The Chair welcomed to
the meeting Superintendent Chris Shead, Slough Local Area
Commanderfor the Thames Valley Police, who made a presentation on
crime and policing matters in Slough.
He stated that the police’s resources were focused on its
identified priorities, namely combatting serious acquisitive crime;
tackling violent crime; improving the quality of service; and
enhancing confidence in the police. He
was pleased to advise the meeting that, overall, there had been a
13% reduction in crime compared to the same period last year which
equated to some 1,200 less victims. He
provided detailed information on various categories of crime,
commenting that whilst the crime figures had reduced, the level of
crime in Slough was still high as compared with other similar
policing areas.
Amongst the highlights
in his presentation were the following:-
- The level of
burglaries was down but the detection rate was still too low.
- There was a large
drop in vehicle crime over last year.
- The number of
robberies was down some 22%, reflecting the resources focused on
this area.
- There was an increase
in assault with less serious injury, both in respect of domestic
violence and other assaults. Alcohol
played a large part in many of these crimes. It was difficult however to make a judgement in
respect of domestic violence as to whether the increased figures
reflected more crimes being committed or whether more were now
being reported and/or better recorded.
- There was a small
decrease in serious violent crime and serious sexual
offences. The levels of criminal damage
were similar to last year but the level of hate crimes had
increased significantly.
He commented that
whilst the overall reduction in crime was to be welcomed, it was
still the case that the Thames Valley force suffered from a lack of
resources with less officers per head of population and per crime
than most similar authorities. He felt
that the public’s confidence in the police was improving but
there was still much work to be done.
Members raised the
following issues in the subsequent questioning and debate:-
- A Member made
reference to the fact that the new Comprehensive Area Assessment
would evaluate not only the Council but its partners and the
relationship between those partners, including the
police. There had been complaints in
the past of “buck passing”
between the two organisations in responding to issues and a comment
was sought as to whether the position had now improved. Superintendent Shead commented that he believed
there was a healthy level of challenge between the two
organisations and he did not believe there was any buck passing now
taking place. He believed that, whilst
there was always room for further improvement, the relationship
between the police and the authority was strong and
improving.
- There was concern at
the level of anti-social behaviour in the Borough and a perception
amongst the public that not enough was done by the authorities to
tackle it. Superintendent Shead
responded that, whilst it was true that the public perception could
be ill-judged at times, he agreed that a more joined up approach
was required in respect of tackling anti-social behaviour and he
believed that good working practices had been established between
the police and the authority. Having
said that, further work was needed but he believed that good
structures and relationships were now in place. Reference was also made to the current massive
government interest in anti-social behaviour arising particularly
because of the recent tragic case of Fiona Pilkington. Members commented that low level crime of this
nature was a real problem as it affected so many people in a
neighbourhood.
- The Superintendent
was asked whether any additional officers had been obtained for
Slough as had been hoped by the Chief Constable when she had
attended the Committee earlier in the year. He responded that two additional officers had been
obtained for the Slough area.
- Reference was made to
the current national financial crisis and the likelihood that the
police budgets would be cut in the coming years and the Commander
was asked to comment on whether he thought this would have a severe
impact on the Force. He commented that
there would undoubtedly be a reduction in funding and referred to
the fact that savings of some £355,000 had been required in
the current year. This had been
achieved through efficiency savings without any reduction in police
numbers. In the future, the police
would need to work smarter and more efficiently.
- A Member referred to
people’s perception of where the police concentrated their resources and referred for
example to high levels of anti-social behaviour in some areas,
whilst the police appeared to be utilising resources on speed
traps. Superintendent Shead commented
that it was important to get the balance right and he referred to
the fact that traffic and speeding were often cited as a problem by
local residents. It was therefore
necessary to address the problem, particularly given that people
were more likely to be hurt in road accidents than as the victims
of violence. In addition, it was also
worth remembering that the traffic police were not within his
jurisdiction and he did not make decisions about where to deploy
such manpower.
- A member of the
public had submitted a question for the Commander seeking
information on the breakdown of people by ethnicity in Slough that
were in rehabilitation, in prison on drug offences, or in prison
due to gun crime. The Commander was
unable to provide that information at the meeting and suggested
that this may be more appropriately addressed to either the Prison
Service or the Probation Service. A second question had also been put by
a local resident and the Chair suggested that this be forwarded to
Slough’s MP to respond to.
- Members sought
information on how effective the police were in tackling the
problem of drugs in Slough. The
Commander commented that the benefits of Operation Chester
undertaken some 18 months ago were still being felt with the level
of trafficking and arrests still down.
He believed that there had been a significant reduction in drug
pushing in the Slough area and this was borne out both by the
reduction in serious acquisitive crime, which was often linked to
drug users, and a large reduction in the number of kidnappings
which again were often drugs related.
- A Member asked what
action the police had taken in respect of the recent martial arts
exponent who had visited Slough and had appeared to be suggesting
that he could teach people to maim and kill. The Commander commented that he did not believe
that the gentleman in question was teaching anything different from
that taught in martial arts classes and did not believe that he was
breaking the law in any way. Moreover,
it was believed that he was licensed to train martial
arts.
