Agenda item

Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson, OBE, MPhil to provide an update.

The Area Board will also receive an update on behalf of neighbourhood police teams.

Perry Payne from Wiltshire and Swindon Road Safety Partnership gave a detailed overview of their work. He explained that the group was partnership led, being comprised of a number of organisations including Wiltshire Police, Wiltshire Council and South West Ambulance Service. Key points included:

·       The group focussed on education as well as enforcement. A key area of focus was on the so called fatal five causes of road traffic incidents, including ‘phone use.

·       Thanks were given to local Community Speed Watch volunteers.

·       Before speed watches could begin surveys were undertaken to establish whether it was safe for volunteers to be close to the road. Wiltshire Police undertook surveys in areas deemed to be unsafe for Speed Watch volunteers.

·       Since July 2020 4,904 letters had been sent to drivers about speeding within the Area Board’s area, with 382 people going on speed awareness courses. 15 people had had to attend court due to speeding offences within the Area Board’s area.

Cllr George Jeans arrived at 6:40pm.

During the discussion, points included:

·       The Area Board thanked Mr Payne for his update.

·       Chris Rothwell, Clerk at Broad Chalke Parish Council, sought further information on which Speed Indicator Devices were able to provide information to inform the Wiltshire Police database and be used to support prosecutions. It was noted that  Sarah.Holden@wiltshire.police.uk would be able to provide further information.

·       Simon Barkham, Chairman of Donhead St Andrew Parish Council, asked about the link between safety and potholes. In response, it was noted that there could be safety issues if flat tyres were caused. Mr Payne encouraged residents to report potholes through MyWilts.

·       Cllr Pauline Church noted that she had been lobbying the Police and Crime Commissioner for continued speed enforcement work along The Avenue in Wilton. She noted that The Avenue was the road in Wiltshire where the greatest amount of enforcement action had taken place.

It was noted that written updates were available from Amesbury Community Police Team (pg.27-28), Salisbury Community Police Team (pg. 29-38) and Warminster Community Police Team (pg.39-52).

Amesbury Community Police Team

Inspector Ricky Lee provided a verbal update on behalf of Amesbury Community Police Team. During the discussion, points included:

·       The Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable had been driving improvements in Wiltshire Police.

·       The response teams in Wiltshire Police had adopted a new shift pattern, with fewer but longer shifts, to ensure that more experienced officers were on duty at any one time.

·       Details were sought about whether each parish would be updated about the impact of the changes to the response team structure in their area. Inspector Lee noted that information was available online and that they would be attending more engagement events. He explained that policing was a vocation and that lots of excellent work had been going on.

·       Roger Brake from Donhead St Mary Parish Council asked about the priority being placed on tackling drug dealing. Inspector Lee noted that drug dealing was a so-called indicator crime, often being indicative of wider criminal issues. He explained that drug dealing was a high priority issue, they were using covert intelligence and new technology to tackle the problem.  

·       In response to a query from the Chairman about engagement activity in the local area, Inspector Lee highlighted that they worked closely with local schools and with vulnerable people.

·       Martin Wallis from Fovant Parish Council explained that they used a neighbourhood alert site to raise awareness of issues in the local area.

·       In reply to a question from Cllr George Jeans, Inspector Lee explained that it was possible to approach Police Community Support Officers to report incidents. Improvements were also being made in the response times for 101 calls.