Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Safe and Strong Communities Select Committee held on 5 March 2018 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

At their 15 January 2018 Select Committee concerns were raised over a perceived rise in crime and lack of both Police Officers or PCSOs.

After that meeting Member’s considered the issues within their areas and the details included in the 6 February PCC’s Public Meeting. The concerns raised have been included in a list of questions to the PCC and the Chief Constable which will be addressed at this meeting.

At their 15 January 2018 Select Committee concerns were raised over a  perceived rise in crime and lack of both Police Officers or PCSOs. After that meeting Member’s considered the issues within their areas and the details included in the 6 February PCC’s Public Meeting. The concerns raised were included in a list of questions to the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and the Chief Constable (CC). The Chairman now welcomed the CC Gareth Morgan, and the PCC Matthew Ellis, and thanked them for agreeing to address the concerns raised by Select Committee Members.

The PCC felt that most of the questions raised were operational and therefore more appropriately addressed by the Chief Constable.

Before addressing these the Chief Constable informed Members that the responses needed to be seen in the current context that there were 27% less police officers in 2018 than in 2010. The PCC reminded Members that since 2013 the loss of police officers had been less and that an extra 70 new police officers were being introduced. However the Chief Constable wished Members to note that there were currently a quarter less police officers than in 2010 and felt that to judge policing on visibility was unfair and didn’t take account of the many other areas of work they necessarily undertake.

The  questions were then taken in turn and answered by the Chief Constable as follows:

Contact Services

Call Handling - why has there been a decrease in the number of non-emergency calls?

There were a range of reasons for this, but most likely as a result of call back arrangements for 101 calls, which reduced the numbers of repeat 101 calls and consequently gave a reduction in 101 calls.

Emergency  999 calls -  1.2% of emergency 999 calls were recorded as having been abandoned and Members requested an explanation of what 1.2% represented in figures.

1.2% represented 1860 calls a year.

101 calls - what percentages of 101 calls were abandoned and of this total Members asked how many were re-contacted using the Netcall system.

This was 8.6% which equated to 30,000 calls a year.

Incident Resources (where officers had attended) – changes had been made to the Forces’ graded response system and asked what these changes were.

The change referred to the establishment of a resolution centre.

Overall Crime Performance

Other Theft – 22% of all crime was from “other theft” which showed there had been increases in all Borough Councils except East Staffordshire. Members asked for clarification on the reasons for this.

The figures were a snapshot at that time. In East Staffordshire the figure primarily related to shop lifting where better working relationships had been established with retailers and targeted work undertaken to tackle prolific offenders.

Acquisitive Crime – Members asked what was being done to address the increase in acquisitive and violent crime.

Staffordshire was in line with the rest of the Country in this increase. This was mainly due to changes to the way in which crimes were recorded  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

The Scrutiny and Support Manager informed Members that their 8 June meeting would look at Child Sexual Exploitation and an update on the Children’s Centres following a review in 2014.

Members also received an update on the work of the two ongoing review groups from their Chairman:

·         Elective Home Education (EHE): Mr Paul Snape, Review Group Chairman, informed Members that after a considerable amount of work the Review Group was now putting together its report and would meet again shortly to agree the body of the report and draw together their conclusions and recommendations. He thanked all those involved who had assisted with this work, including the EHE parents, head teachers, advisors and SCC Officers who had taken the time to share their knowledge and experience;

·         Edge of Care: Mr Conor Wileman, Inquiry Chairman, updated Members on progress with the Inquiry into children on the edge of the care system and work undertaken to safely avoid  them coming into the system. Whilst a considerable amount of work had been undertaken, more evidence was needed before the analysis could be completed. The headline so far from this work was that Staffordshire do extremely well to prevent our children coming into the care system, with  many initiatives developed to ensure children are able to stay safely in their home environment. He thanked all those who had given their time to inform the work of the Inquiry. The Group will meet again soon to discuss their final report and recommendations.

The Select Committee Chairman thanked the Members and Chairmen involved in these reviews.

RESOLVED – That the update on the work programme and progress with the review/inquiry group work be noted.