Summary - Shire Hall 10th March

A meeting summary and some personal notes authored by Cllr. Gareth Kitchen, SDC.

Brief report feeding into the Community Services and Licensing Committee at SDC will soon be here.

Webcast of meeting. Agenda packs etc.

Minutes here

The fire alarm went off at GCC just prior to the start of the meeting so everyone decamped to the street outside. False alarm! New Green Party co-oped member Cllr. Clare Turner from Blockley Ward over in Costswold District, good to have two Greens on the Panel! There was error in the previous minutes which enabled me to make the Stop Search dis-proportionality point again!

SERIOUS VIOLENCE STRATEGY

We were given an important update of the Constabulary's Serious Violence Strategy. Just received £500k for collaborative work around the county. SDC is one of the specified authorities (statutory partners) that the OPCC works with. Four strategic priorities.

1. Reducing the harm caused by Serious & Organised Crime (SOC)
2. Reducing the harm caused by Violence & Intimidation Against Women & Girls (VIAWG)
3. ASB can present a multitude of abhorrent behaviours, many of these are linked to Hate Crimes.
4. Supporting our Communities to Build Resilience

Strong partnership, working well. Created 12 interventions; Invested in 18,000 school children and 28 schools about gang violence. Virtual Reality headsets, again to schools, about knife crime. Skillzone attached to Fire service, funded by GCC.

To help deliver the strategy there's lots of great data innovation and data analysis going on. Data scorecards are being produced also real time data on threats and harms. Next steps. Youth violence and youth exploitation. Secondary interventions with youth before into crime too deep. Cllrs need to encourage Years 5&6 children to go to Skillzone it costs about £300 to hire a coach to get them there.

Rob took us through CSP report that goes to partners every month. 30 pages. Relate to strategic priorities. It was only displayed on the internal projection system, without hardcopy. :( However, the dashboard info certainly looked impressive. CSP's are being given exception reports...... This is a screen grab, it may have detail but lacks resolution. :(

Various questions asked by Cllrs. My Green colleague, Clare, asked about whether training had been given so that people can work out what is statistically significant so that knee-jerk responses can be avoided. It was confirmed that the the OPCC have sat down with all the Community Safety Partnerships and worked with them. PCC chips in to say that this work really helps him hold the Chief Constable to account.

Questions followed about school exclusion rates in Gloucestershire schools and work being done to tackle that. Knife crime came up in questioning multiple times. Excellent point made that success of investment in prevention is very, very difficult measure. OPCC CEO pointed out that this sort of activity needs to be 'business as usual' and Cllrs need to think about making this work with the upcoming LGR (Local Government Reorganisation) changes.

OPCC/CONSTABULARY STAFF SURVEY

The survey was undertaken in June 2024, the first of its kind, before the Chief Constable was suspended. The survey was built on existing surveys and tailored to fit the OPCC needs. Bias filtered out. 499 responses 98.5% representative.

Anonymous reporting required from feedback. Need more listening from management. Need more transparency. Poor equipment. Leadership & culture recurring theme. Difficult to read some of the lack of morale comments. Chair says the report was not good reading.

PCC say during last election, talked with people, need to improve trust and confidence. When came back needed to do dip sampling within constabulary. Did face to face with staff in constabulary and he didn't like what he was heard. With team commissioned the survey. He's confident of the results. Huge changes since. Definitely a need to repeat. CEO chips in, need to improve confidence within Policing. Very difficult read. CEO is going to be doing a blog! The others seem to tease her about it. I guess it's a pet project. Blogs are good for openness and transparency. ;)

PCC laments about first time he was elected the force went into engage within minutes. They were in deep. He thought they were through it, but doing this survey reveals the reality and much more work needs to happen. I think this is a positive. The issue isn't being swept under the carpet. Cllrs make some political comments which I find less than helpful, especially at this stage of the election cycle re PCC.

OPCC CEO says that it's very difficult with financial pressure. More honest debate. It's really, really tough, we have to move past that. PCC says the next PEEL inspection 18 months away but there is a lot to feel positive about. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

POLICE AND CRIME PREVENTION PLAN

This is the OPCC's second Plan. Lighter document this time. Ties into the strategic plan for the constabulary. Team effort. Performance measures. Shared with partners. Feedback closed last Friday. Looking for comments from Panel.

I got to kick off the questions here. It was not clear whether the aims in the previous had been achieved and how these aims are being addressed in the new proposed plan.  For example. TVAWG two aims missed, two achieved. But still priorty #2 in new plan. ELC Robbery, Theft from Vehicle, Theft from Shop, and many from the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) were missed. It turns out that detail will be published soon on the numbers, presenting back through CEO reports. Half way through year a report back to Panel. More robust performance framework this time. Two analysts now. Aligning with HMRC with PEEL objectives and rapid improvement plan. It was a good question as it turns out, the answer was quite revealing of massive underlying changes. Lots of reassurance though. :)

A random question on drone technology elicits a detour about drones and modern warfare from PCC.... He got money a few years ago from the Safer Streets initiative. Tries to get them deployed widely (rural). Good powerful and useful in combatting drug dealing. An unguarded response (maybe) from PCC. They spend alot of money on NPAS but he feels it is not providing value for money. Also hard to influence national strategy but locked into section 22 agreement (maybe similar to this one). PCC wanders onto the LRG and the creation of unitaries. The Chair interrupts, we don't want to go there!

Cllr Clare Turner asks about outcomes, how will we measure and deliver. What will success look like? Gives examples from the report that are wooly and fuzzy. All needs tightening up so we can properly measure. CEO agrees. They offer to send out Performance Framework for feedback. PCC has picked up on Clare's skill set and asks the Cllr to give it her full attention!

Cllr asks if 15% crime solved rate is normal? PCC says it's not unusual, but not satisfied with it. 20% is the next target. Cllr represents Forest, as rural as it gets. What's in the plan for rural communities and clear up rates for lower level crime. PCC says he looks at response times esp. to rural areas. He says public want to see more officers on the beat, it increases trust and confidence in the Police. Visible police is a key part of improving trust and confidence. CEO wants to get CC and deputy involved with Panel to talk about Policing in its entirety. The Chair has to close down PCC. The topic has gone on for far too long.

UPDATE FROM THE POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER

Taken as read, but Cllr wants to know about suspension and redeployment of the ex-Chief Constable. PCC hopes it is close to end, he wants closure, mustn't drag on, needs to thorough and quick. Another question again on Glos. residents paying ex-CC salary. Police reform agenda work. Integrity, maybe new guidance from review. PCC wants detailed set of questions on the subject, once it's over.

OPCC - Chief Executive Report

I mention that if ever there was an example of a grassroots community action campaign eliciting not only a response from the Police but substantial change, this has to be it. "Words Matter Policy" DPCC and other Cllrs agree.

Improvements in crime reporting accuracy, crime data integrity. Cllr asks about crime stats, some aims being achieved, not sure what 'outlier' means. Could be either be positive or negative.

OPCC have a number of vacant positions which are due to the efficiency drive and making savings.

Proposed Recommendation: Independent Members

Consult Panel to increase the number of independent members to three. It possible but will be a long haul. Will need a GCC constitution change. Panel agrees to take steps forward to do this.