Agenda item

11.05am

 

The PCC will present his annual report for 2021/22 and the Panel will ask the PCC to outline progress made in meeting the five priorities outlined in his Police and Criminal Justice Plan 2021-2025.

Under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, the Police and Crime Commissioner was required to produce and publish an Annual Report which summarised the exercise of the PCC’s functions in each financial year and the progress which had been made in the financial year in meeting the objectives contained in the PCC’s Police and Criminal Plan.

 

At the start of this item, Members of the Panel praised both the PCC and Thames Valley Police for the policing operation carried out in Windsor for the Queen’s funeral.

 

The PCC also wished to place on record his thanks to the huge logistical operation which took place for the Queen’s Funeral.  

 

The PCC reported that the report provided progress made in meeting the six priority areas detailed in his Police and Criminal Justice Plan 2021-25.

 

Members’ Questions

 

(1)           Reference was made to the strong local policing priority, and the PCC was asked how this could be a priority, when neighbourhood policing resources were being diminished across Thames Valley. An example was given of policing in rural areas, where one Team consisting of one sergeant, one police constable and two PCSOs, covered four rural villages. This could not be regarded as strong local policing. How was the PCC to ensure that the public would get strong local policing, which was paid for through the police precept?

 

[The PCC replied that he would not disagree with what was said. The influx of new officers had protected elements of their training which meant that more experienced officers were extracted from their normal duties to support the new police constables. The PCC said he had raised this with the Home Office as he saw this has a flaw of the current regime.

 

Neighbourhood policing was important; however, policing resources were having to deal with lots of other concerns from the public. Dealing with 999 and 101 calls were a priority.

 

The PCC commented that local policing was not just about neighbourhood policing, neighbourhood police would still be policing as part of response teams. The only way to resolve this would be working with the new Chief Constable on using police resources efficiently across all the policing areas. The model of policing is built around response policing.  Neighbourhood policing should be about crime prevention.

 

Visibility was a good thing, however, the PCC commented that it was more important to him to see the Police making more arrests.]

 

(2)           The PCC was asked what was the response from the Metropolitan Police to the number of PCCs who had expressed concern regarding the Metropolitan Police recruitment drive which included offering a “golden handshake” to officers in other forces?

 

[The PCC replied that it did pose a real risk to recruitment of officers transferring between forces. He was pleased to say that talking to officers, many have said they were tempted by the extra money, but they did enjoy working in Thames Valley and working for their local force. There had been an increase in the SE weighting which was a big help.]     

 

(3)           There had been concerns for some time to the response times to 101 calls, reference was made to a strategic plan with the incoming new Chief Constable. Would the Panel have the opportunity to have sight of this strategic plan and what did the PCC think the performance of 101 calls will look like?

 

[The PCC replied that an update had been received from the Chief Constable at the performance and accountability meeting. He had been asked to form firm operational plans of what was needed in terms of staff. There had been an increase in resources for contact management.]

 

(4)           With knife crime on the increase, particularly in Slough and in view of the limited Police resources, what is the PCC and TVP doing to prevent this?

 

[The PCC commented that he was meeting with the father of the victim who had been killed in Slough. The PCC would also be meeting with the Chief Constable and the MP for Slough, Tan Dhesi, to discuss what can be done. Preventing knife crime was not just about resources. The Police can request extra resource if needed.

 

There were several aspects to knife crime. In Slough, there had not been an actual increase, but there were differences between an ABH or threat and an actual murder. This was the challenge of knife crime.                              

 

The PCC referred to Operation Deter which had been used in Milton Keynes which had had some successes. The PCC said he would like this rolled out in other areas as soon as possible. It does bring some successes and is a deterrent.

 

The PCC reported that he would be working with the local MP and Slough Borough Council. There were wider issues in the area, it was just not about policing. There were other issues in play such as community cohesion, schools, youth programmes, the lack of employment opportunities.

 

The PCC worked closely with local authorities around “softer” community engagement. The real issue was persuading people not to carry knives in the first place.]

 

(5)           Community Forums were funded by TVP, and recently at a Forum in Milton Keynes, 30 residents were present, but there were no representatives from TVP. In relation to recruitment, there was a Jobs Fair in Milton Keynes where both the Metropolitan Police and the British Transport Police were represented, but not Thames Valley Police. The PCC was asked why was this?

 

[The PCC replied that from experience it was believed that a stand-alone recruitment event produced better results as three Forces being at the same event was often not beneficial. However, the PCC would take this away and re-look at this approach for future events.]

 

The Chair also referred to an event taking place in Milton Keynes on 14 October 2022, Milton Keynes Innovates where TVP had declined an invitation to attend.  

 

(6)           The PCC was asked for an update on the recruitment of Police Community Support Officers to fill the existing vacancies.

 

[The PCC replied that TVP were below where they should be in terms of recruitment. Reference was made to a number of PCSOs who had become Police Officers which was career progression for the individual but created a problem for TVP in terms of losing PCSOs. PCSOs were currently understrength across all areas and TVP would be looking at different schemes to retain PCSOs going forward.

