Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Co-opted Member Ben Sargeaunt and Cllr O’Leary.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 9^th October 2025.

The minutes of the meeting held on 9th October 2025 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interests as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either one question or one statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting.

The first eight questions and the first eight statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  For further information please see Public Participation - Dorset Council  

All submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected]

by 8.30am on Friday 28^th November 2025.

When submitting your question or statement please note that:  

- You can submit one question or one statement.

- A question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.  

- It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted. 

- Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to three minutes to present your question.  

- When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g. the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder)  

- Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.  

- Questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda.

- All questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.  

Dorset Council Constitution - Procedure Rule 9

Councillor Questions

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total. Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

The submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected]

by 8.30am on Friday 28^th November 2025.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There was no public participation.

To receive a report regarding Community Contact Points and Mobile Police Stations.

The PCC reported on priority two which was about making the Police more visible, connected and engaged. Which was very important and about bringing the Police to the people. The paper looked at community contact points and the innovation of mobile Police stations and highlighted the delivery performance, future development and scrutiny. They went to Community contact points in 2022, in order to make certain that they had more delivery in a community setting and to complement traditional front desks which people called Police stations and complements the digital contact methods, organised by the neighbourhood Policing teams. These community contact points allowed officers to discuss safety concerns, receive crime prevention advice and build relationships and reassure the community. In Autumn, two mobile Police stations were launched which could do formal procedures such as, bail signings or interviews in the mobile Police stations. Locations for Community contact points fell into two main needs. The first was the number of people using the contact point. There was also the ability to install a community contact point in a location where you had a specific crime type causing an issue. So, the second point would be to be responsive to local concerns. Engagements were promoted on the Police Force website, social media, Dorset Alert, local posters and community channels. The PCC asked the force to tell their elected members where the community contact point was. From the 1^st of January to the 31^{st of} October Dorset Police delivered 445 community contact points and for the last month a mobile police station. There were 5700 meaningful conversations, and which recorded intelligence or crime prevention advice handed out. 15 crimes were recorded and 54 pieces of intelligence and from October tracked new outcome categories such as, follow up visits, prevention planning, and referrals to other departments. He expected 600 deployments to occur annually. Regular updates were provided by Dorset Police and the OPCC attend the force neighbourhood engagement board. Which was an internal board Police force board that looks at their engagement. The purpose of the board was to ensure consistency, best practice and evaluation of engagement initiatives. Feedback from Cllrs, community groups, surveys and public contact was shared with the force. Dorset Police would conduct a formal review in January to assess the community contact points and the mobile police stations.

Questions and Comments from the members on the report - 24:25.

·       Cllr Gibbs commented that this was a positive step forward for community contact points. Most colleagues did not know that the Verwood office had reopened, and it did not open for very long. He explained that he thought that Police Community contact points were good for engagement but not as effective for crime prevention or information gathering. He highlighted that for people who did not want to report crimes online or over the phone and were a victim of a crime and wanted a bit more information, community contact points would be a place for them to report something. He  ...  view the full minutes text for item 72.

To receive a report on the impact of seasonality.

The PCC reported on the impact of seasonality. He explained that Dorset experienced one of the biggest population fluctuations in the UK. Which was due to tourism, second home use, major events and coastal activity. The influx of visitors was good for business but created additional policing demand and was not reflected in national funding formula which did not take into account seasonality or rurality. He explained that seasonality affected crime, instant demand, and a number of public contacts in Dorset Police. It was not just crime demand, but also non-crime demand for example, the number of missing persons, mental health and an increase in encampments. National funding was largely based on population and history, and some visitors that come down were not law abiding and Dorset was paying for their policing. Home office had acknowledged the case for seasonality, and the PCC sources informed it had been calculated but not enacted. He covered the impact that seasonality has on the Police such as, restricted annual leave, increase authorise overtime, reduce training during that quarter, impacts on workforce wellbeing, and the increased financial pressure. Due to the focus on the summer, other things are pushed into the other part of the year and training back logs needed to be recovered. During these times, Police visibility and community engagement was impacted.

Questions and Comments from the members on the report – 55:30

·       Cllr Gibson explained that due to seasonality it was frustrating to see the hollowing out of Police services in areas where there was perhaps not much crime. This undermined the good work that went on throughout the rest of the year.

To receive the Q2 Monitoring Report 2025/26.

The PCC introduced the report. The first priority was to cut crime and antisocial behaviour, and total crime was down again. The initiative Op Track saw 4906 hours of targeted patrol in ASB hotspots. Which resulted in a lot of good work, 100 section 35 dispersal notices, stop and searches, 90 arrests, 26 community resolutions and 15 weapon seizures. There was 2500 hours done in July, in the centre of Bournemouth in hotspots. He gave an update on the work that had been done to tackle ASB for ASB awareness week. Dorset Police had operation shop keeper which targeted prolific shoplifters and achieves significant positive outcomes. He went through Priority 2 - making the Police more visible and connected. The force was able to keep up the good work with 999, there were 90% answered in 10 seconds. The issue remained with the secondary call handling, which was the 23-25% of people who were not dealt with in 3 minutes. The granularity was understood better, and the solutions were resource and technology. He covered priority 3 – fighting violence and high harm. Violence against the person was down again and there was a slight up lift in the domestic violence, sexual harm and stalking prevention orders and he thought that more could be done, and he had talked to the force on how more of these could be used. A procurement process for a new high-risk service to support victims of domestic abuse was underway. This responsibility would be taken away from the internal Police team, and an independent specialist provider would be commissioned so that it met best practice. The PCC had jointly funded a targeted ketamine awareness campaign for those that were already using and to address the growing harm linked to its misuse. For Priority 4 – fighting rural crime, the PCC attended a South West Strategic Police Collaboration Board, he emphasised the need for greater focus on organised crime groups engaged in rural crime. For organised waste crime of which the PCC made a written submission and attended the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, who was calling for evidence on serious organised waste crime. Resourcing was a fundamental issue specifically for investigators from the environmental agency. 

Questions from the Priority leads and Panel Members for Priority One - Cut Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (1:42:09) on the recording.

·       Cllr Woode asked what impact the PCC believed that the projected housing targets in the Dorset Council Local Plan would have on policing and what actions were being taken.

·       The PCC responded that the housing growth would have a significant impact on policing demand across the country. The population increase would drive additional calls for service and put pressure on local policing and heightened demand in areas such as, road policing, safeguarding, and community safety and crime prevention work. Growth would bring complex infrastructure and transport challenges which would influence crime trends and service expectations. The Chief Constable and PCC were taking proactive steps to meet  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

To receive a verbal update from the Service Manager for Assurance.

Since the last meeting, the one outstanding complaint and two further complaints, one which related to the former PCC had been received and investigated and none of the complaints had been upheld. The complainants had been advised of the outcomes.

To discuss the Forward Workplan.

The forward workplan was noted.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.  

There are no exempt items scheduled for this meeting.  

There was no exempt business.