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Police and Crime Commissioner's Outreach Worker
Rebecca Avery, the Police and Crime Commissioners Outreach Worker, will be present to explain her role and will be present to discuss her role and that of Sir Graham Bright in his capacity as the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Police and the Crime plan.
Questions to Rebecca will be taken in the Open Forum.
Minutes:
The Chair welcomed Rebecca Avery, the Police and Crime
Commissioner’s Outreach Worker to the meeting.
Rebecca gave a presentation on her role and that of Sir
Graham Bright in his capacity as the Police and Crime Commissioner, the Police
and the Crime Plan and the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office.
The Committee were advised that Rebecca’s role was to listen
to the public both individually and collectively and to work in partnership
with local agencies to identify and deliver shared solutions to local crime and
anti-social behaviour problems in Cambridge, Huntingdon, South and East
Cambridgeshire priority areas.
Rebecca explained that the role of the Police and Crime
Commissioner, Sir Graham Bright, was to set the budget, the amount of Council
tax charged for the Police, the strategy for local Police whilst ensuring that
Police were held accountable and to ensure needs of the community were met.
Rebecca reminded those present of the contact point details,
where she would be present in order to meet members of the public who could ask
questions and give feedback on the local policing and crime in the area.
Questions and Comments from the public
Richard Taylor: Would
the Police and Crime Commissioner meet his commitment of attending each Area
Committee meeting once a year as he had previously announced?
Rebecca Avery: The
Police and Crime Commissioner did attend regular public forums and was visible
in his role but Cambridgeshire was a large area to cover.
As the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Outreach Worker, the
role warrants members of the public to hold the Police accountable and any
issues reported directly with Sir Graham’s Office.
Richard Taylor: In
the absence of the Police and Crime Commissioner could you explain what is it
like to work in the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office and do you feel
accountable to either members of the public, the Police or the Crime
Commissioner?
Rebecca gave an explanation of the structure of the office,
detailing the staff who worked there and the roles and responsibilities.
Rebecca advised that she enjoyed her role very much, particularly meeting
members of the public to investigate their needs and wants, reporting those
back to the Police and Crime Commissioner on a daily basis while working
alongside the Police and external organisations.
Questions from the Committee
Councillor Hipkin: Is
it possible to give three examples of when the Police have been held to
account?
Rebecca Avery: Following critical feedback on dealing with
domestic violence, work had been carried out to improve how domestic abuse
cases were dealt with.
The Police and Crime Commissioner had asked for
Cambridgeshire Constabulary to look at how they worked with all external
agencies and how those working relationships could be enriched and platforms of
communication improved.
In response to failings of the front line 101 service, the
Police and Crime Commissioner agreed with Cambridgeshire Police to invest in
new equipment to improve pick up times for the non-emergency number 101 and to
recruit additional call handlers.
Councillor Holland:
How is your role different to that of the Police and Community Officers who
regularly attend West / Central Committee meetings?
Rebecca Avery: Although the role was separate the function
was to work with the Police and report back any issues and to advise the Police
of initiatives that had been working well and those that had not received such
positive feedback.
Councillor Bick:
Could you explain what was missing before your appointment and what the role
brings. As Councillors were are concerned with the quality of policing and the
safety of residents and discuss these concerns directly with the Police.
Rebecca Avery: The demands on the role of the Outreach
Worker were not as time consuming as that of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Therefore the Outreach Worker had the luxury of time to listen to members of
the public from all social spectrums and ages.
There were a total of four Police and Crime Commissioners Out Reach Workers to divide this work across the County.
Some members of the public did want to speak directly with the Police and the
role broke down engagement barriers.