Agenda item

To receive any verbal updates from Partners and Community Groups present, including:

·       Police – Neighbourhood Teams

·       Fire & Rescue

·       Nadder Centre

To note the following written updates attached to the agenda:

1.    Police

2.    Fire video

3.    Police & Crime Commissioner – Precept Consultation 2019 video

4.    Care Commissioning Group – January update

5.    Healthwatch Wiltshire – January update

6.    JSA Update

7.    Wiltshire Council Items for Information:

·       Special Schools Consultation

·       Polling District and Place Review

Note: Speakers are reminded that they each have a 3 minutes slot, unless they have previously discussed alternative arrangements with the Community Area Manager.

The Board noted the written papers attached from partners.

Police – Inspector Pete Sparrow

Inspector Sparrow was in charge of the Wilton area, which was a low crime area, just outside of the city. Rural crime and poaching was increasing.

During this early period of the year, we see an increase in outbuilding burglary starting to rise, usually up until Easter. In December there was a slight rise in vehicle crime, especially in beauty spots, however this only amounted to 8 offences. The total number of crimes reported last year was 321. He asked which areas people would like a report on?

Questions received included:

·       Cllr Deane - Overall crime has been reduced and you should be commended for that, but at the same time how can the PCC ask for an increase in the Police precept? Answer: My colleague will answer that under the PCC update next.

·       Mere is low on crime but there is a higher level of hare coursing there, were you doing anything about this? Answer: We do have Officers dedicated to rural crime. We had 4 dogs that were seized in the Wilton area, and 3 people arrested. In Amesbury 10 dogs were seized and 9 people arrested.

·       Pete Edge – Parking on the pavements is a problem, what is your advice when we see an occurrence? Answer: We have seen a huge increase on the demand on Police officers over the last year, if we were going to respond to every incident we would have a problem. Parking has been de-criminalised, and the majority was now handled by parking services. If it is someone that is blocking a road, and it creates a bigger problem for access, then we can help to deal with this.

·       In Fovant the residents once received a flyer from the Police saying that if they park on the pavement then they would receive a parking notice. It is an offence to block a pavement completely, but not to part obstruct. Answer: We rely on people showing courteousy by parking responsibly.

·       There has been an increase in the theft of keyless cars, what precaution can people take? Answer: We have not seen this in Wiltshire. We do see theft of keys from premises, and then they use that to take the car.

James Williams – Deputy for West Wiltshire was in attendance, as Inspector Andy Fee had moved to a temporary post in Public Protection. With regards to hare coursing, we carry out lots of patrols and have weekly prioritising meetings. There were 12 recorded patrols for hare coursing. We have had good success with a whatsapp scheme involving farmers to track and alert of hare coursers in the area.

Hindon PC – would like to thank the Fire & Rescue Service with the work they did on the house fire there.

Nadder Centre

The Messums art project was moving forward and would be picked up by the new CEM when she was in role.

There were plans to showcase the work of local artists at the centre.

Deputy PCC – Jerry Herbert

The Police Precept video was shown. Deadline for submissions to the consultation was midday Thursday 31 January.

The PCC was asking for a raise of £2 a month from an average band D property. This would allow us to raise the resources we are able to give the chief constable.

We will have an increase from the Home Office, however this would not cover the salary rise agreed for all staff. Last year we dipped into our reserves to a sum of £750 million, we cannot continue to do that.

We would be recruiting a further 41 officers this year.  Targeted at reinforcing the community teams and two new teams.

Questions:

·       If the rise was £2 per band D property, the overall budget would go up by £7m. What would that be for? Answer: The total police budget this year was £110m, it would be £117m next year.

·       An increase of 41 Officers, but what types? Answer: All would be Police Officers with warrant cards and 2 additional special division officers.

·       How optimistic were you in recruiting these 41 Officers and was the drop out quite high? Answer: This year we need to recruit 110 officers, there was a degree of natural wastage and some come to the end of their career. Our last 2 courses were full. We have another 2 to start early in the new financial year, which we already have candidates vetted and ready to start. In the south wilts policing team in November 10 new students started. One per team. When they finish their tutorship phase next week they will be going out as fully trained officers.

·       The event in Salisbury last year must have dug into your budget? Answer: Fortunately, that had no effect on the budget as the PCC lobbied the Home Office for repayment of the expenses. We have had confirmation that the Home Office will also settle all of the outstanding additional costs.

·       We do not know what will happen after Brexit. What advice have you been given for this? Answer: There had been a Brexit planning team working for some time, jointly with partners. National Policing Reinforcement requirement was in place. Our Officers and staff worked incredibly hard during 2018, they will be ready to do so again if required.

·       The 2% would go to the PCC which equates to £100k, that could be better directed don’t you think? Answer: The PCC was increasingly commissioning services other than the Chief constable. There are times and places when it may be appropriate to spend money in other ways, in providing police as well as crime prevention initiatives. There were a range of things that are not always best done by the police service.

·       Elizabeth Forbes – What was the impact in terms of accountability with regards to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests and what was your attitude on the performance of those outsourced bodies? Answer: The FoI regulations apply equally to the OPCC and we respond in the same way that anyone else does. There may be occasions where the request relates to sensitive information. There does not seem to be an issue and we comply with the regulations.

Wiltshire Council Updates

Special Needs Schools consultation was running – the Council had proposed to close two special schools and to build a state of the art facility to serve those families that used these services.