Councillors and committees

Agenda item

POLICE AND CRIME PLAN QUARTERLY UPDATE

The Police and Crime Panel for Surrey scrutinises the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Surrey, Kevin Hurley, overseeing progress against the published Police and Crime Plan.

 

In March 2015 the PCC reviewed and updated the Police and Crime Plan to put additional focus on:

 

·                     Improving funding for Surrey Police

·                     Joint Enforcement and Joint Working

·                     Embedding victim services and developing support for children

·                     Roads Policing

·                     Counter Terrorism

 

Minutes:

Key points raised during the discussions:

 

·         The PCC noted that burglary is down by 40% in the past two years.

 

·         A Panel member raised concern regarding in relative terms of Surrey’s position in the national table as a safe place to live, as the low detection rates and resolution rates were close to the bottom of the league table. The PCC responded that this was being tackled and would be discussed later in the meeting.

 

·         The Chairman also raised the concern of the lack of young detectives being trained by the force. The Chairman would like to discuss this fully in the future. The PCC replied that Surrey Police have had the problem of inexperienced detectives and so were recruiting retired detectives. The PCC emphasised that due to restricted budgets, they are having problems with recruiting new, younger detectives.

 

·         A Panel member raised the point of ambition to achieve targets in what Surrey Police want to do. The PCC agreed with the Panel member’s statement regarding ambition; however he noted that the force does not want to set specific targets or goals. The PCC added this that if the Police had targets to pursue, this could lead to preserve incentives to pursue particular areas. The PCC explained that the Police should be given autonomy to make decisions and take actions that they think are right.

 

·         A Panel member argued that a zero-tolerance approach should be adopted across the force for more minor crimes; otherwise criminals will have carte-blanche to engage in them.

 

The Vice-Chairman asked the PCC for his view regarding the Police body cameras and the PCC noted his support for body cameras. He outlined that they are effective in increasing detection rates as well as moderating the intentions and actions of Police Officers. The PCC noted that he is keen to introduce body cameras as soon as possible.

 

·         In response to queries about what has brought about the increase in detection rates, the PCC explained that the new Deputy Chief Constable had brought about a review of how detection has been operating and introduced a new performance regime. This business approach to dealing with crime is proving successful.

 

·         The PCC also noted that due to budget cuts and the number of staff in the force decreasing, the officers have to do more work with less resource which is affecting their ability to participate in their neighbourhoods. There is an issue with the demographic makeup of some areas that have Neighbourhood Watch schemes, as they tend to use less technology, such as social media, to raise awareness. In these areas word of mouth is an important means of communication.

 

·         There was also concern from Panel members regarding Anti-Social Behaviour being ignored by Police Officers as well as poor performances for resolving crime where the suspect is known.

 

·         The Panel expressed concern regarding services on the county border and which services where called out to the county border because of the confusion regarding cross charges between services.  

 

·         Further to this, a Panel member also expressed concern that crimes where the victim cannot identify the perpetrator, the Police do well in solving statistically, but crimes committed where the victim can identify their perpetrator do not do as well statistically.

 

·         A Panel member raised the concern of balancing the distinction between hate crime and freedom of speech in which the right to offend complies with freedom of speech and that too much focus on hate crime will lead to Police Officers prioritising hate crime over other types of crime. A Panel member also noted that the Police need to educate young people regarding hate crime and make the public aware of the law in the long-term.

 

·         The issue of fraud was discussed whereby local or small businesses were affected. There was agreement by the Panel that it was important to encourage education to try and prevent fraud, as well as taking other preventative action through IT systems. The PCC noted that the Police are overwhelmed with the demand and it was also noted that this is a national and international issue that is beyond Surrey Police alone.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

 

1.    The OPCC to provide information on the training of detectives at a future meeting.

 

2.    Provide a paper on what businesses can do to combat fraud as well as what work is being done with schools to increase awareness of fraud.

 

ACTIONS/FURTHER INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED:

 

None.

 

PANEL NEXT STEPS:

 

            None.

 

Supporting documents: