To receive a briefing on Crime and Prevention Priorities, the Community Engagement Process and Joint Working from Chief Inspector Paul Rogerson, Neighbourhood Policing, Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
At the conclusion of the briefing there will be an opportunity for Questions.
Contact:30 Minutes.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Chief Inspector Paul Rogerson with Cambridgeshire Constabulary who, with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation (a copy of which is appended in the Minute Book), briefed Members on community policing. He opened the presentation by referring to an open offer to all Members for him and his Team to run cluster group sessions amongst parishes to discuss any specific issues. With particular focus for some of the new Members, Chief Inspector outlined to Members what local policing looked like, local priorities and how Members could help.
Members were appraised of the structure of local policing team, with two command units shared with three other Cambridgeshire authorities and in Huntingdonshire the small Teams based in St Neots, St Ives and Huntingdon hubs, with Huntingdon shared with the Yaxley hub. He explained the neighbourhood policing involved engagement and understanding what communities needed, problem solving and partnership work and targeted activity and making sure the right resources are targeted in the right areas.
Attention was drawn to crime trends over the past five years and in general it was noted had been stable, but had seen an increase in drugs offences, weapons and hate crime. Chief Inspector informed Members of a quarterly online community engagement meeting and open survey that outlined the balance to be struck between difficult problems and local problems. He concluded by highlighting to Members where they could help, in particular Members would know where the issues were, urged Members to contact him and his Team and lastly subscribe and follow what they do so this could be highlighted to the communities that they represent.
In response to a question from Councillor C Lowe on the reasons for a decrease in dwelling burglaries as they were not being reported as it was suggested that the Police were not visiting such incidents, Chief Inspector confirmed that they had seen a downward trend that may be as a result of an increase of people working from home and he indicated that they had committed to visiting all individuals that had been affected by dwelling burglaries.
Councillor L Davenport-Ray commended the Team after going on walkabout with her several times in St Neots and given the limited resources in the Team, she questioned how the staff resources were allocated to the areas in the District, whether it was based on crime rates or population. Chief Inspector responded by referring the number of vacancies that he was recruiting into, with a new intake in January.
Councillor D B Dew commended Chief Inspector Rogerson for his ongoing support over many years, with particular reference to support in his ward experienced some years ago and reported that he had met with him and the residents and answered the difficult questions. With this in mind he encouraged all Members to take up the opportunity to meet with the Chief Inspector and his Team.
Councillor T D Sanderson referred to the problems being experienced in the Market Square, Huntingdon and referred to a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to prohibit specific activities in the area and encouraged everyone to report such crimes to enable resources to be targeted to such areas.
Councillor T D Alban referring to a Facebook post by the Police regarding parking problems and ticketing in St Neots but was not unique to the Towns and was seeking reassurance that resources would be targeted to address similar issues with parking and speeding in some of the more rural villages.
Councillor C Gleadow commended the local support Team after a recent visit to their base and encouraged Members to do similar to encourage a good rapport moving forward and in response to a question on the types of weapons it was confirmed that the increase in weapons referred to knives.
Chief Inspector Rogerson confirmed that they had been actively discussing the PSPO with the District Council with a view to taking a joint decision on the matter. In terms of understanding communities and responding, he welcomed Members to join the Teams in the door-to-door work to engage, particularly focusing on the areas where there were not active discussions taking place.
In his capacity as a new councillor, Councillor N Hunt referred to women and girls feeling unsafe in and around Huntingdon High Street and questioned whether there were any immediate actions that could be taken to make them feel safer. In response, Chief Inspector reported that a number of individuals were in receipt of Community Protections Warnings and several of which had been breached that they were in the process of prosecuting, and he indicated that they been working closely with the Streets and Open Spaces Team in an attempt to manage the anti-social behaviour, as well as CCTV, Business Against Crime and Town Rangers working together to tackle these issues. He urged such incidents to be reported so that the necessary resources can be targeted appropriately.
In response to a question from Councillor C Tevlin on the visible police presence in the villages, with managing the expectations of residents and managing priorities to demonstrate that they are making a difference, Chief Inspector explained that much of their resource is committed to the difficult crime issues such as county lines, child exploitation and modern day slavery but conversely would target specific resources towards activity that they know would make a difference in terms of areas that people are concerned about and highlight this through social media and the press to demonstrate that they have listened.
In concluding, the Executive Leader, Councillor S J Conboy, thanked Chief Inspector Rogerson for his attendance and commended the support of his colleagues over the years, particularly with regard to training that had been undertaken amongst Members and Chief Inspector confirmed his support for similar training for the new intake of Members to support them in their communities with some of the practical challenges.