Meeting documents

To consider a presentation by the Police and Crime Commissioner. 

Members of the Panel will be asked to receive and provide any observations on the content of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s new Police and Crime Plan.

The Panel considered the Police and Crime Plan for 2017/21 which was a high level statement of strategic intent supported by specific Manifesto commitments.

The PCC thanked the Panel for their input/suggestions.  He then highlighted the 4 main pillars contained in his Plan, and the areas that sat beneath them.  Below are the 4 main pillars, with a few key points that the PCC described:-

1.     Protecting People at Risk and Harm

Dorset was one of 8 areas to be piloting the acute care system with the aim of improving outcomes for service users. In respect of Anti-Social Behaviour reporting the PCC advised that neighbour disputes were very draining on police resources.

2.     Working with our Communities

The PCC had invested money into problem solving forums in order to try to address areas ranging from homelessness to cyclists issues.  Work was ongoing to look for volunteers in order to enable them to work across all three blue light service areas.  A Repeat Victims Champion would be in place for next year in order to look at repeat victims of ASB. The Drive Safe scheme was being operated to try and educate those drivers that had not had any road safety training since they had passed their driving test.   Another aim was, working with insurance companies, to install black boxes in cars where possible, not just for those people under the age of 25.   The PCC felt that more resources would need to be put into cyber-crime.  Local neighbourhood police teams now offered web chats with members of the public to make them more accessible.

3.     Supporting Victims, Witnesses and Reducing Offending

The PCC expected the Victims Code to become legislation shortly.

There was a Victims Champion now in place. A proposal was being developed to have a regional business crime strategy and work was ongoing to look into installing virtual court streaming at Blandford.

4.     Transforming for the Future

The PCC highlighted that the speed of change was huge and there were projected savings of £13m with the Alliance. 40% of policing was now in the alliance and it was anticipated to increase.  Work was ongoing to adjust policing culture to a more listening and learning culture.  The PCC highlighted that a major concern to him was abuse of the elderly, either in the home or at a care home facility.

The PCC felt more Tasers were needed to protect officers and the public from an increase in knife crime.  He planned to increase the number of Tasers to 250 across Dorset. He suggested that Panel members might want to take a look at the increase in knife crime in the future.

The PCC advised members that the Plan was launched 4 weeks ago and was interactive online with a real time update.  Progress of the Plan was also updated online.

The Chairman suggested that for the purposes of scrutiny, members volunteered themselves to a key pillar and advise the Clerk accordingly.

Following a question from the Vice-Chairman regarding the appointment of an Elderly Champion, the PCC advised that there was one within the Police and he was considering one for the OPCC.

In response to a comment about homelessness, the PCC noted that whilst some people were homeless through choice, some were as a result of mental health issues and it was a very complex arena which involved numerous agencies. The issue was about getting other agencies to engage and he was constantly challenging local authorities to become more involved but recognised it was difficult with the decrease in resources and staff.

The member from North Dorset District Council suggested to the PCC that he could report back any issues he had regarding any lack of engagement with agencies to the Dorset Health and Wellbeing Board and the Pan Dorset Criminal Justice Board.  The PCC welcomed this suggestion.

The Chairman questioned how the benchmarking of success on commissioning would be achieved.  The PCC advised that his new approach to commissioning would involve issuing a competitive tender that would have desired outcomes specified.  The Panel would then potentially be in a position to hold the PCC to account, where appropriate.

Resolved

1. Panel members to advise the Clerk which Pillars of the Plan they would l like to volunteer for.

2. That a report on the increase in Knife Crime be added to the Work Programme.