Agenda item

1.

Introductions and Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from: Cllr W Wyatt-Lowe, Mahmood, Mathews, Silwal and Cllr Guest.

David Gibson, Lynn Webb, Drug Link, Tony Coley and Julie Still

2.

Minutes of previous meeting 19 October 2015 (previously circulated)

The minutes of the meeting on 19 October 2015 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

3.

Performance Update

Partnership (including Funding Update)

D Moore gave a brief update along with a presentation and handouts on crime and ASB period 1/04/2015-27/03/2016 and highlighted the following points;

Violent crimes such as assault and domestic violence had increased this were due to the way in which crime is now recorded.

ASB comes under an incident and not a crime.

Overall we are sitting in the middle with figures which is reasonable.

There has been a huge change in Dacorum over the years and this is only noticeable when you actually compare figures to where we were years ago.

Explanation of where funding monies were being spent and what each of the projects do. Talk to Billy McGill to find out more information on courses for young people.

Comparison of where we sat with crime compared to 9 other districts.

As the county positions indicate, Dacorum sits roughly in the middle in terms of performance.

The aim of the CSP is clearly to improve our performance in our key priority areas; this year has illustrated how annual performance in a category (e.g. burglary) can be affected by the Borough being targeted by a criminal network – this has resulted in Dacorum moving from 4^th in the county last year in performance in Burglary to 6^th position.

However, Dacorum remains a very safe place to live and work.

Questions and Answers

Cllr Howard asked what pump track was.

D Moore confirmed it was a track for kids to take their bicycles to do stunts.

S Matthews referred to Silver street, old people are not on the internet how do they calibrate and do agencies communicate with elderly people.

D Moore confirmed that there is calibration and the agencies are linked and the communication is good.

S Mathews asked if they had identified vulnerable individuals.

D Moore said he can’t identify that but if you speak to S Bunce to see if you can improve things.

J Bowden a member of Tring Council said he has been trying for two years to get cameras put up at the community centre due to a drug issue. He’s not getting anywhere despite going down every avenue.

Cllr Harden explained the process of the Borough and County Councillors helping but it’s also down to budget, Portfolio Holders may be able to help but the Police should take it up and there should be an action plan from the Police first, it’s a case of prioritising and funding for cameras, also the legislation behind it.

Insp Holland confirmed he is aware of this and will look into it; it may be a case for temporary camera.

Frank asked J Bowden if the concern was drugs, then added that if previously cameras showed activity, there would be a pattern and something can be done.

Cllr Douris added that a resident had reported this to a PCSO and they said to get car registrations, the more evidence we have to pass on the better.

Cllr Fethney said that we have a good relationship with the Police but we need to be more keen on reporting it. If we don’t report it then they will never know.

We need to look at spreading the word, talk to residents and liaise more.

Cllr Madden said if Tring wanted CCTV could we fund it.

Cllr Harden said it’s not that easy, we need to follow the new legislation.

F Karikam said she lives in Highfield and there are Police there every day, there is constant drug exchange, she doesn’t report it because she doesn’t want to get involved and raised an issue where she thought young children including her sons were being targeted by the Police. PC Holland asked her to speak to him directly regarding this.

D Moore said she doesn’t have to, we have the largest Neighbourhood Watch Group and they are always happy to help, he advised that she speaks to Phil Waine after the meeting.

Cllr Taylor referred to the funding, he recently went to a meeting and found out that we now have trained wardens to monitor dogs and their owners. There has been 2 cases in 12 months and asked how the relationship with this was and if we have any further info.

D Moore said they do have a relationship with Louise Ablitt who deals with this but doesn’t have any further updates; if you speak to Louise she can provide you with more information on this.

S Bunce asked where drug crime sits.

D Moore confirmed it’s covered under all crime.

HERTS CONSTABULARY

Inspector PC Holland gave an update to the group, highlighting the following points:

20 Dwelling Burglaries were down to one individual who has been arrested and charged. Take this individual out of the equation and the increase in Dwelling Burglaries is not so high.

Car crime has gone up in the last few months, there has been a series of Theft of Power Tools. Following the arrest of 5 suspects, who are currently on Police Bail 3 weeks ago, we have observed a  decreased in the number of reports of TFMV’S.

