To receive a presentation from the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, John Campbell, and the Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber.
The presentation is expected to be approximately 20 minutes in duration after which there will be an opportunity for Member questions of no more than 10 minutes in duration.
Minutes:
The Council received presentations from the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner, Mathew Barber, and the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, John Campbell. Local Policing Commander for Bracknell and Wokingham, Superintendent Helen Kenny, gave details of local data, trends and initiatives.
The presentations covered the following points:
· Strong Local Policing – recruiting more police officers, supporting neighbourhood policing and focussing on the crimes that matter most to the public.
· Fighting serious and organised crime – cracking down on county lines gangs and organised crime groups to protect children from abuse and exploitation.
· Fighting fraud and cyber-crime – investing in the technology and resources the police need to protect residents online.
· Improving the criminal justice system – supporting victims of crime, bringing more criminals to justice and reducing reoffending.
· Tackling illegal encampments – ensuring a fair but firm response to illegal encampments and reducing the effect on communities.
· Wokingham Borough initiatives – Operation Outbreak (tackling knife crime through targeted enforcement and engagement; car cruises (a partnership approach).
Following the presentation, Members asked the questions set out below:
1. Question from Alistair Neal
Talking to residents in Earley there is a lot of concern, and fear, about the targeted burglary of gold jewellery. Can you give any reassurance to residents that this crime is decreasing, and that tackling it is a priority for Thames Valley Police?
Answer
The slides show an almost 40% reduction in burglary over the last year or so. This was an aspect of Covid with more people working at home, etc. There have not been any targeted burglaries of gold jewellery in Wokingham of late. The last one was in May. That said, when they do occur they cause concern because the victims feel targeted. There was particular concern in Woodley so our Priority Crime Team held a meeting to discuss those concerns with Woodley and Earley residents. Councillors and business leaders attended. As part of that meeting we shared information on crime levels and recent convictions. More importantly, we talked about better communication channels that we can use to locally to spread information and crime prevention advice.
Locally, we have made a commitment that the Priority Crime Team, which consists of a Detective Inspector, a Detective Sargeant and a Detective Constable, will continue to investigate the more complex burglaries such as these. They often span across different police areas and different police forces, so it is really important that we have the right resources and the skilled detectives to investigate this type of offence. Following protracted investigations by this team this year one burglar was convicted of seven family gold burglaries in the Wokingham area. He has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison. I hope that gives some reassurance locally.
2. Question from Rachel Bishop Firth
Sir Mo Farrah's revelation that he was illegally trafficked to the UK as a child has made us all more aware of this problem. Rightly, the UK authorities have confirmed that no action will be taken against him as a victim of this abuse.I am concerned about people in this area who may be found to have been brought to the UK to work illegally. We know that this has happened in Wokingham in the recent past and I have reported and asked for welfare checks on individuals where I've had concerns myself. Where someone from outside the UK is found to be working illegally in the Wokingham area, what steps do we take to assess whether they are a victim of trafficking, and where needed to protect them and safeguard their rights?
Answer
In the round, modern slavery and human trafficking have become much more prominent in terms of everyone’s awareness over recent times. Certainly, Sir Mo Farah’s revelations will only support that awareness. In simple terms, we have to have it reported to us in the first place. Our police officers are trained to identify hidden harm and the potential for modern slavery and trafficking. Also, seeing these people as victims rather than people who have automatically come into the country illegally. Other agencies have an important role in this. The Council and other blue light services will be meeting people all the time. Our organised crime teams are targeting organised modern slavery. In investigations we have a combination of enforcement, protection and prevention. That strategy is part of any senior police commander’s tactics. In terms of any issues locally, there have been one or two cases which were referred through the national referral mechanism and safeguarded locally, but there aren’t any significant local themes or trends to comment on.
3. Question from Andy Croy
Thames Valley Police (TVP) has recently relaunched Community Speedwatch in its area. Many volunteers, including councillors, have spent many hours monitoring speeds and recording the speeds of driver driving over the speed threshold. These drivers are then sent a letter by TVP reminding them of the correct speed limit. One of the purported outcomes of the scheme is that excessive or repeat speeders may face follow up action from local policing teams. How many of these follow up actions have occurred relating to drivers in:
· each of the policing areas that cover part of Wokingham Borough?
· Berkshire?
· the TVP area?
And are you happy with this level of response from local policing teams, and if you are not happy, what steps will you be taking to increase local policing responsiveness?
