Agenda item

Report of the Commissioner.

Members considered a report of the Commissioner regarding National Lead Force Performance for the 11 months to 28 February 2019 and the following points were made.

Pursue

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Economic Crime) noted that a judicial outcome was a term that applied to a variety of types of outcome including the issuing of a summons or a ticket, or a case where the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to pursue the case further.

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Economic Crime) noted that the trend of rising crime was not unique to fraud, which is why it was important for fraud to be recognised as a critical area within the criminal justice landscape. In achieving that recognition, it was imperative for the Force to develop a focused, intelligence-led response.

·         The Commander (Economic Crime) noted that it was a positive step for the Force to be included in relevant Home Office decision-making Boards.

·         The Chairman noted that the October 2018 spike in crime reports recorded in the National Dissemination Table was a legacy issue due to old data being disseminated to local Forces.

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Economic Crime) noted that the breakdown between dissemination and crime reporting was complicated by the fact that outcomes were often reported in a different year to when the crime was first reported. This meant it was important to develop an approach that would allow quicker dissemination. This would be supported by Home Office funding to link Force IT systems with local Forces across the UK.

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Economic Crime) noted that new data would be available from June 2019, but that Members should be mindful of the accompanying cultural shift in how this data was reported and disseminated.

·         In response to a request, the Commander (Economic Crime) agreed to liaise with Andrew Lentin outside of the meeting regarding early drafts of tiered data, and for the new data to feature as an agenda item at the next meeting.

·         In response to a comment, the Commander (Economic Crime) noted that the reduction in disseminations from 2016 onwards despite rising crime was reflective of demand outstripping capacity, but nevertheless outcomes remained positive. The Town Clerk noted that outcomes did include the decision to take no further action on a case.

Prepare

·         Members agreed that customer surveys should be refreshed now that the Force had adopted a new performance framework.

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Economic Crime) replied that three types of Specials were utilised by the Economic Crime Directorate – City professionals, cyber experts, and Economic Crime Academy experts. The Commander noted that City professionals were difficult to secure for long-term investigations as there commonly took months and years to conclude.

RESOLVED, that the report be received.