Agenda and minutes

A webcast of the meeting can be viewed at: http://council.webcast.vualto.com/leicestershire-county-council/home?EventId=16766

The minutes of the meeting held on 26 July 2016 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

There were no questions submitted.

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting.

Cllr. M. Sood declared a personal interest in respect of all substantive items as a member of the Police’s Independent Advisory Panel, as the Chairman of the Leicester Council of Faiths and a member of the Bishop’s Faith Forum.

The Commissioner will deliver an oral update under this item.

The panel received an oral update from the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding progress with the Tri-Force Collaboration which involved Police forces from Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire. The update included the following points:

·                Workshops had taken place on 23 June 2016 with regional Police partners at which collaboration on the following areas had been discussed:

·      Contact Management;

·      Enabling Services i.e. Human Resources, Finance, Procurement;

·      Professional Standards

·      Technology workstreams i.e. NICHE

·                Whilst Lincolnshire and Derbyshire Police Forces did not wish to be part of the collaboration at the present time, they would not be prohibited from joining the Tri-Force Collaboration in the future should they wish to do so.

Arising from a discussion, the following points were noted:

·                The Tri-Force collaboration would not mean that local priorities would be lost. Neighbourhood policing would continue to be part of the strategy.

·                The review of the 101 telephone service would include ensuring that those people who did not speak English as their first language would be able to communicate with the person that answered the call.

·                The Police and Crime Commissioner would place less emphasis on data and targets than his predecessor and focus instead on wider areas of priority and the overall results.

·                The panel welcomed the opportunity for regular updates on the collaboration work including the enhancement work currently underway with regard to the NICHE system.

RESOLVED:

That the update be noted.

The Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner concerning his first 100 days in Office. A copy of the report, marked

‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions, the following points were noted:

·         The Police and Crime Commissioner intended to strengthen partnership working and make the OPCC more externally facing. The structure of the Strategic Partnership Board (SPB) was under review. It was noted that the effectiveness of the SPB Executive had improved since it was first set up. The relationship between the OPCC and Community Safety Partnerships was also being assessed with a view to making improvements.

·         Some work had been carried out in relation to tackling rural crime however more could be done.  As a result of a meeting between the Police and Crime Commissioner and the National Farmers’ Union it was intended to hold a further meeting between senior police officers to discuss policing of rural areas. A seminar had also been organised to discuss the theft of lead from church roofs.

·         The first cohort of 20 new police officers had been recruited and a further cohort would be recruited in December 2016. There were also 2 cohorts of PCSOs. The first cohort had recently completed 2 weeks of training.

·         In response to a question the Police and Crime Commissioner stated that he needed to give consideration to whether in future Police Officers would be able to wear specific clothing of a religious/cultural nature such as the Burka whilst on duty and whilst he did not object in principal he would need to ascertain whether there would be any practical difficulties.

·         The Police and Crime Commissioner reminded the Panel that his survey on local policing priorities was open and asked Panel members to encourage as many people as possible to complete the survey and in particular suggest one item that they wished to see in the Police and Crime Plan.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel notes the report and takes assurance from the work undertaken by the Police and Crime Commissioner during his first 100 days.

The Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on Leicestershire Police’s work to tackle hate

incidents and hate crimes. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 7’ and a further document setting out the most recent statistics for hate crime, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted:

·         The report provided a definition for what constituted a hate incident and it was emphasised that the crucial factor was the perception of the victim or any other person that the incident was motivated by hostility or prejudice. Further clarification was given to the Panel that if a third party perceived an incident to be hate related then it would be categorised as such regardless of the views of the people directly involved and would therefore be included in the figures presented in the report. However, there had not been many such incidents reported in Leicestershire where third parties had such a perception.

·         The previous Police and Crime Commissioner had left funding for his successor to allocate for tackling hate crime and hate incidents. Discussions on how this money would be spent were well advanced and the Police and Crime Commissioner indicated that some of the funding would be used to educate the perpetrators of hate crime. However, a full announcement on the details would not be made for several more weeks. The Panel welcomed the extra investment.

·         Consideration was being given to adding extra categories of hate incidents for Leicestershire such as misogyny. Discussions were being undertaken with the Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner regarding this issue as Nottinghamshire had already included misogyny as a hate category for their Force area.

·         Panel members were concerned about the amount of racially motivated incidents in Leicestershire and asked for race related crimes to be on the agenda of a future meeting of the Panel.

·         The Hate Crime Scrutiny Panel was community based and included 3 members of the Police Service, plus 3 local Councillors and other community representatives, and representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service.

RESOLVED

(a)          That the contents of the report be noted;

(b)      That a report on racially motivated crimes be considered at a future meeting of the Panel. 

The Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on progress regarding the increase of the armed policing capability within the East Midlands Operations Support Service - as part of the National Armed Policing Uplift Programme. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 8’, is filed with these minutes.

Clarification was given regarding recent media reports on the issue. Whilst it was correct that the amount of armed Police officers in Leicestershire Police was reducing, as a result of the collaboration between four East Midlands Forces the amount of armed officers available to deal with incidents in Leicestershire had actually increased. The collaboration had received positive comments from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Originally it was intended that funding would only be provided for capital i.e. vehicles and equipment, however there had been a change in this position and revenue costs were also being provided. Therefore there would be less impact on local budgets. Leicestershire Police had redesigned its structure which had resulted in additional capacity. Reassurance was given that the level of armed police in Leicestershire was proportionate and appropriate.

Security and policing at East Midlands Airport was not publically funded. It was paid for privately by the Manchester Airport Group.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.

The Panel considered a report of the Head of Democratic Services at Leicestershire County Council which set out some of the considerations around where the Panel wished to hold its meetings. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 9’, is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

That the Panel:

(a)    Holds 2 of its 6 standard meetings per year at City Hall on a trial basis, commencing with the March 2017 meeting of the Panel (ie. the first

meeting of the Panel following the budget/precept meeting in January);

(b)    Reviews the position at the Panel’s final meeting in 2017.

The next meeting of the Panel is scheduled to take place on 5 December at 1.00pm.

RESOLVED:

That the next meeting of the Panel would be held on 5 December at 1.00pm.

Future meetings of the Panel are scheduled to take place at 1.00pm on the following dates in 2017:-

3 February

29 March

22 May

26 July

28 September

5 December

RESOLVED:

That future meetings of the Panel would take place at 1.00pm on the following dates in 2017:-

3 February;

29 March;

22 May;

26 July;

28 September;

5 December.