Answer
You have asked for details about numbers and I don’t have that information for you tonight. We will make sure that we capture that information. This is a question about Community Speedwatch which has been relaunched and driven by the Commissioner – local communities doing high visibility enforcement and prevention activities which are really welcome for villages and towns which are subject to rat runs and speeding issues. As a force we issued over 180,000 tickets last year so it is something that we take very seriously – speeding enforcement. Obviously, we can’t be everywhere at all times. You have heard of some of the issues that policing deals with. We have touched on some of those this evening. The ability to be everywhere to enforce traffic and excess speed can sometimes be limited unless we have consistent patterns of behaviour. So, Community Speedwatch is really welcome and is a great example of the police and communities working together.
In relation to your question, where we have repeat offenders, what are the outcomes and evidence of that feeding into the system for us to take action – I haven’t got that to hand at the moment but can get it to you outside the meeting. Locally, across the Bracknell and Wokingham area, we have 17 certified groups and nine active groups. Of those nine, seven are in Wokingham. The nine active groups have generated 1,973 speeding awareness letters. Out of that number, only 13 (0.06%) have reached the three incident in six months cohort which allows us to take additional action. That additional action is carried out by the Roads Policing Team not by the local police area. Details of the 13 cases have only come through recently so we cannot attribute them to particular parishes or schemes within Wokingham. Our contact for Community Speedwatch is willing to get these figures for us so we can pass them on. With that low number of repeat offenders one might argue that the local Community Speedwatch is particularly successful which is encouraging. I would be grateful for any local feedback.
Due to time constraints, it was agreed that the following Member questions would be answered in writing:
4. Question from Jim Frewin
What plans are in place to improve the public confidence in local policing over the next 12 months?
5. Question from John Kaiser
There seems to be confusion among residents as to who is responsible for setting speed limits on the Borough’s roads, can you please confirm whose responsibility it is to set limits and if the responsibility lays with the Council that the TVP will enforce the limits set by the Council?
6. Question from Rachelle Shepherd-DuBey
What is being done to make women and girls safe?
7. Question from Prue Bray
What can you do to better protect victims of harassment, stalking and domestic abuse from further harm after the point at which they report what has happened to them to the police?
8. Question from Clive Jones
Many residents feel that there are not enough policemen and women deployed on our streets in Wokingham Borough. Cuts that have been forced on Thames Valley over the last 6-7 years will have made it more difficult for you to have many officers on our streets. Do you see this situation changing in the coming years and can we expect to see a significant increase in officers on more of our streets in Wokingham Borough?
9. Question from Imogen Shepherd-DuBey
In Wokingham we get a lot of problems after midnight where there are late licences Friday – Sunday. This can be as simple as broken glass and loud behaviour, but often vandalism and we have had several more serious stabbings. These problems are usually when people leave a venue and sometimes, we get other noise and problems, usually near the residential areas. What can we do to get a presence located in the Town in the late evening and early hours, when we need the police to be present to control this anti-social behaviour?
10. Question from Sarah Kerr
The conviction rates for sexual violence and rape are very poor both locally and nationally. How will you be making improvements at the Thames Valley level so that victims can have more confidence in the system and thus be more likely to come forward and report?
11. Question from Paul Fishwick
What action will the Police take against vehicles parking on the footway where there are no waiting restrictions?
12. Question from Gregor Murray
According to Cifas, the latest Telephone-operated Crime Survey for England and Wales, figures reveal there were almost 5.1 million fraud offences in the year ending September 2021, a rise of 36% on pre-pandemic levels and represents almost half of all crime captured by the survey. Affluent and ageing communities, such as ours, are particularly targeted by this type of crimes. What is being done to both combat and prevent Cyber Fraud, Identity Theft, SME Business Fraud and Financial Fraud against the elderly and vulnerable in our community?
13. Question from Laura Blumenthal
We've recently had the report in the news about over 1000 girls in Telford being raped and sexually abused over decades, with it not being taken seriously by the authorities, including the police, for fear over being labelled racist as the perpetrators were mainly Pakistani Muslim men. Many of the children were victim blamed and some were murdered. Please can you assure us that this would not happen to the vulnerable children in our Borough?
RESOLVED That:
1) Matthew Barber, John Campbell and Helen Kenny be thanked for attending the meeting to give the presentations and answer Member questions;
2) the presentation slides be circulated to Members;
3) written answers be provided for the Member questions which could not be put at the meeting due to time constraints.