offences. Wiltshire Police had previously had the lowest successful outcome rate in the UK for these offences (approximately 2%). They were now in the top quarter, however this still only equated to 11% successful outcomes, so he would work further to improve this.

Under the third priority ‘Tackle crimes that matter most to local communities’, a lot of work had been undertaken regarding Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB). Extra funds had been acquired from government to help tackle this. When there was a spike in ASB in an area, the PCC would convene local stakeholders who would all work together to tackle not just the symptoms but also the causes of ASB. ASB was down by 48%. Rural crime was another important issue. The number of officers in the rural crime team had been increased, and they now had infra-red night vision equipment and drones. ‘Operation Ragwort’ had been underway and addressed serious rural crime by organised crime gangs. The PCC wanted the police to be proactive and a new intelligence structure was being set up, using the skills the PCC had used in the military to tackle terrorism.

The fourth priority was ‘Improve the experience of victims and deliver justice’. A lot of money had been put into this, in particular to support the victims of rape and serious sexual offences through the criminal justice process.  Likewise, the work to improve the contact centre would help to improve experiences, but there was still a lot of work to do.

A question was asked regarding gypsy/traveller illegal encampments, and why those from the encampment who were known to be committing crimes were not arrested, and why they were not prosecuted over the mess left behind at these sites. In response the PCC stated that he felt those committing crimes should be arrested, and he was trying to implement cultural change within the force so that they were more proactive. He also noted regarding the mess left behind, that Wiltshire Council could enforce for fly tipping.

A question was asked regarding the planning application submitted for the new police station at High Post, as it was for a three storey building which would be visible from Old Sarum and there was a large amount of local objection to the proposal. The PCC responded that they were perusing four different options for the police station. He would not close down any option at this time. All of the sites were facing more and more complex issues. The PCC stated that everyone wanted a police station in the south of the county, but no one wanted it to be near them. The site at High Post would go through the planning process, which was a democratic legal process.

·       Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner – John Derryman (Head of Strategy, Performance and Oversight)

Mr Derryman explained that he undertook a lot of work on Community Speed Watch (CSW). Across Wiltshire and Swindon there were over 100 CSW teams with over 1000 volunteers. The wanted to make better use of the data collected by Speed Indicator Devices (SIDs). They were the first police force in the UK to accept data from SIDs into their system. There had been around 117 submissions since July with over 5 million journeys logged. That data was then analysed to identify hot spots so that targeted enforcement could take place. Data regarding enforcement could be seen on the PCC website: https://www.wiltshire-pcc.gov.uk/your-pcc/campaigns/road-safety/ and local data could be seen on page 65 of the agenda pack. Mr Derryman thanked everyone involved and encouraged any parishes with a SID that was not registered, to get it registered. A Road Safety Partnership Manager had recently been recruited who would help to strengthen the use of data.

A member of the audience highlighted that speed and safety assessments had taken place in their villages, which sometimes gave inaccurate results regarding the number of accidents, as only accidents where someone was injured were recorded. This was felt to be a problem and that all accidents should be included.

Mr Derryman stated that the Road Safety Partnership Manager role would hopefully improve this. They were aiming to get to a point where on the website, you could put in a postcode and it would tell you about accidents, enforcement and the safety profile for that postcode. Data was collected from the police, fire service and ambulance service, but it was acknowledged that better data was required, which needed to be available more quickly and be available online for residents to view.

An audience member queried which were the best SIDs, as some were now available where you could download the data via Bluetooth, and whether advice could be given regarding that. Mr Derryman stated that any SID from which you could download data was good. The EVOLIS SIDs seemed to be most compatible with the police systems. Data needed to be downloaded in csv files. However, it was noted that other SIDs were available.

In response to questions about the placement of SIDs, it was explained that they would check the placement of a SID prior to accepting data from it. If a SID was placed too close to where a speed limit changed, for example where a 60mph limit goes to a 30mph limit, then it may pick up people outside of the 30mph limit and it would seem that they were speeding, when they were not. This would essentially give false data. Hence the location checks that took place to ensure they were placed correctly, and that data fed into the system was sound and accurate.

The PCC highlighted that they did not want to penalise motorists but wanted to deter them from speeding. It was hoped the effect of robust enforcement was that people would be deterred from speeding.

·       Town and Parish Councils

There were no updates.