The Commissioner Introduced his
Police and Crime update report and summarised some of the progress
made in addressing his main priorities which were designed to
‘Keep Staffordshire Safe’.
The Commissioner reminded the Panel that the Police and Crime Plan
provided the strategic direction for the force. The Commissioners
priorities were:
• A
flexible and responsive service
• Prevent
harm and protect people
• Support
victims and witnesses
• Reduce
offending and reoffending
• A more
effective criminal justice system
The Commissioner
raised the issue of two recent HMICFRS inspection reports which had
shown failings in the service. The
first inspection had looked at Child protection arrangements and
the second was an interim Peels inspection report which had
highlighted two areas of concern. These
were, effective investigations and appropriate
ongoing support for victims, and the
area of identifying and assessing the vulnerabilities of those who
contact Staffordshire Police. The Commissioner expressed his concern and stated
that this was ‘not where the service want to be’ and
there were plans to address the issues raised.
Information on
how the plans were being actioned would come to the panel as part
of his Annual report in June 2022. In
response to the panel’s questions on how these action plans
would be monitored, the Commissioner informed members that some of
the actions had date requirements and some areas had previously
been identified as needing improvement and so work had started to
improve these. The Commissioner stated
that he was comfortable that the actions needed to address the
problems would not result in diverting resources away from core
priorities. The Panel were reminded
that the Commissioner held regular public performance meetings with
the Chief Constable, and these could be observed or watched via the
webcast. The agenda for the
Commissioners performance meetings with the Chief Constable would
be circulated to members of the Panel before each meeting for
information but could also be found at
Public Meetings - Staffordshire
Commissioner (staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk)
Following the
Commissioners presentation and questions from the Panel, the
following information was shared with the Panel. This was in addition to that provided in the
report:
- The Chief Constables new, more localised model of
policing should be in place by the end of June 2022. It was hoped that this would help to provide focus
on local issues and enable the police to respond in a more timely
and appropriate manner.
- The Commissioners Independent scrutiny panels and
his Audit panel were now fully recruited and had started
work. He hoped that these would provide
good oversight and independence of specific services such as stop
and search and use of force. They would
also be looking at strip and search guidance and repeat episodes of
anti-social behaviour, where more needed to be done together with
partners. The Panels would be supported by the Commissioner’s
office and members were being trained appropriately dependent on
their needs.
- Funding grants were now available at a local
level to support anti-social behaviour projects and community
safety.
- Bidding for additional Safer Streets funding
would continue with a new round of opportunities available
soon.
- Drug treatment and addiction was a particularly
important aspect to long term reoffending and would be considered
by the Community Safety Forum.
- Working with the Criminal Justice system,
particularly the Probation service and the NHS would
continue. It was reported that the use
of Alcohol or drug treatment orders was being looked at to help
quicken access to services.
- There was also research taking place to look at
what works in reducing reoffending in various age groups,
particularly helping mature offenders into employment. PSHE co-ordinators were also working in schools to
help develop the PSHE curriculum to meet the needs of young
people.
- The number of children going missing was a
concern. The numbers going missing from
either their home or a care setting would be provided to the
panel.
- There was an Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Delivery
Group whose aim was to look at repeat incidents and help to tackle
them at a local level. It was explained
that this may lead to additional work short term but should lead to
longer term gain.
- A working group had been established by the
Commissioner to uniform the requirements for a ‘Community
Trigger’ which currently was different in each local
authority area.
- County Councillors were the appropriate contact
point for replacement or road signs.
- Work with the NHS on prisoner mental health was
continuing.
- The working of the Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub
(MASH) was being reviewed with regard to the way information was
shared between partners. Information on
this piece of work would be shared with the appropriate
panel/scrutiny committee.
- The potential use of Naloxone nasal spray to
treat overdose victims would be reported back to the
panel.
- The Chief Constable’s new delivery model
was more traditional than the current system with more local
hubs. It was reported that this should
not cost more but should deliver a more focused neighbourhood
focused policing.
- The Chief Constable was keen to learn of the
publics experience of policing and this should highlight any areas
where officers were not confident in the way they respond to
situations.
- The location of justice centres was not
considered to be an issue, but there was more work taking place to
establish why people didn’t attend court or withdraw
‘dropped out’ from prosecutions at very short notice
which resulted in wasted time and resources.
- Community Safety Strategic Partnerships are a
statutory duty. Portfolio holders would
normally be the lead members and questions could be channelled
through them.
- The Commissioner’s new Staffordshire and
Stoke on Trent Strategic Board would meet three times a
year. Again, the lead member would
normally be the portfolio holder.
- There was no extra financial support from the
Home Office or Central Government to deal with the recent and ant
future public protests surrounding the HS2
developments.
The Deputy
Commissioner briefly updated the panel on road safety issues and
reported that sadly there had been 12 deaths so far this year
compared to 18 for the whole of 2021.
There were seven priority road user groups who appeared to be more
at risk of accidents. These included,
cyclists; newly qualified drivers; and more mature
drivers. Work was ongoing to share
information and educate drivers e.g. through schools and colleges
and websites. Following a question on
grants to support the work of the Safer Roads Partnerships, it was
confirmed that there wasn’t any available funding at the
moment through that partnership but there may be opportunities to
bid through the Community Grants scheme.
RESOLVED:
a)
That the report be received
b)
That information on the following points be provided
to the panel:
- Information on the how the action plans to
address the failings identified in the HMICFRS inspection reports
be included in the Commissioners Annual Report (June 2022 panel
meeting).
- The
agenda for the Commissioners performance meetings with the Chief
Constable be circulated to members of the Panel before the next
meeting.
- The
number of children going from either their home or a care
setting.
- Is
Naloxone nasal spray used to treat overdose victims currently in
Staffordshire and if not will it be considered.