Agenda item

Laura Hunt, Chief Inspector – Cambridgeshire Constabulary, will present to the Panel on closer working between the Police and Councillors.

The Panel received a presentation from Chief Inspector Laura Hunt, who was accompanied to the meeting by Detective Sergeant Ian Moore, to inform the Panel on:

•  Policing Priorities;

•  Vision within Huntingdonshire for 2015/16;

•  Control Strategy Priorities;

•  Similarities between the Community Safety Priorities and Huntingdonshire District Council Corporate Plan.

It was reported that the priorities for Huntingdonshire Police, alongside its neighbourhood policing activities, were:

•  Responding to local concerns - understanding our communities and managing risk within them;

•  Investigating crime and protecting the vulnerable - protecting those who will be hurt, or hurt again, if we don’t take action;

•  Staff professionalism - supporting, developing and rewarding ‘our people’ to deliver Policing Priorities; and

•  Keeping people safe in their communities.

An explanation was provided on how the priorities were being achieved.  There was now less focus on numbers and more on value-based outcomes.  The way in which crime data was recorded had changed which had affected the statistics in some Police forces.  The changes had resulted in a slight reduction in overall crime in Huntingdonshire which demonstrated that the force had previously been recording crime data accurately.

The Huntingdonshire Police Vision for 2015/16 was to be supporting, empowering and belonging. Putting the person atthe heart of all that the Police do and aiming for a seamless service.

Special Constables were slowly being recruited and those that had completed the required number of hours each month, along with Police Community Support Officers, were issued with handheld devices to reduce the need to work out of the station and therefore create a greater street presence.

It was explained that the Police previously had control strategy priorities such as dwelling burglaries and anti-social behaviour. These were still a priority but the following were now significant emerging issues: 

•  Cyber-crime;

•  Modern-day slavery; and

•  Child sexual exploitation.

It was reported that there was an intelligence gap in addressing the above priorities.  Reference was made to the human trafficking case - Operation Endeavour by Fenland Police. 

It was further reported that there was evidence in Huntingdonshire of modern-day slavery and by working in partnership with various organisations and gathering intelligence the Police would be able to address the problem earlier.  For example a dwelling generating more waste than was appropriate to the size of the premises could identify a house of multiple occupancy.

To address street drinking in Huntingdon Town Centre the Police had worked in partnership with the District Council to introduce a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) for the town centre. Street drinking was an issue in Oxmoor particularly in the summer months and the reasons for this needed to be explored as it could be an indication of hot-bedding, whereby the individual was unable to go to their place of residence until a set time.

Huntingdonshire had already experienced an issue with child sexual exploitation via an Albanian owned hand car wash establishment in St Neots.  Children were incited to work for individuals and where unaware that they are being exploited.

One of the aims of the Community Safety Plan was to focus on victims and the vulnerable which was also a policing priority. Common ground and shared objectives existed between the Huntingdonshire Police priorities and Huntingdonshire District Council Corporate Plan.  It was noted that Luminus Group were hosting a Mental Health Seminar on 22 April 2015.

The Chief Inspector wanted a continued and meaningful dialogue with the Councillors and enquired how best to achieve this.  The Panel noted that the Council had a Community Safety Partnership.  However, the Chief Inspector stated that there was no longer continued Councillor representation at the meetings and the issues considered were operational issues. The Panel’s responsibility was a challenging role and therefore more appropriate to strategic issues.

An example was provided of how the Panel could be involved in future decisions.  Huntingdonshire Police were required to identify £6.9 million of savings in the 2016/2017 budget.  The Panel could consider the proposed savings in relation to any budget savings the Council was proposing and the impact these could have.

The public perception of the Police was not good and a recent experience by a Councillor was relayed to the Chief Inspector.  The public had a wealth of knowledge and the way in which the Police could be contacted needed to be improved.  It was acknowledged that public confidence in the Police required improvement and articles in the national press did not assist with this issue. Regarding mental health cases it would be preferable if the Police could work in partnership with other organisations as currently if the Police were concerned for an individual with a mental health issue the Police had to arrest and detain the person in a police cell, which was not necessarily the most appropriate place.

Concern was expressed by the Panel at the length of time calls to 101 were answered.  The average current wait time for 101 calls to be answered was seven to eight minutes.  However, it could be considerably longer.

Concern was also expressed by a Panel member regarding the three control strategy priorities relating to Cyber-crime; Modern-day slavery; and Child sexual exploitation as these would not necessarily build public confidence when the issues that were directly affecting the public were other matters such as dwelling burglaries.  It was emphasised that matters such as dwelling burglaries were still a priority for the Police and depending on the crime experienced in a particular area would determine the weekly priorities for that Policing area.  An example was provided whereby there had been a number of tool thefts from vehicles in the Yaxley area over the previous week, which would therefore feature as a priority for that Police area.

The former and present Sergeant for Ramsey was commended by the Local Ward Member.

The Panel had been made aware that crimes such as child sexual exploitation or matters concerning vulnerable people were often complex and people were able to report any concerns via any methods, such as emailing the Chief Inspector, eCops or Crimestoppers.

The Chairman noted that an annual report by Huntingdonshire Community Safety Partnership was presented to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Social Well-Being) and it was the responsibility of the Panel to scrutinise and challenge.

A Panel Member noted that the former Neighbourhood Panel meetings were multi agency meetings which had been useful and could be re-instated.  The Chief Inspector noted that attendance by the public at these meetings had been variable and she was keen to see if there was an appetite for a version of the Neighbourhood Panel meetings.  The Chief Inspector further noted that in the past eighteen months only three Parish Councils had invited her to a Parish Meeting.  Following the elections a Panel Member offered to place an article in his quarterly newsletter to assess the interest in re-establishing Neighbourhood Panel meetings. It was noted that a model for Neighbourhood Panel meetings was in existence which could be adopted by any organisation should they wish to facilitate such meetings.

The Managing Director suggested that the Panel might wish to consider taking the Panel meetings on the road and invite the public to address the meeting.

The Panel agreed for the Managing Director and the Chief Inspector to meet to discuss the way forward regarding continued dialogue between District Councillors and the Police. One potential option suggested was for the Chief Inspector to regularly attend and present to the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (Social Well-Being).

The Panel also requested that they be invited to the Mental Health Seminar being hosted by the Luminous Group on 22 April 2015.

The Chairman concluded by expressing appreciation to the Chief Inspector on behalf of the Panel for attending the meeting.