Agenda item

To receive an update on local policing

At 7.08pm, Guy Grandison joined the meeting and resumed the Chair.

The Committee considered a presentation, set out in supplementary agenda pages 3 to 8, which gave an update on local policing within the Borough.

The presentation noted four key areas of focus for the local police service – serious violence duty, domestic abuse, neighbourhood policing and anti-social behaviour, and violence against women and girls. Performance statistics indicated that the force was doing particularly well in tackling knife crime and undertaking formal action, whilst performance issues relating to rape and sexual offences were being looked at as a priority whilst noting that these performance issues were affecting the whole nation. Partnership working had been undertaken with the Community Safety Partnership to address issues including car cruises, school interventions in relation to knife crime, and persistent callers. Future activity would focus on a number of areas including the new safety and enforcement service (ASB) and neighbourhood policing, addressing hate crime, addressing knife crime and exploitation, and tackling cybercrime and fraud.

Andrew Cranidge, Local Policing Area (LPA) Commander for Bracknell and Wokingham, and Narinder Brar (Community Safety Manager) attended the meeting to answer Member queries.

During the ensuing discussion, Members raised the following points and queries:

·         Was there a plan to increase performance in relation to tackling rape cases and associated prosecution? LPA Commander response – Unfortunately data could not currently be split between Bracknell and Wokingham, and this would be sought to be addressed in future. Notwithstanding the data issues, the situation was neither good locally or nationally, and there was a concerted focus to tackle violence against women and girls. The force was looking to address the lack of confidence from victims in getting the police to tackle their case and seek convictions. It was noted that it was currently taking over 700 days to get a case to court, which was contributing to victims losing confidence in the process. The strategy for tackling violence against women and girls would be published shortly, and included actions in relation to identifying potential offenders before a crime was committed.

·         What period of time were figures on crimes compared over, as the pandemic could have influenced the data? LPA Commander response – The burglary figures were a five-year comparison, whilst the pandemic was factored into the data to compare to a more normal year. There was a desire to improve the data in future to be able to break it down further.

·         How should residents report drug related issues? LPA Commander response – Residents should ring 999 if a crime was in progress, and 101 if it was a report of a previous crime. Officers had to balance the threat and harm posed by reports.

·         It was noted that a range of issues raised at the recent meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee relating to local policing would be responded to via a written answer.

·         A number of Members and residents had used the 101 service and had experienced considerable delays in excess of 40 minutes. What was being done to address these delays? LPA Commander response – There had been an acute issue with the 101 service a number of summers ago, however the average response time was currently around four minutes, which rose during the summer months when there tended to be additional reporting. A 40-minute wait time was clearly not acceptable, whilst the online reporting service was undergoing improvements to make it more intuitive.

·         Were Town and Parish Councils involved within the partnership working agenda? LPA Commander response – This could come forward as part of the work on neighbourhood action groups, which were being looked at. A good example of community working, including involvement of Town and Parish Councils, were local speed watch initiatives.

·         A Member had reported instances of cars fully blocking footways where there were no double yellow lines which had forced residents to use a busy 'B' class road to get around the obstruction including some with pushchairs. No response had yet been received which gave the impression that no action was being taken. Did the Police take these reports seriously and what action would they normally take? LPA Commander response – These reports should be fed back to the person who raised them regardless of the action taken. Footways should not be blocked whether double yellow lines were present or not, and representations could be made to the Highways Authority where residents felt double yellow lines would be useful.

·         A resident had provided camara footage of at least five near misses by motorised vehicles whilst he was riding his bicycle over the past 12 months. This footage was passed to Thames Valley Police (TVP), but they have not responded on what action they have taken, if any. What is the procedure that TVP follow, and should he have received an update? LPA Commander response – This would go to the road policing department to assess and to communicate with the person who sent in the footage. If this was not working then this needed to be looked at, and direct details could be passed to the LPA Commander for escalation.