Violent crime and domestic abuse is a priority for Hertfordshire Constabulary and a Specialist Unit called Domestic Abuse Investigation & Safeguarding Unit (DAISU) has been set up by police to address this crime type.

We have witnessed an Increase in criminal damage to vehicles over the past 12 months. This increase has been slowed down as a result of the arrest of a suspect for a series of damages caused through marbles being fired at cars via a catapult., We have also witnessed a series of damages to cars where their tyres have been slashed

Anti-Social behaviour, Much of the increase in ASB is a s a result of Fly Tipping in our more rural districts.

Insp. Holland showed a short video from 6 May 2016 RE HM The Queens Visit to Berkhampsted.

He emphasised the planning that went into this event and all the different people/teams that were involved, this includes, The Council, RAF, Police, Fire Service, the Press, Highways and many more.

Thousands of people turned up, it was a very successful day for all involved and an excellent example of community safety partnership working.

Inspector Holland gave a breakdown of police stop and searches for weapons.

Questions and Answers

Frank asked, what were the figures for reported knife usage including reported witness sightings of knives on the street. This would be a better reflection of knife crime.

Insp Holland said there hasn’t been a massive use/threat of crime, He can only recall on one occasion in the Old High Street where someone had reported someone carrying a knife in public, CCTV was used and the man was arrested the following morning but unfortunately no weapons were recovered or found.

Frank asked Insp Holland if you can find the exact knife crime figures.

Cllr Madden said they are working with schools and a programme is being launched in the next few weeks. They attend schools and give presentations and they are fully aware when talking to young people if they carry knifes from their body language and eye contact when interacting with them. This is then passed on to the Head Teachers.

Frank asked for feedback on the use and efficiency of ANPR cameras.

Insp. Holland said they are an excellent tool and they do assist them in many ways.

Frank also asked that when we more over to the new building are we confident that we can video the meetings and publicise it to the public.

Cllr Griffiths said we are confident that the new building has this facility but there is a legal issue around it. It is something that needs planning and then potentially introduced, if we introduce it. We are not saying no we won’t do it but it needs to be future proofed and in time it could be a possibility.

HERTS FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICES

District Commander Billy McGill introduced himself, and is new to the district since April 2016 and gave an update and presentation on the service from 2015-2016, highlighting the following points :

Performance figures are going down and sometimes they Plato, this is what’s happening this year.

There is a lot of work going on with The Mount to reduce the amount of unnecessary call outs.

There has been a small rise in RTC’s.

Information on the wider service which the Fire Service provides.

From July 2016 2days a week the Fire Service will be used as a driving test centre.

Children’s CRP was piloted in Watford and went really well, we are now rolling it out.

The Fire Service now attend and assist the Ambulance Service with cardiac rests calls as a trial period.

Questions and Answers

S Bunce said he had recently fallen and collapsed and it’s good to see that we are moving in the right direction.

Cllr Madden wanted to congratulate them on The Duke of Edinburgh Course.

4.         PARTNERSHIP WORKING – A CASE STUDY

D Moore said that partnership communication is spot on and gave an example of how partnerships worked together involving arson cases in December 2015. The groups involved were CSP, Waste Management, Clean Safe and Green and CCTV and Neighbourhood Support Action Group.

The suspect was then arrested on 24 December 2015 and has been linked to 4 other arsons. No more arson cases have happened since. This was due to excellent partnership.

Questions and Answers

Frank asked how many people see this positive information.

D Moore said as soon as the offendant is charged it will be publicised.

Cllr Harden referred to recent closure order’s that had press releases to inform the public.

P Waine said we need to help get the message out there and be more proactive. We need to focus on good news.

Cllr Griffith added to that saying it makes people feel a lot safer in the community.

Cllr Howard said everything is online we need to move out of that and help people who aren’t online; we need a wider list of vulnerable and elderly people.

P Waine said there is Senior Watch Officers that Support this.

S Bunce suggested a street guardian.

Cllr Harden said it’s a good suggestion and to speak to him further about it.

5.       POLICE & CRIME COMMISSIONER UPDATE

H Quinn updated the group on the following;

Review of Hertfordshire’s Local Criminal Justice Board

Numerous Government reports have shown that all too often Criminal Justice agencies work in silos, only focusing on their part of the system resulting in victims who are poorly supported, frustrated and consequently withdraw their cooperation.  Reports have argued that some offenders evade justice and commit crime again, and that the community have a lack of trust and confidence in the criminal justice agencies to achieve and efficient and effective justice system.

