Issue - meetings

North Area Committee is pleased to welcome Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Jason Ablewhite who will give a brief presentation and will then take questions.

The Committee received a verbal presentation from the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

The verbal presentation outlined:

       i.        The 4 statutory functions of a Police and Crime Commissioner:

·        Hiring (and supporting) the Chief Constable.

·        Tax precepts.

·        Setting the Police and Crime Plan.

·        Firing the Chief Constable (if required).

      ii.        The challenges and constraints for the Police:

·        Domestic violence.

·        Child abuse.

·        Drug related crime.

·        75% of calls to the Police were non-crime related eg people in mental crisis.

·        Cyber crime.

·        One off incidents eg responding to emergencies such as Storm Doris.

     iii.        Four key themes of the Police and Crime Plan:

·        Victims

·        Offenders

·        Communities

·        Transformation and working with strategic partners.

 

The Police and Crime Commissioner said the following in response to Members’ and public questions:

     i.        Acknowledged that there would be posts on social media when the police visited an area. Social media was a tool. Posts could be full of assumptions rather than facts. Changes could be expected in future leading to faster responses to misinformation. The public were asked to trust the Police and let them get on with their job. Information would be circulated afterwards.

    ii.        The Police and Crime Commissioner would listen to local concerns then raise these with the Chief Constable of possible local priorities to be taken on-board by section commanders. Area Committees were an important way of identifying local priorities.

   iii.        Speeding through towns/villages is one of the challenges for the Police and Crime Commissioner to address. Demand exceeded supply for road capacity/space, which let to frustration and anti-social behavior. Action needed to be taken by various organisations working in partnership, it was not just a police enforcement issue. Speedwatch was operating in the city.

  iv.        Acknowledged residents had concerns about levels of crime in Orchard Park.

 

Action Point: PCC to liaise with Section Commander to request PCSOs be re-instated in Orchard Park; and to liaise with residents about local issues.

 

   v.        The Police worked with strategic partners to tackle issues such as mental health and low level anti-social behaviour such as littering. For example, various organisations are co-located in Peterborough City Council offices to aid join up on priorities for action. It was within the gift of the Chief Constable to deputise council officers to take enforcement  action on behalf of the police eg issuing fixed penalty notices.

  vi.        There were various methods where the police could address instances where people broke the law unintentionally eg driver awareness courses for speeding. The Police also worked with strategic partners to proactively educate people to prevent incidents eg the Chelsea’s Choice play raised issues people should be mindful of. Overt and covert survellience and enforcement action was taken against people who deliberately broke the law.

 vii.        Police Community Support Officers spent a lot of time in schools to dissuade pupils from getting into crime through education programmes. Action to tackle vandalism in Fenland was held up as a good practice example for Cambridge City. Police Community Support Officers run speed watch schemes in schools to try to educate and raise awareness of the dangers of speeding. New technology enabled the Police to create educational apps which were based on local streets so that students were able to relate to the situation they were watching.

viii.        The Police monitored motorists’ speed when possible. Due to pressures of policing, greater priority is given to threat, risk and harm so it was not possible to have as many mobile speed guns/cameras as they would like. Funding has been made available for the Speedwatch Co-ordinator post. Members of the public could volunteer to participate in speedwatch.

  ix.        The Police would stop cyclists riding on the pavement and offer advice if they observed any incidents.

   x.        The Police and Crime Commissioner was working with the Chief Constable to review how best to utilise resources in the county. The Police were working with key partners eg the YMCA to assist the rehabilitation of offenders by ensuring they had accommodation upon release from prison.

  xi.        Cameras were an important tool for reporting crime eg CCTV and head mounted cameras that people could wear.

 xii.        A tool for reporting crime would appear on the police website in future.

xiii.        Ensuring that Police Officers in general were aware of International Women’s Day and how to deal with sexual assaults should be part of their training.

 

Action Point: PCC to liaise with Police to ensure training is given so that the importance of International Women’s day is recognised by the force.