·         Were there plans to embed the long-term strategy to deliver improvement in relation to rape cases? LPA Commander response – Yes, there was a long-term strategy to embed this both locally and nationally. Across the country there had been a slow increase in the amount of charges, and a range of long term measures would be put in place. The courts also needed to be able to hear more cases earlier, whilst a whole system review was currently underway. One of the key long-term approaches would be to change the attitudes of young adults.

·         Had much success been realised in educating teenagers that they did not need to carry knives? LPA Commander response – There was a lot of work going on with schools, including within the violence reduction unit to help identify those children at risk of carrying knives or at risk of being subject to knife crime, and to educate on why it was not a good idea to carry a knife. There was a serious violence partnership meeting that covered the serious violence duty within the Wokingham Borough.

·         How often did TVP visit teenagers in schools? LPA Commander response – Each year group was systematically visited at least once per year to provide them with information. Pupils tended to be able to relate more to previous offenders than a police officer, and such talks were often organised at schools. TVP worked alongside parents and community groups to provide support and information, whilst a knife crime survey had recently gone out to all residents. There was strong partnership working between TVP, the youth offending team and the early years team. Whilst there were not a huge number of incidents within the Borough it was very important to continue the committed focus on early intervention and prevention to maintain a safe environment.

·         Was neighbourhood policing moving away from areas such as Earley, Shinfield, and Arborfield? LPA Commander response – No, the college of policing guidelines on neighbourhood policing were being implemented across the Borough. A review had been undertaken and neighbourhood officers were now deployed based on geographic location and based on a problem solving basis, which allowed for more difficult issues to be addressed more efficiently. Residents will be able to contact their neighbourhood team via details provided on the internet. The LPA Commander added that the implementation of the guidelines needed time to embed.

·         Had there been any reduction in the number of frontline police officers? LPA Commander response – No, there were 13 neighbourhood officers across the Wokingham area, in addition to a number of dedicated PCSOs across the different localities. A national programme had delivered 183 response policing officers to Thames Valley in year one, 21 detectives in year two, and 60 officers were expected in the coming year. Response police officers freed up other resources within the service, making it overall more efficient and effective. There were going to be some pressures on the service next year as graduate officers had protected learning time which would take them away from front line and office-based duties.

·         Was there any opportunity to re-open the Wokingham police station? LPA Commander response – The LPA Commander was not involved in the estate strategy and therefore did not know with certainty, however the likelihood of a re-opening in the near future was low as this station was closed as part of a wider savings package for the overall service. If the budgetary position changed then this could be revisited, and stations were currently located in Loddon valley and Bracknell.

·         Had the previous focus involving identifying children at risk of county lines been overtaken by the focus on knife crime? LPA Commander response – Knife crime was part of the modus operandi used by many gangs and county lines operations, and there was a lot of work underway to get people with previous experiences to talk to children. There were a number of dedicated school officers which provided a specific resource for schools.

·         How would TVP work alongside the Council to implement the recently agreed public space protection order? LPA Commander response – This was a real opportunity to implement joint patrolling and problem solving between public protection staff and police officers, which would enable sharing of techniques and information. In relation to car meets, there were less reports within the Wokingham Borough and more reports in neighbouring Boroughs which evidenced that effective action was being taken here. There needed to be a continued focus on working with landlords to identify typical meetup spots and reducing crime wherever possible.

·         How was cybercrime and fraud being dealt with on a local level? LPA Commander response – Reports went to Action Fraud for assessment, and if prosecution was a possibility then these reports were sent to local police. There was a skills gap within the service in relation to how fraud was investigated, and new dedicated officers were being deployed to recognise the changing nature of criminality online.

·         In the absence of time, it was noted that written responses would be provided to a number of questions provided to the LPA Commander prior to the meeting.

RESOLVED That:

1)      Andy Cranidge and Narinder Brar be thanked for attending the meeting;

2)      Written responses be provided to any outstanding questions;

3)      A further update on local policing be considered during the next municipal year.