Agenda item

The Commissioner presented his report for data reported for Quarter 1 -2020/2021 Performance Overview which was contained in the agenda pack.

 

Points made included:

 

Crime Volume

 

·       April-2020 was highlighting as a significant exceptional low with 2,518 crimes recorded. This was to be expected considering the recent impact of COVID-19 on the overall crime position within particular crime groups.

 

·       The increases in recorded crime for May and June-2020 correlated with the relaxation of lockdown guidelines by the government.

 

·       The monthly and rolling 12 month forecast was showing a decline in volumes.

 

·       The year on year change to June-2020 of -4.4% had been significantly impacted by the decrease in reported crime.

 

·       Police recorded crime had decreased nationally by -3.9 per cent in the 12 months to May 2020 and -2.8 per cent regionally. Meaning Wiltshire was in line with national increases but significantly below forces within our most similar group (MSG).

 

Hate Crime

 

·       There were 81 reported hate crimes in June-20, highlighting as an exceptional high and breaching the upper limit, 54 (66%) were racially motivated. There were also 25 hate incidents recorded, also considered as exceptional.

 

·       Exceptional increases were experienced in Salisbury (15), Amesbury (8) and Chippenham (6) CPTs.

 

·       Hate Crime volumes increased week on week in June-2020, with the week ending 28/06 being most impacted.

 

·       The Black Lives Matter Movement saw: (resulting in 8 hate crimes being reported), 300 people gathered in Trowbridge on the 04/06, 1,000 people gathered in Swindon and Salisbury on the 06/06, 150 people gathered in Melksham on the 07/06.

 

A discussion ensued. It was agreed that the OPCC would bring a report to the December meeting outlining how Wiltshire Police were supporting victims of hate crime.

Volume of Domestic Abuse

 

·       That the long term trend for domestic abuse crime in Wiltshire continued to increase in line with the national trend with June-2020 being the first exceptionally high month in the last 2 years. These increases were reported as exceptional highs within Chippenham, Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon CPT’s. This exception correlated with the easing in lockdown restrictions.

 

·       That there had been a significant reduction in reported high risk cases. In contrast, partner agencies were reporting an increase in more complex cases.

 

·       Wiltshire Police had invested in radio media campaign, Facebook live sessions and promoted multiagency social media campaign all encouraging reporting.

 

It was agreed that the OPCC would email the panel members with statistics highlighting - How does Wiltshire Police compare to its MFS group.

 

 

Number of Actual Sickness Days lost per person

 

·       That Quarter 1 2020/2021 had seen a reduction in sickness. With June-2020, being the lowest volume since September 2017 with 1738 sickness days lost (0.8 days lost per person).

 

·       June-2020 experienced 42% of all sickness being classified as psychological.

 

·       A slight increasing trend over the previous 24 months was still present (7%). However, if volumes continued to reduce or remain stable a downward trend was likely over the coming months.

 

·       The reduction in volume was attributed to long term members of staff returning from sickness and increased data quality.  Staff from our human resources department were focusing on ensuring the records were accurate, in conjunction with daily data quality meetings to identify anomalies within records.

 

It was agreed that the OPCC would email the panel members with statistics outlining - why 42% of sickness is classified as psychological.

 

 

Covid-19 Issued Fixed Penalty Notices

 

Panel members raised concerned that they felt that Wiltshire Police and Wiltshire Council were not actively enforcing law breaking concerning the non-wearing of masks in shops. It was felt that Wiltshire Police and Wiltshire Council needed to show that they took this issue seriously and would not tolerate any members of the public who were flouting the rule re masks.

 

 

Tri-Force

 

·       That Wiltshire Police had worked in collaboration with Avon & Somerset Constabulary and Gloucestershire Constabulary for the shared provision of Specialist Operations including Firearms Officers, Roads Policing & Collision Investigation and Dog Handlers, entering into a ‘Tri-Force’ collaboration agreement with effect from April 2014.

