Issue - meetings

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

a)      The performance of the Community Safety Partnership in 2011-12 and the Community Safety Plan for 2011-14.

b)      Changes to policing affecting Bracknell Forest, particularly an update on the creation of the Police and Crime Panel for Thames Valley, and the election of the Police Commissioner.

c)      The proposed Designated Public Place Order for Bracknell town centre.

RESOLVED that Mr Juna khan, Chairman of the Thames Valley Police Authority, be co-opted onto the membership of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission for this meeting.

Timothy Wheadon, Chairman of the Bracknell Forest Community Safety Partnership, summarised the partnership’s structure and said that 2011/12 had been another successful year, with Bracknell Forest being one of the safest borough in Berkshire.  Ian Boswell, Community Safety Manager, presented an update on the work and resourcing of the Community Safety Partnership.  The update included an overview of crime statistics, notable successes and key challenges.

Community Safety Partnership

The Commission was informed that during 2011-12 the overall level of crime in Bracknell Forest had fallen by 17%.  Across the whole of the Thames Valley Police area only Wokingham and Chilterns Police Areas had recorded more improved scores.  During the same period Bracknell Forest had been the only Thames Valley Police area to record positively for both crime reduction and crime detection.  The reduction of Serious Acquisitive Crime, a category that included burglary, vehicle crime and robbery, had been a notable success with a reduction of almost 30.4% when compared to the same period the previous year.  A significantly better performance than any other area within the Thames Valley Police area, and a favourable performance compared to other borough’s in the Council’s ‘family group’ nationally.

Following a year on year decline, levels of anti-social behaviour in the Borough over the past year had risen by 4.2% when compared to the previous year.  Of particular concern was the number of assaults being reported by the Ambulance Service which had seen a significant increase in recent months and work was taking place with the Ambulance Service to try and identify the reasons why there had been such a marked increase and assess the reliability of this data.

The key challenges for the Community Safety Partnership for the coming year were:

• Continuing to reduce crime figures
• CCT and Automatic Number Plate Recognition
• Tackling public perceptions of crime
• The introduction of Police Commissioners

Members commended the Partnership on the reduction in crime achieved in 2011-12.  Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were noted:

• Every incident recorded on CADIS represents a case of anti-social behaviour as seen by the person who reported it, an inevitably there was a degree of error in the data
• The incidents of anti-social behaviour recorded on CADIS built up a picture of activity in an area and often provided useful intelligence of other more serious crimes for example information reported to CADIS has directly contributed to the identification and closure of five crack houses in the Borough, which in turn led to a 90% reduction in antisocial behaviour in those areas
• The police force in Bracknell Forest was split into three teams:  Patrol teams, neighbourhood police teams and CID
• The Bracknell Forest Local Police Area was made up of 84 full time police officers, 22 PCSOs and 35 Special Constables
• The Special Constables each worked an average of 3 or 4  ...  view the full minutes text for item 73