To receive an update from the Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson.
Minutes:
Cllr Christopher Newbury took Chair of the meeting at this point.
The Area Board received an update from Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Philip Wilkinson. The update covered the following matters:
· An overview of the role of the PCC was provided, with it noted that his job was to hold the Chief Constable and Police force to account for the delivery of an effective policing service.
· When the PCC arrived in his post, radical reform was needed, and this was highlighted when Wiltshire Police was placed into special measures “engage” in summer 2022.
· The PCC listened to residents of Swindon and Wiltshire to produce a police and crime plan.
· The Police operational model had been improved with more officers now on the frontline to improve outreach as well as that two mobile Police stations had been funded.
· It was highlighted that an area for improvement was the response times to 101 calls in the call centre, however the Chief Constable had put radical reforms in place with increased staffing, new technology and better shift systems. The PCC now also received a daily report on response times and huge improvement has been made.
· Regarding drugs and County Lines, collaborative work (Operation Scorpion) had taken place with all five Police forces across the Southwest, with all five of the forces now within the top ten performing forces nationally for County line disruption. Currently Wiltshire is the top performing force in this area.
· It was highlighted that for high harm violence crimes, Wiltshire had previously been one of the lowest performing forces with a 2% success rate, however this had now risen to 12/13% with the Chief Constable focused on driving performance.
· More work was being conducted towards victim support, with the force looking to better engage with victims as well as preventative and early engagement action.
· The rural crime team had now been expanded as well as having new equipment, with an aim of targeting organised crime groups in the county and a piece of collaborative work with the other Southwest forces set to follow.
· It was outlined that in 2021 Wiltshire Police had issued 192 speeding tickets, compared to this year where over 6,000 tickets had already been issued.
After the verbal update, there was time for the following questions and points to be made:
· Gratitude was placed towards the work conducted by the PCC.
· Praise was placed for the SID data programme, which had been very encouraging in areas such as Chapmanslade.
· Concern was raised from representatives of Corsley, Chapmanslade and Maiden Bradley, who reported that they had experienced issues with lorry weight limit enforcement in their areas; with examples cited of HGVs climbing pavements and often speeding with heavy freight. The PCC noted these concerns and stated that he would speak with colleagues to produce a comprehensive solution to the problem, with more money promised to assist such concerns. It was also noted that in the Devizes Police Headquarters, data and resources were available on a 24-hour basis.
· Further concern was raised regarding lorries speeding, to which the PCC noted this could be addressed through the local team or by a specialist team. Project Zero cited as a particular operation which could be used to help.
· Clarity was provided regarding the number of officers recruited by Wiltshire Police, with it cited that 162 officers had been recruited over the past two years and that retention levels had levelled with better leadership now provided by the new Chief Constable.
· It was stated that though Wiltshire had the second lowest crime rate per capita in the country, residents should report crime as it was likely that there was a lot of instances that the Police were not aware of.