 

The PCC commented that PCSOs should have more powers and there were different models which could be used. If they had more powers they could contribute more to policing.

 

Regarding retention of PCSOs, there could be a policy whereby they had to serve a certain length of service and other methods to help with retention.]

 

(7)           The PCC was made aware of the annual survey which took place in Reading, in which there had been an increase in residents’ fear of crime, particularly around anti-social behaviour. It was acknowledged that PCSOs could not be everywhere and that anti-social behaviour which was a local authority responsibility was on the increase. The PCC was asked how local authorities and TVP could work better together for residents.

 

[The PCC acknowledged that the fear of crime was on the increase and confidence in policing but referred to many perpetrators of crime emanating from outside Thames Valley but leaked out into this region. There was an issue of people getting through on calls to 101, which frustrated residents.

 

TVP performed very well on the “high harm” crimes but there needed to be an improvement in performance.

 

CCTV was a useful tool in preventing anti-social behaviour and work was taking place on partnership work between the Police and local authorities to roll coverage out. Wokingham Borough Council was doing some good work in this area.

 

Reference was made to the work of Thames Valley’s Community Safety Partnerships who provided robust responses to Anti-Social Behaviour.]

 

(8)           Could the PCC provide details on the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategic Partnership Board meeting which took place in May and what was he hoping to achieve with this partnership work? In addition, whilst Violence Against Women and Girls is not one of the six priorities in the PCC’s Police and Criminal Justice Plan could the PCC offer reassurance that this crime is taken seriously? Also, in relation to Safety Streets Funding would there be more of this funding available?

 

[The PCC replied that whilst Violence Against Women and Girls was not one of the six priorities, there were elements throughout his Plan covering this area. TVP carried out lots of work around Domestic Abuse, the Night-Time economy and there was soon to be a Safety of Women and Girls in Public Places scheme, which would come to the Panel for comment.

 

The Partnership Board would be shortly meeting again, and the Board brought together various partners, including the private sector, schools, universities, colleges to work on VAWG.

 

The PCC referred to Safer Streets Funding, in which there had been a couple of successful bids. He envisaged that this would continue, although there could be an opportunity to change this with a new Policing Minister.]

 

(9)            The PCC was asked for an update on the review of CCTV provision and establishing a Thames Valley partnership.

 

[The PCC reported that the latest situation was that a new CCTV manager had been appointed and TVP had broadly got the system it required. A single specification was being looked at and a review of equipment was taking place. The first area this was likely to be rolled out to was Milton Keynes because they already had their own control room.

 

The next places would be Slough because of the particular challenges and Oxfordshire because of the pragmatic work which was already taking place within the County with the District Councils.

 

In places like Bracknell, where there was considerable local authority coverage, the PCC reported that he had had conversations with private sector providers who were looking at CCTV providers. This would make the network even more effective.]

 

(10)        The PCC was asked about the Community Speedwatch scheme as parish councils in South Oxfordshire had expressed concern about speeding, particularly with individuals racing at night. There was concern that there may be complacency from the Police and residents did not hear back when reporting these incidents.

 

[The PCC commented that Community Speedwatch was not the solution to these problems. Community Speedwatch was mainly for speeding vehicles through villages. The problem of racing vehicles was difficult for the Police to deal with as it would involve Police pursuits. Average speed cameras would be a solution and reference was made to the pilot scheme in Hampshire. The PCC was awaiting the outcome of this trial to see their effectiveness. This was a complex problem.]

 

(11)        What was the PCC doing to monitor the effectiveness of the schemes where organisations went into schools to talk about organised crime? There did not seem any evidence to suggest this approach worked.

 

[The PCC replied that the commissioning process looked at the evidence around these schemes. On the wider point of the interventions, the PCC agreed that it was important to see evidence that these interventions worked with school children. It was important that children were engaged on these issues.]

 

(12)         In relation to the PCC’s objective Improving the Criminal Justice System, reducing re-offending, there was a newspaper article in which it stated that in Thames Valley sentencing for knife crimes had reduced. A lot of knife crime not being punished. Was this having an impact on the number of people carrying knives?

 

[The PCC replied that this was outside his remit as PCC, but the whole point of sentencing was to serve as a deterrent to crimes. For the lower-level knife crimes, magistrates can sentence for up to a year. The PCC talked about the pressures on the agencies in the Criminal Justice System which caused delays in court cases.

 

The PCC talked about the cohort young people who were part of criminality and who were almost untouchable. This needed to be broken up and what was needed was tougher sentencing which included custodial sentencing.

 

In response to a question about what the PCC meant about low level crime, the PCC reported that across the Thames Valley there were around 5,000 to 6,000 knife crimes committed a year. The majority were for possession, with a small number resulting in injury.]

 

RESOLVED - That a letter be sent to the Office for the PCC in accordance with Section 28(4) of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 detailing the review the Panel carried out in relation to the PCC’s Annual Report 2021/22.