- A Member asked what
training frontline staff received in child protection awareness and
was advised that there were various degrees of training in the
force. All staff were given awareness
training on both domestic violence and child abuse. In addition, some staff underwent a much higher
level of training if they were involved with child abuse
investigations.
- In response to a
question about time saving initiatives, the Commander stated that
the Police were endeavouring to work smarter and to reduce the
amount of bureaucracy. He gave the
example of a much reduced level of
paperwork in respect of adult and youth restorative disposal
relating to minor offences where a caution was issued and a note
made in the officer’s notebook only. In addition, handheld PDAs were issued to staff on
the beat.
- Superintendent Shead
was asked to comment on the Fiona Pilkington case and whether he
felt that the failings in evidence in the Leicestershire force
could be replicated in Slough. He responded that whilst he could
not comment on what may have gone wrong in that case, he regularly
received data about individuals who were repeat victims of
anti-social behaviour and that information was used to ensure that
neighbourhood teams addressed any such issues flagged
up. Neighbourhood inspectors would be
expected to put a plan in place if more than three calls were
received from a victim. He had systems in place which he believed
were as robust as they needed to be at the present time but he
would continue to review and improve them as necessary in the
future.
- A Member asked
whether any action was taken in respect of the victimisation of
disabled people who were often targeted by anti-social
behaviour. He commented that he
believed that such crimes were greatly under-reported and this was
an area that needed more work locally.
As an example of this, he did not believe that partnerships with
local disability groups were as well established as they could be
and he was addressing this. He urged all such organisations to
report these crimes to the police.
- Clarification was
sought of the number of police officers in Slough and whether this
was adequate. Superintendent Shead
commented that Slough had 240 officers and there were 4,200 across
the whole of the Thames Valley area. He
believed that the force was under-resourced and should be treated
the same as a metropolitan area.
Considerable lobbying continued to be undertaken but it was
unlikely that there would be a change for the better in the short
term. Accordingly, it was important
that he made the best of the available resources.
- A Member asked
whether there were any Wards in Slough with particular tensions at
the present time. The Commander
commented that none were giving great cause for concern at present
although there was an emerging problem with anti-social behaviour
by groups of youths on Friday and Saturday nights in the Britwell
area and the police were monitoring the position.
- Member asked what
challenges the diverse and mobile population of Slough caused for
the Police. The Commander responded
that the police endeavoured to work well with all sectors of the
Slough community but he accepted that there were particular
challenges where there was a highly mobile population, some sectors
of which had different modes of behaviour for cultural
reasons. The police needed to be aware
of these factors.
- The Commander was
asked to comment on whether he believed that the increase in the
levels of domestic violence was due to better reporting and
awareness or whether there was indeed an increase in such
crimes. He stated that it was difficult
to be sure about this but that when he had arrived in Slough, he
believed that the number of domestic violence crimes being reported
was too low. There was certainly an
increase in referrals and convictions but it was too soon to say
yet whether this was symptomatic of an increase in the
problem. He should be in a better
position to comment in a year’s time.
- Reference was made to
the problem of young offenders who were not in suitable education,
employment or training and whether the police had a role in this.
The Commander commented that it was important that, wherever
possible, suitable opportunities were provided for such young
people to help break the cycle and that sometimes prison was
counter-productive.
- A Member asked how
the police measured the effectiveness of its strategy to tackle
violent extremism. He responded that
evaluation was the key to this with the police needing to evaluate
the usefulness of the projects being undertaken. This was of necessity of long term issue and it
was not always easy to find good methods of evaluating
success. However, a programme to
support vulnerable individuals was in place to help such
individuals from being radicalised. It
was also about building resilience within the various communities
to identify potential problems and to work with partners wherever
possible.
- Reference was made to
the problem of prostitution in Chalvey and what action the police
were taking. The Commander commented
that this was a key issue in the area with some 16 habitual
prostitutes operating in Chalvey.
Unfortunately, the law was quite outdated and difficult to enforce
and the police took what action they could and passed the
individuals onto other agencies for assistance wherever
possible. Action was also taken against
their clients to act as a deterrent but it was accepted that it was
a significant issue for the local community and the police would
continue to respond.
- A Member referred to
a comment made by the Commander regarding the clearing up of a
large number of crimes due to confessions made by arrested
offenders and sought further information on how the police could be
sure that such “confessions” were genuine given that
offenders could expect more lenient treatment if they cooperated
with the police. The Commander
commented that offenders confessing to other crimes had a number of
benefits both for the police and for
victims and he had rarely come across any examples of offenders
admitting to crimes that they had not committed.
- A Member referred to
a recent police publication concerning the North Slough
Neighbourhood Policing Team and asked whether the police constable
had now been removed. The Commander
commented that the titles of the various officers had been changed
to neighbourhood officers and neighbourhood specialist officers but
that they were still police constables and there had simply been a
change in terminology. He undertook to
have a look at this issue so as to ensure it did not cause
confusion amongst the local community.
- In response to a
question, the Commander stated that the Force worked very well with
its partners in the field of child protection and was involved in
the Local Safeguarding Children Board.
On completion of the
questioning, the Chair thanked the Commander for his presentation
and input. It was noted that any
written questions which had not been responded to at this meeting
would be sent to the Commander for him to reply in writing.
Resolved - That the position be
noted.