Minutes:
This Police and Crime Plan was built around the PCC’s manifesto. It details the PCC’s priorities which are ensuring the Police are:
· Preventing and fighting crime.
· Engaging supporting and working with communities, victims and partner organisations.
· Leading the police to be efficient and effective and,
· Increasing the legitimacy of, and public confidence in, the police and criminal justice system.
The aim of the PCC is to support the police to improve their delivery and performance on a variety of policing issues under each of these four priorities.
Work that has been done since the PCC was elected in May 2020.
· Appointment of Chief Constable Sarah Crew, who is a nationally recognised senior police officer, and the NPCC lead for rape and adult sex offences through Project Bluestone.
· A focus on visible policing via “boots on the ground”, enquiry desks and being more accessible in the community. Facebook Lives and neighbourhood beat surgeries as one way to tackle this.
· Reducing the administration and picking up more on the intelligence to prevent crime.
· Focussing and educating about serious crimes that the public want the police to recognise – i.e., 50% of all crime is cyber related such as scams, computer fraud.
· Ensuring that the rural areas are not forgotten and that the budget ensures a “fair-share” for everyone. Less emphasis on Bristol policing and increasing the profile of the police outside of the City Centre. An example is the PCC attending the Remembrance Service in Taunton in 2020, when traditionally the PCC has always attended a ceremony in Bristol.
· Publishing the Avon and Somerset Police Crime Plan 2021-2025 (Attached) showing how the police plan to tackle low-level drug dealing, ASB drug related crime and domestic violence. Identifying the triggers to behaviour and how these can be prevented. Working to improve targets across all areas year on year.
· Tagging – Sobriety and Crime Prevention tags. Increasing usage and monitoring take up.
· The latest cohort of the “20K Boris Bobbies” are due to pass out in May 2022. The PCC has already earmarked an allocation of rural bobbies.
· Promoting Farm Watch, Speed Watch and Horse Watch more widely and encouraging take-up across the county.
· Operation Remedy – a focus group of officers who will provide proactive capability to tackle individual issues in specific neighbourhoods.
Questions from the floor
· Is it worth reporting low level crime such as minor theft, low level Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) etc? There seems little point if there’s not much chance of getting the items back or the perpetrator has moved on….
o Always report crime no matter how small. Even if the perpetrator is unknown or the damage is slight, it helps build an overall crime picture when allocating resources to an area. A large number of petty thefts in one village/town will highlight the need for increased vigilance and more prevention/ bodies to tackle the problem.
· What is being done to tackle the theft of farm equipment and machinery? This is a big problem in rural areas.
o Rural crime has doubled in recent years, and it is geographically widespread. The Rural Police Crime Unit is now equipped with drones and trackers to try and tackle the problem. There is also a way of marking equipment using DNA tagging which is unobtrusive and can help with recovering stolen equipment. 27 private police officers currently patrol Portbury Dock in Bristol which is recognised as being the quickest and easiest way of smuggling stolen farm vehicles out of the county. This has meant that a large amount of machinery has been recovered and effectively cuts off suppliers from their markets. More work is being done in this area.
· Drug use? How prevalent a problem is it here on Exmoor? There doesn’t seem to be much evidence of it….
o For the first time, children in schools who sell drugs can be arrested. There will be a mechanism in place to ensure they have support but this is part of a multi-agency response. (SCC Cllr Frances Nicholson asked to be updated on this as SCC Cabinet Member for Children and Families. It is vitally important that safe-houses and other resources are available to meet this response!) PCSO Jo Dawson also added that most drug dealing on Exmoor was low level and did not involve ASB or was related to crime. If the users could fund their own habit through wages or lifestyle then crime remained hidden. It only came to notice when people had to commit crime to pay for drugs, or when drug dealing was more overt.
· Illegal raves or congregations of people. How can this be stopped?
o It is vitally important that if anyone believes a rave will take place, it is reported as early as possible. The more people reporting it the better. It is very difficult to stop a rave and disband a large group of people once it has started! Preventative measures are easier to police and manage at the outset.
The police are looking at ways that they can deter ravers from
attending by heavy profile of drink/drug driver units or issuing parking notices, but this has to be done with discretion and does not tackle the immediate problem.
If people are reluctant to ring the police then they can report crime via Crimestoppers which is an anonymous service. 0800 555 111. The information will be passed to the Police as a matter of urgency.
Wimbleball Lake – during the lock-down it was common for large groups of people to gather at the local beauty-spots. Although it could be a nuisance, they were not acting outside the law. Activities such as Tombstoning from the bridge, whilst very dangerous are not illegal and the police could only advise and ask people to desist. Equally if vehicles were parked legally on the highway, there was little that could be done, except to ensure that accessways were not blocked, and farm equipment and emergency vehicles could get through.
The PCC was grateful for the opportunity to meet the Exmoor Area Panel and suggested that he was invited back annually as a Standing Agenda Item.