Councillors and committees

Agenda item

POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER'S ANNUAL REPORT

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (2011) places a duty on Police and Crime Commissioners to produce an Annual Report. Members of the Panel are asked to comment on the attached annual report prior to its formal publication.

 

Minutes:

Key Points raised during discussion:

 

1.    Disappointment was expressed by one Member who thought that there was little information regarding tackling particular types of crime in the monthly update of the report.  The Commissioner stated that tackling crime was a high priority and that the Chief Constable would be happy to respond to specific queries at the informal meeting in October.

2.    There was a general discussion around performance indicators.  The Commissioner reported that the dip in figures two years ago was due to disruption whilst police changes were taking place.  Whilst the number of crimes solved remained static the number of crimes reported had risen which meant that the performance indicator had dropped.  He also pointed out that Surrey’s figures were better than most.

  1. A Member stated that he was supportive of the additional policy officer post in order to reduce re-offending.  The Commissioner explained that he was looking for evidence that work was succeeding in reducing crime and re-offending but it was hard to get the data. He reported that there was a new scheme called Checkpoint which was being worked on for Surrey and would look at offending as well as deferred prosecutions.  The Commissioner also stated that he was happy with the Justice Minister’s decision not to build a further five women’s prisons because locking them up was not good for them or for the community.

 

There were several queries and comments regarding the 101 service:

 

4.    A couple of Members had visited the 101 call centre and were very impressed with the set up and how the calls were dealt with. The Commissioner responded that the demand for 101 had increased alongside improvement and he believed it would continue to improve.

5.    It was stated that when a caller when dials 101 the last option given is to report a crime and asked if this should be the first option and that it had taken 90 seconds listening to all the options to get to the most important one.  The Commissioner reminded the Panel that 101 is a non-emergency number and if a crime was in progress that 999 should be dialled.

6.    The Panel asked what further public communication could be done.  The Commissioner informed the Panel that the Force had just started re-running an advertising campaign that asked the public to ask themselves if the call they were about to make was a police matter.  Fifty percent of calls were not police related matters.

  1. It was stated that the 101 number goes down at 5pm on a Friday afternoon and callers are told to contact the local authority which is also closed from Friday evening.  The Commissioner stated that the 101 number was a 24-hour service, but he would look into this particular case.  He also pointed out that council’s do have some out of hours services.

8.    It was asked if the rise in 101 callers was due to police front desks closing and that this would need to be considered in line with the proposed estates strategy especially with regards to resources for 101.  The Commissioner would check on this.

 

There were several queries and comments regarding traveller encampments:

 

9.    Concern was expressed that illegal traveller encampments appeared to be not of great concern to the police who were slow to respond.

10.  The Commissioner explained that encampments were a societal problem and not always a police problem.  More transit sites were needed.  There was nowhere for police to move travellers to.  Sussex had three sites but Surrey had none.  The police, whilst not touchy-feely, were conscious that all people had rights.

11.  The Commissioner also reported on the consultation regarding the legislation and it was believed by the police to be fit for purpose with a few tweaks.

  1. The Commissioner also reported on the current government review of the law and powers available to deal with unauthorised site.  Police broadly felt that the powers available to them were fit for purpose with a few tweaks required.

 

RESOLVED:

 

The Panel accepted the Annual Report.

 

ACTIONS/FURTHER INFORMATION TO BE PROVIDED:

 

That formal notification of the Panels acceptance of the Annual Report would be sent to the Commissioner.

 

Supporting documents: