Issue - meetings

The Committee received an update from Sargent Misik regarding policing and safer neighbourhoods trends.

 

The report outlined actions taken since the last reporting period. The current emerging issues/neighbourhood trends for each ward were also highlighted (see report for full details). Recommendations for future priorities were suggested and asked to priorities.

 

Louise Walbank, Anti-Social Behaviour Officer added an update for the City Council’s perspective.

 

The Committee and members of the public asked the following question regarding the report:

 

Q1. Councillor Bird asked if there had been an increase in reports of child sex exploitation. If this was the case were figures or statistics available?

 

A.  Confirmed that child sex exploitation was certainly occurring but it would be wrong to release specific figures. Work with the Make Safe Team was ongoing.

 

Q.2 Councillor Bird asked if they would be able to have feedback on the CCTV which had been placed on Fen Road.

 

A.  The Anti-Social Behaviour Officer confirmed that her team were now responsible for the administration of CCTV. In order to provide feedback information and supporting evidence was required.

 

Q3. Councillor Sarris raised the issue of communication between the public and police. He had received a number of reports where crime and complaints had been reported to the police but no response had been received. He too had reported a problem via email and had not received a response. This issue was undermining the public faith in policing.

 

A.  Confirmed that the police website had advertised the incorrect email address and assured that this would be corrected as soon as possible. There were alternative ways via the police website to make contact with the North Area Team.

 

Q4. Doug White raised a concern about increased instances of vehicles racing along Kings Hedges Road in the early house of the morning.

 

A.    The most appropriate way to report this issue would be to call 101. If specific information detailing times and locations could be provided an application could be made to investigate and attend during these periods. 

 

Q5. Councillor Sargeant queried why the six police priorities had been created for them rather than the Committee feeding back the local priorities reported to them by the residents?

 

A.  The police only attend area committees on a biannual basis so six months would be too long to wait to outline issues. The six priorities had been collated by the local North Area Team; they were not city wide issues. The police held regular area team meetings to outline neighbour priorities; Councillors were invited to attend these if they wished 

 

Q6. Councillor Austin asked if it would be possible to receive feedback on the enquiries the police receive for North Area?

 

A.  Confirmed that it would be difficult to quantify the data just for North Area because of the volume being received and the way it is submitted.

 

Q7. Councillor Austin confirmed that bike theft across the city was increasingly difficult to report because victims were asked for information that they could not provide such as the time and locality of CCTV to the incident. Could some information be provided so that Councillors can advise residents when reporting such crimes?

 

A.  Bike theft needed to be reported by calling 101. Questions regarding the time, location and locality to CCTV were not unreasonable; it allowed police to locate any CCTV images much quicker. Resources had to be prioritised; watching hours of CCTV was not proportionate to the magnitude of the crime.

 

Q8. Councillor Austin asked whether the child sexual exploitation priority had included internet exploitation?

 

A.   Confirmed that online grooming played a part but that it was harder for the neighbourhood team to police online crime.

 

Q9. Councillor Todd-Jones asked if it was possible for Councillors to voice the view of residents and put forward some priorities for future consideration?

 

A.   Affirmed that the voice of councillors and residents was valued, the police encouraged them to contribute.

 

Q10. Councillor Scutt asked what work would be undertaken for road safety if that particular priority was chosen?

 

A.  Selecting the issue as a priority allowed officers to allocate more time and resource to it, focusing efforts and monitoring progress. Increasing patrols and intelligence. He reassured that work would still be undertaken on the priorities that were not chosen, they had still been identified as issues for North area so they would not be neglected.

 

Q11. Councillor Scutt queried the report by the Cambridge News that an estimated 7000 offences had not been recorded by the police?

 

A.  There had been an increase in crime because the way that all crimes were now recorded had changed. The new system involved recording even the most minor incidents which previously would not have required any paperwork, as such the statistic had seen an increase. As a general principle they aimed to record above 97% of reported crime.

 

Q12. Councillor Meschini had recently attended a Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Panel where residents from the Orchard Park area were reporting high levels of cyber bullying and cybercrime as a local issue.

 

A.  Trends had changed over the years and there had definitely been an increase in online crime. However the focus of the neighbourhood community team had to be on the ground rather than on online offences.

 

A member of the public thanked the police for their continued efforts to tackle the antisocial driving on Kings Hedges Road; residents would be pleased to hear that action would be taken.

 

Councillor Gawthrope suggested that roaming CCTV cameras should be placed in key locations where the perpetrating vehicles of antisocial driving regularly congregate such as the Business Park and on Kings Hedges Road.

 

Richard Taylor referred to an earlier statement by Sargent Misik and queried why it should take hours for police to look through CCTV footage when basic mechanisms of binary searching could speed up the process. Bike theft was an ongoing problem so this could be an efficient solution.

 

Richard Taylor raised an issue regarding communication with specific reference to the suspected package left on Kings Parade on 5 June 2017. Police had told the Cambridge News that they were not going to comment until the following day. Mr Taylor emphasised the importance of the role that the media played in informing and communicating with residents and that waiting for 24 hours was unacceptable.

 

Richard Taylor queried why there were not any statistics available on traffic offences given that two of the priorities put forward were traffic related.

 

Councillor Bird highlighted the increase in speeding and road accidents within East Chesterton.

 

 

 

There were 6 recommendations of which the Committee was asked to nominate their top 3 for focus over the coming months.

 

1     Combating ‘county lines’ drug dealing. This work would be a combination of partnership working to safeguard vulnerable people and enforcement work against offenders.

2     Child sexual exploitation. The work undertaken in relation to this priority would be above and beyond the work carried out in relation to this issue. It would involve patrols of hotspot areas and other areas of vulnerability such as school gates to gather intelligence and deal with offenders.

3     Anti-social behaviour around Fen Road. This work would consist of increased patrolling of the area in question by members of the partnership team and supported by wider policing resources.

4     Theft from motor vehicles. This work would involve increased patrolling of areas suffering from theft from motor vehicles.

5     Road safety. This work would invovle high visibility policing to prevent and detect offences and continuing to promote SpeedWatch.

6     Anti-social behaviour in green spaces. This work would consist of targeted patrols of the various green spaces across the area.

 

The Committee voted on each priority individually:

 

1.   Combating ‘county lines’ drug dealing (by 3 votes to 0).

2.   Child sexual exploitation (by 9 votes to 0).

3.   Anti-social behaviour around Fen Road (by 8 votes to 0).

4.   Theft from motor vehicles (by 5 votes to 0).

5.   Road safety (by 10 votes to 0).

6.   Anti-social behaviour in green spaces (by 10 votes to 0).

 

 

Councillor Todd-Jones proposed a change to recommendation 5:

·        Road safety with specific reference to Arbury Road, Gilbert Road, Fen Road and Kings Hedges Road.

 

The amendment was agreed with no one opposed

 

 

The following priorities were agreed:

 

            i. Child sexual exploitation.

          ii. Anti-social behaviour around Fen Road.

         iii. Road safety with specific reference to Arbury Road, Gilbert Road, Fen Road and Kings Hedges Road.