Agenda item

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided an update on the performance of Leicestershire Police for the period 1 April 2019 to 30 June 2019. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda Item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were made:

(i)        The amount of online crime reporting was increasing significantly from a baseline of zero the previous year. Community newsletters had been used to encourage the public to report crimes online. The national online crime reporting system asked users whether online was their first choice for reporting crime, and it was intended to include a similar question in the Leicestershire Police online reporting system.

(ii)       Most 999 calls received were genuine emergencies and very few were unsuitable for the 999 telephone service though some calls received were inappropriate and showed a lack of understanding on the behalf of the caller as to the true purpose of the 999 telephone service. Of greater concern was the amount of genuine emergency calls received on the 101 telephone line.  The police also received too many calls relating to issues such as mental health which were not for the Police to deal with. In response to a suggestion from a member that the 999 telephone system should automatically prioritise and flag up calls from members of the public deemed to be at high risk, such as victims of domestic abuse, it was explained that those persons would be given a separate emergency telephone number so they would not need to call 999.

(iii)      There was a mismatch between the numbers of children from Leicestershire that were placed in care out of county and the numbers of children from out of county that were being placed in Leicestershire; the latter being far higher. Concerns were raised regarding the amount of children in care that became involved in criminal activity and it was questioned whether any analysis had been undertaken regarding this. With regards to whether missing children undertook an interview on their return it was explained that they were offered an interview but some young people refused to participate and this was logged as no interview undertaken. It was agreed that a report would be circulated to members after the meeting which would address all these issues.

(iv)      The Hate Crime figures could be broken down into sub groups to enable understanding of the types of people that were being targeted. A service would be taking place at Leicester Cathedral on 23 October 2019 in relation to Hate Crime.

(v)       With regards to the increase of 606 drug offences when compared to the same quarter the previous year, a member questioned how many of these related to Operation Lionheart, and what proportion of them resulted in positive outcomes. It was agreed that the figures would be provided to members after the meeting.

(vi)      Approximately three quarters of the work carried out by the Complex Crime Investigation Team related to the illegal drugs trade. To prosecute somebody for a drugs offence it had to be proved that the substance in question was an illegal substance and therefore scientific experts were required to analyse the sample and make a formal statement on its chemical makeup.

(vii)    In response to a question from a member the PCC stated that he was aware that cannabis could be effectively used for medicinal reasons and  whilst he was becoming more open minded about cannabis he had strong concerns that it could be a ‘gateway’ drug which could lead users onto using more dangerous drugs. The PCC stated that he was completely opposed to class A drugs which were at the root of so much crime especially given that drugs had become the commodity of crime. The PCC also had concerns about the negative impact alcohol had on people’s lives.

(viii)   The Home Office had allocated £1.4m to Leicestershire Police as surge funding to increase capacity to deal with serious violence and this money had to be spent by 31 March 2020. Whilst the Home Office had indicated that they intended to continue to fund the issue nationally it was not clear whether the future funding would cascade down to individual police forces. The Superintendent that lead on the surge funding held weekly meetings with representatives from the Violence Reduction Network to ensure that work was not being duplicated and that the processes in place were not more complex than they needed to be. Three areas had been identified where partnership working could take place between Leicestershire Police and the Violence Reduction Network.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report be noted.