Agenda item

Policing Plan 2019-20 - Performance against measures for end Q2

Report of the Commissioner.

Minutes:

Members agreed to vary the order of items on the agenda so that the report of the Commissioner regarding Policing Plan 2019/20 – Performance against Measures for end Q2 was considered next. The following points were made.

 

·         The Commander (Operations) acknowedged that the crime statistics remained stubbornly high. The Force was a taking a more co-ordinated approach to combat this, including the use of civil orders. The majority of crime committed in the City was low-level crime, which was the result in part of being required to police a high number e.g. 900 licensed premises. This issue would be particualrly apparent during the Christmas period.

 

·         The Commander (Operations) continued, noting that deployments to police Extinction Rebellion protests during the Q2 period combined with the Force’s ongoing vacancy factor was having an impact on the Force’s ability to reduce crime levels.

 

·         The Commander (Operations) concluded by noting that, nevertheless, crime levels were plateauing and that he was confident that the figures would improve by year-end, although he could not promise an on-year reduction. He noted that he was being scrutinised by both the Assistant Commissioner and Commissioner. He added that the Force’s emerging performance manangement culture did mean that officers were recording more crime data.

 

·         The Chairman suggested that the Force consider ways in which performance reporting could reflect both increased crime trends and increased levels of Force intervention.

 

·         In response to a comment from the Commander (Operations) regarding the Force’s focus on the high volume of low-level crime, a Member expressed concern that this meant that the Force was giving a corresponding low empahsis on combating drug trafficking. The Commander (Operations) responded that the Force did combat drug trafficking when this was encountered during policing operations, but that it was not being targeted as a priority, given that due to the resources avaiable the Force could only focus on particular areas of focus simultaneously.

 

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Operations) confirmed that officers were flexibly deployed during different times of the day to combat crime hot spots.

 

·         A Member commented that one strand of combating low-level crime was educating the public regarding the risks around leaving bags unattended when socialising in licenced premises. The Commander (Operations) agreed, noting that this strand was overseen by the Safer City Partnership.

 

·         In response to a question, the Commander (Operations) noted that there had been no substantive hate crime increase within the City linked to Brexit.

 

RESOLVED, that the report be received.

Supporting documents: