Agenda item
Presentation by the Police and Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable of the South Wales Police
Minutes:
The
Mayor welcomed Alun Michael, the Police and Crime Commissioner, Matt Jukes, the
Chief Constable and Superintendent Gareth Morgan to the annual meeting with
council.
Members
received a presentation from Mr Michael on the expansion of neighbourhood
policing to target prevention and early intervention. Additional officers would be recruited
following the recent announcement, by the prime minister, of additional
resources. It was however noted that
this would not be immediate as it would take time to train the new police
officers. There would be no additional
resources to cover pensions, etc. and a 5.9% increase in their precept had been
agreed.
In
relation to VAWSVDA, GP staff had been trained to spot evidence of domestic
violence, etc. and as a result the number of cases had increased. It was noted that the Police and Crime
Commissioner (PCC) had provided additional funds to cover this for an initial
six month period and that thereafter the Health Board would take responsibility
for the costs.
Members
received circulated at the meeting a flyer promoting the DRIVE project which
was ‘an innovative approach to high-harm perpetrators of domestic abuse’, which
would be rolled out over the region. In
addition an extract from the Times, dated 16 September 2019, praising the work
in South Wales was also circulated.
The
Chief Constable then addressed council and advised that there was a very
positive relationship between the police and the authority, in particular the
community safety team, the corporate directors and the cabinet member. He advised that there was a high turnover of
PCSO’s as they went on to become police officers.
It
was noted that 8 out of 10 calls received by the police were not crime related
and could be anything from social care issues to mental health issues. Community psychiatric nurses were now based
in the control room in order to try and reduce the number of custody cases.
Welsh
Women’s Aid also worked with the police in relation to VAWSVDA issues and it
was pleasing to note that the South Wales Police Force had the best outcome
rate in bringing offenders to justice.
In
relation to knife crimes and County Lines a lot of resources had been allocated
to address these issues as most serious violence was drug related. Concern was expressed that Swansea was second
in the table relating to drugs related deaths, while Neath Port Talbot was 3rd. However the number of crimes, such as
burglary, was reducing.
Following
the presentations members raised the following:
· The work of the Critical
Incident Group (CIG) was raised in relation to County Lines and the wider
policing strategy. Members noted that
the work of the Drug Intervention Programme now included alcohol and had been
expanded to include those in prisons and after release. The CIG was rated second in the league table. Three main areas would be targeted – supply,
demand and enforcement. Work was ongoing
to disrupt the supply chain, including the use of vulnerable people to assist
in their distribution.
· Members asked how the
recently establishment Violent Crime Reduction Unit would impact on very
serious offences and violent offences.
Mr Michael reaffirmed his commitment to dealing with these and a joint
strategy had been established. GP
services, hospitals and schools needed to be able to identify possible risk and
report this.
· Members asked what was
being done to mitigate the rise in both cyber-crime and cyber enabled crime and
noted that added resources had been made available by the police however this
could be difficult as some of the perpetrators were overseas. Any Digital Inclusion Strategy needed to
include a safety element for all age groups.
Work was ongoing with universities to identify the developments being
made in the digital arena and Financial Safeguarding Officers had been put in
place. It was agreed that service
providers should be pressed to put in place measures to reduce the possibility
of both cyber-crime and cyber enabled crime.
Users should be encouraged to access the Get Safe Online service.
· Members asked how police
resources would be changing over the next 12-18 months, in light of the
Government’s recent announcement that police resources would increase significantly? In
response it was noted that the police needed officers who were operationally
ready and make a positive impact to diversity within the force. The first allocation of 136 officers would be
in March 2021. It was noted that the
force had 4 main pressure areas:
Police Officers
Non warranted
officers eg PCSO’s
Back officers
Vehicles and buildings
and that only the first
pressure was being addressed as the additional resources were ring fenced. It was hoped that the government would
undertake a comprehensive spending review to address some of the pressures.
· Issues around Brexit were raised and the police’s ability to maintain an
appropriate balance between addressing any resultant community tensions and
other demands. Assurances were given that
neighbourhood policing would continue and that the increase in right wing
extremism would be targeted.
· As prevention of crime was
the cheaper alternative, the PCC was asked whether he would consider
contributing to the upgrade and running of the authority’s CCTV estate. It was noted that in North Wales the PCC had
agreed to do this. In response the PCC
advised that he was looking at ways to collaborate going forward.
· Assurance was sought and
given that all ethnicities would receive the same service from the police. In particular the recent incident in Rhondda
Cynon Taff was discussed and Members noted that the Crown Prosecution had
undertaken a comprehensive investigation into the circumstances of the case.
· Members expressed concern
in relation to the effect of dealing with such things as child exploitation
would have on police officers and call handlers and were given assurances that
measures had been put in place to support staff.
· Concern was expressed at
the reduction in the number of mobile police units patrolling the
motorways. The PCC advised that
resources would need to be looked at, as they were highly specialised posts.
· Members asked for feedback
on the introduction of the Early Action Together programme within Neath Port
Talbot and noted that this was a joint initiative with Public Health Wales to
understand the implications of adverse childhood experiences. A pilot had been introduced in Maesteg with positive results.
The
Mayor then thanked them for their attendance at today’s meeting and they
withdrew from the meeting.