Agenda and minutes

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.

 

The Service Manager for Assurance updated the Panel on the actions following the previous meeting.

To receive questions or statements on the business of the committee from town and parish councils and members of the public.

 

Public speaking has been suspended for virtual committee meetings during the Covid-19 crisis and public participation will be dealt with through written submissions only. Members of the public who live, work or represent an organisation within the Dorset/BCP Council area, may submit up to two questions or a statement of up to a maximum of 450 words. All submissions must be sent electronically to elaine.tibble@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk by the deadline set out below.

 

When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for and include your name, address and contact details. Questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. Questions will be read out by an officer of the council and a response given by the appropriate officer at the meeting. All questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting. The deadline for submission of the full text of a question or statement is 8.30am on Monday 6 December 2021.

 

There were two questions received from Dan Hardy, these are attached as an appendix to these minutes.

 

Responses from the PCC can be found at (00:08:00 and 00:10:10 on the recording).

 

 

To receive an update of progress against the Police and Crime Plan Q2 2021/22, to enable Panel members to scrutinise performance, seek assurance and assess outcomes achieved in the reporting period.

The Panel received an update of progress against the Police and Crime Plan from The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) who highlighted areas from each of his 6 Priorities which enabled the panel to scrutinise activity and assess the achievement of outcomes.

 

 

Priority 1 - Cut Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour: (00:12:40 on recording)

Leads - Cllr Pete Barrow; Cllr May Haines.

 

Anti-Social Behaviour had been a priority for the PCC, he had supported Dorset Police in launching Operation Relentless together with the Operation Relentless community fund.

The PCC had attended a proactive patrol as part of the Force’s summer drink drive campaign and supported the action taken by Dorset Police against illegal and 

unsafe e-scooter use.

 

Dorset Police had put designated leads in place for each local policing area to enhance responses to pet theft.

 

Panel Members were invited to ask questions of the PCC (00:15:10 on recording)

 

These focused on the ASB trend going downwards which was welcome, however there were concerns that ASB problems were being moved around rather than being tackled at source.

The PCC was keen to implement an effective rehabilitation programme and as the National Lead for the Addiction and substance misuse portfolio was working hard towards effective solutions to tackle ASB

 

Road Safety improvements and how the PCC planned to maintain and motivate Special Constables in the quieter/rural areas was also discussed.

 

 

Priority 2 - Make Policing More Visible and Connected: (00:22:13 on recording)

Lead – Ian McVie.

 

Neighbourhood Engagement Commitments had been relaunched by Dorset Police, which had made use of a revised Key Community Contacts (KCC) database.

 

It had been agreed that Dorset Police will join the Single Online Home web

platform, which had been adopted by the majority of forces in England and Wales.

 

Priority 3 - Fight Violent Crime and High Harm: (00:28:15 on recording)

Lead – Cllr May Haines.

 The PCC having put himself forward for the APCC’s Addiction and Substance Misuse portfolio had continued to drive national work with a focus on awareness of harmful gambling, effective rehabilitation and education on the harms of taking recreational drugs.  Drug dealing had been agreed as a regional priority by all SW PCCs. 

 

 

The PCC welcomed the HMICFRS child protection report, and would hold the Force to account for enacting the recommendations. 

 

Operation Encompass, which had received OPCC funding, had facilitated the sharing of safeguarding information with more than 300 schools and the PCC was looking at rolling out to nurseries as well.

 

Panel Members were invited to ask questions of the PCC (00:32:23 on recording).

These focused around domestic abuse incidents having risen and the reasons behind those figures which was attributed to a better reporting strategy and delivery plan and a higher awareness.

 

There was still work being undertaken to reduce knife crime, however Dorset was still a relatively safe county.

 

Following the recently passed Nationality and Borders Bill which could increase the problem of modern slavery ongoing updates were requested by the PCP members.

 

The PCC outlined his  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35.

To provide Members with a mid-point update on the how the Precept is being used in 2021/22

The Chief Executive, OPCC presented a report which sought to endorse that the Precept was delivering the outcomes outlined by the PCP and summarised how the Precept had been used for 2021-22.

 

The Police Officer Uplift Programme entered its second year in 2021/22, with Dorset having been set the target to recruit an additional 49 officers. The joint decision was taken to frontload recruitment at the beginning of the year to maximise the impact of the new officers, and so the Force remained well on track to deliver the required officers by 31 March 2022.

 

The Chief Executive, OPCC continued to highlight the various areas of the paper and the PCP members were invited to ask questions.

 

The PCC responded to a question regarding improving positive outcomes (01:54:19 on recording) copy attached as an appendix to these minutes.

 

To update Members on the Police and Crime Commissioner’s work to address the position of Dorset Police as a national outlier for racial disproportionality in stop and search. Stop and search is an operational policing matter and, therefore, the responsibility of the Chief Constable.

 

The panel had conducted scrutiny on this area in Sep 2020 - the issue was disproportionality in the use of Stop and Search (SaS) in Dorset.  This was the follow up in order to identify what action has been taken by the PCC/OPCC in order to improve the situation.

 

The PCC outlined the issue with disproportionate SaS figures in Dorset.  He clarified SaS and when these powers could be used before providing a detailed summary of the points in the report.

 

Chief Executive, OPCC was also invited to put his views to the Panel members (02:09:34 on recording).

 

PCP members noted that the new statistics still made use of population data taken from the 2011 Census, and looked forward to the new Census data being made available in due course.

 

ACTION: To put an item on the forward work plan to have a discussion on the analysis at the back end of next year.

 

To receive a verbal update from the Chairman of the Police and Crime Panel Complaints Sub-Committee.

The Service Manager for Assurance advised there were no open complaints.   A Police and Crime Panel Sub-Committee meeting had been scheduled for 6 January 2022 to review the current Complaints Policy.

To receive and review the PCP Forward Plan.

The Forward Workplan was noted and attention drawn to the number of items scheduled for June 2022.

 

It was suggested and agreed that the Panel members would look at the Workplan in more detail at their informal meeting with the support of a member of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner staff in attendance.

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 was no exempt business.