Agenda item

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which presented his Annual Report for 2018/19. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 5’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were made:

(i)        The Police and Crime Panel thanked the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for a clear and comprehensive report which covered the full breadth of the PCC’s work. The Panel found the pictorials containing numerical data particularly useful in enabling the reader to understand at a glance the relevant statistics, and they linked in well with the Police and Crime Plan.

(ii)       The Panel commended the PCC for the emphasis throughout the report on partnership working and the support the PCC provided to Community Safety Partnerships. The Panel also welcomed the focus on prevention and working with young people. The Panel applauded the investment from the PCC in peer mentoring for both young people in communities and those on the streets and noted the impact peer mentoring had in Glasgow as part of the Public Health approach utilised there. The Panel was in strong support of peer mentoring particularly the use of people with relevant life experience to provide the mentoring.

(iii)      The Annual Report stated that the levels of recorded Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) incidents had shown a general reduction over the last two years. In response to a question regarding whether the PCC believed incidents of ASB were decreasing or whether it was only the reporting of ASB that was decreasing, the PCC stated that in his view ASB was under reported but that he believed the number of incidents were decreasing as well.

(iv)      The Panel thanked the PCC for the detail in the Annual Report regarding the PCC’s actions and initiatives to tackle rural crime and the Chairman emphasised that rural crime was a significant issue and victims of rural crime could be amongst the most vulnerable.

(v)       Prior to the recent government announcement on police funding, a decision had been made by the PCC to prioritise funding for Police Officers rather than Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). However, whilst the numbers of PCSOs employed by Leicestershire Police had declined the PCC had resolved to maintain the number of PCSOs at 181.  The total number of police officers within Leicestershire Police would be increased by 80 in the 2019/20 year and a further 27 in the year 2020/21. Whilst the Government had announced that the number of police officers nationally would increase by 20,000 over the next three years it was not yet known how many of those would be for Leicestershire Police.

(vi)      With regards to reference in the report to a project known as ‘RedThread’ which was in place in emergency departments in other areas of the country, where specially trained workers engaged with people who were treated in the emergency department for stabbing type injuries, it was clarified that the service specification used by Redthread would be adopted in Leicester to a large extent but Redthread themselves would not be providing the service due to capacity issues.

RESOLVED:

(a)      That the PCC’s Annual Report be approved, subject to the comments made by the Panel;

(b)      That the comments made by the Panel (as set out above) form a report to be submitted to the Commissioner for his information;

(c)       That the Police and Crime Commissioner be requested to provide a report for a future Panel meeting regarding peer mentoring in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

(d)      That the Police and Crime Commissioner be requested to provide a report for a future Panel meeting regarding initiatives the PCC is funding and how the success of those initiatives is measured.