Agenda item

Crime and Disorder Committee

Meeting as the Crime and Disorder Committee, to receive presentations on, and to consider:

 

A Crime Overview, Case Studies and Themed Project Work for 2018/19 as well as Community Safety Partnership Priorities for 2019/20.

 

Local Police Area Commander Superintendent Felicity Parker and Alison O’Meara, Head of Community Safety’s (Bracknell Forest Council) presentation attached.

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed Timothy Wheadon, Chief Executive and Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP), Superintendent Felicity Parker, the Local Police Area Commander of Thames Valley Police and Vice-Chairman of the CSP and Alison O’Meara, Head of Community Safety to the meeting of the Commission, in its capacity as the Crime and Disorder Committee.

 

They gave a revised presentation to the Committee on a Crime Overview, Case Studies and Themed Project Work for 2018/19 as well as Community Safety Partnership Priorities for 2019/20.

 

Arising from the discussion it was noted that:

·        Bracknell Forest CSP considered to be one of the most effective CSPs in the Thames Valley as works together with the various agencies to resolve problems which was reflected in common priorities, reduced crime figures and approach to problem solving

·        an issue was identified by HMIC regarding data recording and TVP officers have started to record crimes differently e.g. categorisation changes rather than an increase in victims in the area but it was clarified that historical data had not be reviewed

·        exploration of the crime figures by category to explore the background and factors influencing any changes

·        discussion on activities being undertaken to tackle shop lifting to support retailers report crimes, tackle theft from construction vehicles and for both crimes create a hostile environment to prevent activity

·        it was requested that in future two previous years figures be provided to help track trends and to see the targets for crime reduction

·        clarified that focus was on protecting vulnerable residents e.g. burglary and domestic abuse

·        discussion on activities being undertaken to prevent domestic abuse and an acknowledgement that it would take a generation to make an impact on this

·        neighbourhood policing teams were being used as smartly as possible with a reduction in the volume of extractions and were not being diverted unless essential

·        every type of evidential opportunity was looked at in first 24 hours but acknowledgement that changes such as Bail Act did impact on choices available

·        cyber crime being tackled through prevention activities

·        it was not possible to provide prosecution success rate data but a recent strategic assessment identified that the detection rate had improved from 55 – 65%

·        every burglary was investigated in Bracknell Forest

·        opportunities had been taken with the Lexicon to train its security staff to have Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (CSAS) accreditation training and are therefore able to carry out various functions. It was noted that there had been a high turnover of security staff and the Community Safety team would follow up whether all the new staff were receiving that training.

·        Strategic assessment had identified that a third of suspects were repeat offenders

·        Although there was no increase in youth crime in the last three years there had been a trend around young teenage boys becoming involved in conflict in certain hotspots. Further investigation of the issue would be undertaken to see if it related to increased reporting.

·        Three examples were given to explain how the problem solving model worked and 58 cases had been closed that were causing fear and distress. Clarification would be provided as to the overall number of open cases and a comparison with other CSPs.

·        explanation was given of themed project work to keep up with evolving issues e.g. modern slavery and county lines

·        TVP received £822k fund for Early Intervention Fund – explained what work was happening locally in each tier

·        it was explained how the 11 priorities were arrived at and that the next step was public consultation

·        Bracknell Forest was still a safe place to live and work with high levels of public satisfaction, proactive, collaborative culture and promoting community resilience

·        it was noted that changes to no cycle signage had made the message confusing but the Lexicon had also put up signage but it was tricky to enforce

·        TVP have strong links with the relevant teams within the Council to pass on information about residents adversely affected by criminal activity

·        there are a number of prevention orders and bail conditions which can be used to specify particular areas where individuals could not go

·        only Thames Valley Police collect crime data therefore other sites quoting crime rates will be based on their original data or the crime survey

·        it was suggested that CSAS accreditation training could be used to empower licensing officers to undertake taxi driver assessment so that enforcement of taxi drivers could be improved

·        a number of questions were asked relating to the additional funding to prevent drug involvement including what was being put in place during the summer holidays and the level of staffing. Superintendent Parker requested that the questions be sent to her directly to be able to respond as they did not have the drug data at the meeting.

·        Police focus on people dealing drugs but it relies on continued demand and supply and is therefore difficult to resolve. Police do undertake stop searches and whilst they do record the grounds for the search Superintendent Parker was unfamiliar with the Met Police forms referred to which also record the reason for the initial suspicion. It was suggested that analysing this could help to review the possible racial imbalance of searches.

 

The Chairman thanked all attending for their contributions. 

 

Supporting documents:

 

Contact Information

Democratic services

Email: committee@bracknell-forest.gov.uk