Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner (copy attached).

The Sub-Committee considered a report of the Commissioner detailing the Force’s performance against the Policing Plan targets for 2011/12. Out of 21 targets, four were not achieved and three had incomplete data. 

As a general observation, Members felt that the Commissioner and his officers ought to be recognised for the hard work in achieving those ‘green’ targets, which were particularly challenging in the face of the budget reductions.

Members proceeded to analyse those targets which were ‘missed’, and heard from the Commissioner on the reasons why the Force was unable to meet them. The following points were made:-

·         Target 4 – Reduce Violent Crime by 10% - There was a discussion over the camp at St Paul’s having an impact on violent crime reporting. 

·         Target 7 – Increase number of people charged with fraud offences – The target was somewhat out of the Force’s control as it was largely dependent on the work by the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS). The target was being modified in the new financial year with the advent of the new performance framework for Economic Crime.

·         Target 11 – Develop Fraud Prevention Strategies – There was ongoing work to ensure better engagement with the industry. Again this was an area which was being addressed by the new Economic Crime performance framework.

·         Target 20 – Support staff sickness levels – It was noted that the target had been met for police officers. There was a reference to the impact of a relatively few number of long-term sickness cases skewing the data.

In response to a question over how newly agreed targets were taking account of the rise in some forms of crime over the Olympic Games, the Commissioner commented that he would anticipate some rise in acquisitive crime although he was still hopeful that there would be an overall reduction.

RESOLVED – That the report be received and its contents noted.