Agenda item

The Police and Crime Panel considered a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner regarding the HMICFRS Thematic Inspection entitled ‘Both sides of the Coin’ which assessed police forces ability to identify, respond to and disrupt county lines related criminality and abuse. A copy of the report, marked ‘Agenda item 6’, is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussions the following points were noted;

(i)          Leicestershire Police had restructured internally and set up the Serious Organised Crime Board to ensure that strategies were in place for tackling issues such as County Lines. There was a dedicated Serious Organised Crime Pursue team to deal with operational matters.

EMSOU also carried out work to tackle Serious Organised Crime in Leicestershire.

(ii)         Operation Lionheart resulted in shotguns, bladed weapons and long barrelled air weapons being recovered.

(iii)       A member raised concerns that offenders that were successfully prosecuted under Operation Lionheart were now being released from custody and their return to communities could have a negative impact. In response reassurance was given that these offenders were being monitored after release and discussions were taking place regarding offender management.

(iv)       With regards to the section of the HMICFRS report which stated that joint working was effective but did not always happen, a member stressed the need for better communication between organisations particularly with regards to children in the care of other local authorities being placed in Leicestershire and Leicestershire Police not being informed. In response assurance was given that this matter had been raised nationally by PCCs and a pilot was taking place with West Midlands police to see how communication regarding children in care could be improved. There was no system currently in place for schools to inform police when pupils had been excluded from the school but the West Midlands pilot would also be looking at this. It was suggested that the Panel could write to the Department of Education raising this issue in support of PCCs. 

(v)        The HMICFRS report highlighted that there were different definitions of Child Criminal Exploitation which led to different approaches from agencies. This was an issue in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (LLR) with District Councils and Community Safety Partnerships having different definitions to each other. It was hoped to resolve this by having the same risk matrix across LLR and this work would be part of the remit of the Child Criminal Exploitation team.

(vi)       Concerns were raised by a member that Leicestershire Police were having to manually enter data into the county lines intelligence collection matrix spreadsheet so this information could be sent to the regional organised crime unit rather than having computer systems which interfaced with each other. The PCC acknowledged these concerns and emphasised that Leicestershire Police had already entered a five Force collaboration regarding the NICHE database, and there was an ongoing programme of work involving EMSOU regarding collecting data regarding organised crime and anti-corruption.

(vii)     A member asked for a report at a Committee meeting regarding the Strategic Lead for Child Criminal Exploitation role which the PCC had funded. The PCC explained that it was too early for any meaningful information to be provided to Panel members yet regarding this role but a report could be provided in a couple of meetings time. The PCC suggested that in the meantime members would benefit from visiting the Child Sexual Exploitation Hub at Wigston Police Station

RESOLVED

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

(b)        That the Panel write to the Department of Education raising concerns regarding failures to notify Leicestershire County Council and Leicestershire Police when a child in the care of another Local Authority is placed in Leicestershire;

(c)        That a visit be arranged for Police and Crime Panel members to attend the Child Sexual Exploitation Hub at Wigston Police Station;

(d)        That the Police and Crime Commissioner be requested to provide a report on the work of the Strategic Lead for Child Criminal Exploitation for a future meeting of the Committee.