 

·       As of 19th April 2019, the collaboration had been formally disbanded following concerns over the impact on governance of proposed changes to the model, although some elements such as the shared Black Rock firearms training facility remain in operation.

 

·       Disaggregating the collaboration and bolstering the resilience of the respective specialist teams with additional local resource carried an anticipated cost implication of c.£860k per annum; however, it was anticipated that benefits would be realised in terms of their increased contribution to local policing priorities.

 

·      In anticipation of the dissolution of the Tri-Force collaboration, an internal audit was included within the 2019/20 annual plan.

 

·       Phase 3 of the implementation of HQ Operations involved a review of the performance of the current HQ Operations model and was done in tandem with the Force Management Statement.

 

·       HQ Operations frequently assisted local CPT’s with community priorities which either required additional support or specialist assets.

 

·       HQ Operations were tasked via the Force Incident Manager for Spontaneous Work or for Pre-Planned, Force Tasking Fortnightly and also via local Tasking Meetings which the HQ Operations Department Leads attend.

 

·       Local priorities where HQ Operations could be an assistance were provided to the HQ Operations Department Leads and then this was tasked directly to officers on HQ Operations.

 

·       The process of tasking had been noted as being successful, it was responsive to the needs or local CPT’s and could flex to provide support in Surge Demand.

 

It was noted that Wiltshire Police had had to undertake a major exercise in un-ravelling all the strands from the Tri-Force collaboration, and that this should be considered when entering into any future collaborations.

Risk Register

Kieran Kilgallen - Chief Executive, OPCC outlined the risk register which was contained in the agenda pack.

Points made included:

·       That the risk register was aligned to the lifespan of the Police and Crime Plan (2017?2021) and had been reviewed and updated as at 30 July 2020.

 

·       That all risks were split into two categories – they were either inherent risks and would remain on the register regardless of score, or topical risks which would be removed when they had a score of 10 or under.  This would assist in ensuring focus remains on current risks and what additional mitigations or plans were needed to reduce the score and thus removed the risk from the register.

 

·       That the register was a dynamic document and was intended to capture live management of risk and mitigation, rather than being a record of all possible risks.

 

 

The Risk Register was noted.

 

The OPCC were congratulated for the new style of the risk register, which it was felt was now easier to navigate.

Report on the Monitoring of Professional Standards, Integrity and Complaint Appeals

Kieran Kilgallen - Chief Executive, OPCC outlined the report which was contained in the agenda pack. The report provided the Police and Crime Panel with an update on the monitoring of professional standards, integrity and complaint appeals for the period April 2019 to March 2020.

 

Points made included:

 

·       That a key element in evaluating performance involves comparisons with the performance of our Most Similar Forces (MSFs) and the national picture. IOPC had yet to provide this data or indicate when they would be in a position to do so. The Independent Adjudicator therefore analysed the data available from the Force system at the cut-off date of 31^st March 2020. The analysis was likely to err to the pessimistic in consequence, but otherwise gave a reasonable indication of the efficiency and effectiveness with which PSD handled complaints, had monitored and responded to potential corrupt practice and implemented integrity checks.

 

·       The Policing and Crime Act 2017 changed the processes for the handling of complaints and conduct matters as of 1^st February 2020. The provisions allow Professional Standards Departments to not record or investigate Complaints below the conduct threshold if they could be finalised by a process of Service Recovery (SR); i.e. a triage process in which complainants are provided with an explanation and, where appropriate, an apology for any failures to provide a reasonable service. This process would be conducted through OPCC from September 2020.

 

·       In June 2019 two Independent Resilience Adjudicators were appointed and trained.

 

·       The change to the system had necessarily confined performance review to the period 1^st April 2019 to 31^st January 2020.  The Adjudicator did however include a short resume of experience in the handling of complaints under the new regime for the two month period 1^st February- 31^st March 2020.

 

It was agreed that the OPCC would email panel members for information on – Table A: PSD Complaint Handling Performance.

 

The Chairman thanked the Commissioner and Kieran Kilgallen for their respective reports.