Agenda item
Presentation from Chief Superintendent Martin Jones and Chief Superintendent Joanna Maal on local policing issues
Minutes:
Members
received a presentation from Chief Superintendent Martin Jones on the Local
Policing Plan.
At
the start of the presentation Chief Superintendent Martin Jones paid tribute to
Cllr.D.W.Davies and dedicated his presentation to him
as Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Protection.
Chief
Superintendent Martin Jones introduced Chief Superintendent Jo Maal who would be succeeding him when he retires in May
2019. Chief Superintendent Jo Maal expressed gratitude for the invitation to Council and
confirmed that the excellent work developed would continue and build on.
Information
was received on the future focus of South Wales Police and previous
activities. One area was to further
develop partnership working which was key in achieving the six wellbeing
priorities of the Neath Port Talbot Public Services Board. One of which was the Early Intervention and
Prevention work with children who had suffered adverse experiences during
childhood. Police Support Officers had been linking with schools to provide a
variety of activities to engage with children and build relationships to enable
children to communicate concerns and identify areas of harm to them within
communities, for example County Lines Drug Gangs. These gangs target vulnerable people/children
within communities to promote and increase substance misuse and accompanying
criminal activity.
Disrupting
County Lines had been a priority, as a result the Critical Incident Group had
been established at the request of the Joint Public Services Board of Neath
Port Talbot and Swansea. The Critical
Incident Group comprised of statutory partners and substance misuse agencies to
develop a strategy to enable the Police to concentrate on disrupting the drug
gangs rather than the Police supporting other public services with non-criminal
activities. Chief Superintendent Jo Maal confirmed
that combating substance misuse would continue to be a priority for the force
and work would continue on a partnership level.
Additional
areas for continued focus would be Domestic Violence with the emphasis on
support to victims. Discussions were
taking place with the Crown Prosecution Service to allow victimless court
appearances. Intervention work with
perpetrators was taking place for them to understand the implications of their
actions.
Following
on, knife crime had increased nationally, predominately in major cities. Locally, Stop and Search and Awareness Raising had been very
effective in combating weapon carrying.
In
answer to members queries it was acknowledged that there was a delay in
answering 101 calls at peak times but it was noted that 101 was for
non-emergency calls only. In addition, a
new call back system had been installed which should reduce the call waiting
time in future.
Discussions
took place on the risks that accompany on-line activities. Cyber Crime was a priority and raising
awareness campaigns had been undertaken with schools and voluntary
organisations.
The
Leader of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council on behalf of Council
presented Chief Superintendent, Martin Jones with a gift and thanked him for
all the support he had given to Neath Port Talbot County Borough and expressed
best wishes for his future retirement. Congratulations were also given to Chief
Superintendent Jo Maal on her appointment to the post
of Chief Superintendent.