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Mr Anthony Stansfeld will provide a verbal update outlining his intentions for refreshing the Police & Crime Plan for 2013-17 and the achievements of his first year in office, as will be outlined in the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Annual Report, when it is published later this month. Mr Anthony Stansfeld will take questions following item 6.
Minutes:
Anthony Stansfeld, Police and Crime update outlining his intentions for refreshing the Police & Crime Plan for 2013-17 and the achievements of his first year in office, highlighting the 3 key priorities of his first Plan of domestic burglary, protecting vulnerable people and rural crime. After a year and a half he was updating his plan with a particular focus on a number of key areas including female genital mutilation, fraud and cyber crime, police file quality and the ethics panel.
During questioning the following points were raised:
(1) Responding to comments on the level of unreported crime Sara Thornton stated that they were aware of the difference between the crime survey for England and Wales which was about double reported crime. This figure has remained consistent. It was very easy to report crime with the 101 number answered by trained people. Responding to the challenge that people did not report because not much happened she added that some people may have had bad experiences some years ago. Also realistically there were occasions where there were no lines of enquiry and an investigation draws a blank. In the past it had sometimes been about poor feedback and email addresses were now captured to make it as easy as possible for officers to follow up with victims. Anthony Stansfeld added that they had been inspected two years ago and had an excellent report. Certain crimes do get reported, burglaries and murder and crime was coming down. There was an issue with crime in the countryside but action was now taken and crime was being reported.
(2) Responding to a suggestion that Force neighbours should learn from one another Sara Thornton gave an assurance that they worked very closely together.
(3) Asked his views on a National Police Force Anthony Stansfeld replied that there had been debate and Forces could not agree on a way forward.
(4) Members referred to the stress and long term sickness levels of police officers and queried if it could be linked to the need to do more with less? Sara Thornton replied that she had regular meetings looking at sickness levels as it was something she believed needed to be managed very closely.
(5) Councillors highlighted individual crime figures for their own areas with Sara Thornton responding by providing a context noting that often the percentages were based on very low figures with small changes affecting the percentage figures. She could produce those figures for members with the raw numbers rather than in percentages.
(6) Asked how he knew which crimes were of most concern Anthony Stansfeld advised that he had visited every Council and took their concerns into account alongside the concerns coming from the NAGs.
(7) There was some discussion of the fear of crime and the impact of low level anti-social behaviour. Sara Thornton referred to the structure in place to identify and resolve local issues but the issue was whether they would be able to continue to support neighbourhood policing.
(8) There was discussion of the perception of the Police and Anthony Stansfeld refuted that the perception was appalling in the Thames Valley. On the contrary perception of the Police was good. Sara added that they were not complacent although the figures in the crime survey for England and Wales, which she could provide, showed a difference between the data and press reporting. Pressure and scrutiny on officers was never higher and she highlighted actions being taken.
(9) Responding to a question on the proportion of those arrested being cautioned or charged and how many of those went on to a successful prosecution Sara Thornton replied that of those arrested about a third were charged, received a caution or fixed penalty notice. However the threshold for arrest was lower than the threshold for charging so there would always be a gap. She took the point made by the Chairman that if arresting too liberally then then it could impact on confidence of youngsters and it was something to be careful of. Conviction rates in Oxfordshire were at 84%.
(10) Responding to questions about whether there was information on the arrest patterns of individual officers Sara Thornton advised that there were no targets set around numbers of arrests or stop and search. Data would be available to local sergeants and Inspectors as part of the appraisal process for officers as the data was recorded. Anthony Stansfeld commented that the use of body worn videos increased the number of guilty pleas,
(11) Responding to comments about the Police Federation Anthony Stansfeld stated that he did not recognise the issues raised as relevant to Thames Valley. The complaints he dealt with often went back many years and he felt that the legislation needed review. The Chairman added that she believed they did receive a high number of vexatious complaints and so it was important to have the procedures in place and the data to refute them. Sara Thornton added that she believed the political campaigning of the Police Federation was wrong. However at a local level although she did not always agree with them she had found them helpful over a range of issues. It was not possible with the law as it stood to prevent officers from retiring if they had not been suspended. There was data on the number of retirements and she could provide this to Members.
(12) Referring to the pressures on funding and the earlier reference to the Health and Wellbeing Board Councillor Stratford suggested that the Police be more proactive in seeking S106 funding in areas of growth such as Banbury. Sara Thornton agreed it was an area they needed to be engaged in. Anthony Stansfeld noted that it could not be used for extra police officers but that it could help to design crime out.
The Chairman thanked Sara Thornton and Anthony Stansfeld for their attendance. She highlighted valuable joint working between the Council and Police on child sexual exploitation and on flooding. She queried whether the PIs of both organisations could dovetail to focus on working together to keep people out of the criminal justice system.