The Joint Inspectorates report ‘Working in Step?’ asked PCCs to undertake a ‘health check’ of their local criminal justice board, to understand whether their CJB is driving efficiency and effectiveness, holding agencies to account, setting locally tailored priorities, and improving justice.

Amie Birkhamshaw from the PCCs office will be conducting a review of Hertfordshire’s Criminal Justice Board. This will include: a review of the national documentation, local minutes and actions from board meetings including the BCH review and Action plan; attendance at board meetings; and semi-structured interviews with all members of the board, including voting and non-voting members, and Chairs of the sub-groups.

The review will commence in April and the findings will be reported back at the September HCJB meeting.

Countywide Community Stop and Search Scrutiny Panel

The OPCC received over 40 outstanding applications for the Stop and Search Scrutiny Panel role representing all parts of the county following a successful recruitment campaign via OWL. Over the coming months nine new members will be trained on Pace Code A and formally join the panel, helping to boost numbers and bring much needed capacity, new skills, experience and diversity to the panel. The following districts now have representation:

3 members from St Albans and District

2 members from North Herts

3 from East Herts

1 from Broxbourne

First Independent Business Advisory Group

The OPCC hosted the first Independent Business Advisory Group (IBAG) during April which brought together a range of businesses and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, LEP and FSB to discuss key issues around Business Crime including that of Cybercrime and Fraud. Key representatives from the Constabulary’s Crime Reduction and Community Safety Team gave presentations on how businesses can keep themselves safe.

Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat

Work continues to progress the actions on the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat Action Plan to improve the end to end treatment and services for those with mental health issues. The three key priority areas for partners are Housing and Homelessness; Data sharing and Information; and S.136 and Street Triage. These areas will provide a focus for the work over the coming months and sub-groups have been set up to drive forward this work.

Street Triage

Mental Health triage in the FCR will continue but it will also be supported furtherby a Street Triage Car, which will be staffed by a police officer and a mental health nurse. To begin with this will be in operation on Friday and Saturday evening between 1700 and 0300 hours and the days of operation will increase each week until it operates every evening after six weeks. 

On arrival the mental health nurse will assess the individual and will make a recommendation to the police officer as to the best course of action to take for them.

Rolled out within E & N Herts CCG initially

Addressing Fly-tipping across the county

Work continues to ensure that we provide a better response to issues of fly-tipping. The county now has an agreed definition and will be using the same data depository to enable better recording of fly-tipping. This will help partners to better understand the volume of fly-tipping across the county and targeting of problem areas. Work has also progressed to ensure that better triage is in place in the force control room to ensure that the public have a coordinated response to fly-tipping.

Through the new ‘Partnership Fund’ made available through the PCCs budget, Chief Inspectors and their CSPs will be able address issues relating to fly-tipping, ASB and quality of life issues in their local area by being able to draw on the ‘enabling fund’ which will help the police and partners to take action to address issues that cause alarm and distress to the public. Further details on how the fund will work will be announced at the start of June. £100k is available each year for four years.

New Hate Crime Research

The Centre for Hate Studies at the University of Leicester were commissioned in December 2015 in Partnership with Herts Police and Herts County Council to deliver research on the views and expectations of hate crime support services in Hertfordshire.

It is the first of its kind focussed only on victims and victims’ services. There has been a high response rate - thanks to all who have provided support. The findings will be used to inform the commissioning intentions for specialist services for victims of hate crime to help them cope and recover and feed into the new County Hate Crime Strategy. Findings from the report will be published in May 2016.

Questions and Answers

There were no questions asked, The Chairman thanks H Quinn for a good overview.

6.         AOB

Cllr Madden said that Billys wish will be re launching in Dacorum.

Cllr Douris said can we use the highway funds for signs to change drivers attitude on speed?

N Harden added to that saying the  SID’s which tell people what speed they are actually doing is a good sign.

The meeting ended at 9.35 pm.

Next meeting will be

Wednesday 19^th October 2016

Issued by Kayley Johnston

Democratic Services Support Officer

01442 222226

kayley.johnston@dacorum.gov.uk