Issue - meetings

Oral Report from Jason Ablewhite, the Police and Crime Commissioner.

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

The verbal report 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.          Restorative justice was crucial to prevent prison becoming a breeding ground for crime. Although a prison sentence is the correct method of punishment for some crimes, for many (often young people committing their first minor offence) external intervention was more effective at reducing reoffending. 

     ii.          Police were spending an increasing amount of time in hospitals with members of the public who threatened to harm themselves or others. Although this sounded more like a role for a social worker, ensuring people receive the correct help before the Police leave them was more effective than leaving them and discovering that they committed a crime or hurt themselves after the event.

   iii.          The Police monitor motorists’ speed when possible. Due to 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. 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.

   iv.          Ensuring that Police Officers in general were aware of the community based restorative justice scheme should be part of their training. Unfortunately for older members of the police it has been a challenge to shift the culture of thinking to one where community initiatives should play a larger role. This was a key priority for the PCC going forward; issues could be raised with him directly.

    v.          Officers changed roles and areas they worked in (West/Central etc) largely due to promotions. The average length of a career in the police was 30 years. If Officers wanted to rise through the ranks they had to change role every 2 years to broaden their experience. The consequence of this could be that communities could not build a relationship with their local officer.