Agenda item

Review of Performance of the Community Safety Partnership.

Presentation by Service Lead - Community Safety Partnership Officer/Harm Risk and Superintendent Toby Davies LPA Commander North and West Devon.

Minutes:

The Crime and Disorder Sub Committee received a presentation from the Community Protection Officer on the review of performance of the Community Safety Partnership 2018/19 and its future plans for 2019/20. The following points were covered:

·	A new analytical tool was being used to prioritise and rank threats. This was known as Management of Risk in Law Enforcement (MoRiLE).
·	An item that was local could be pertinent and flagged up. The amount of prioritisation a threat was given was based on Devon wide information.
·	There would be a bitesize briefing in the coming week around the risk of cyber fraud. This session would provide upskilling knowledge which could then be filtered back to local communities at Parish level.
·	The issue of alcohol misuse was not limited to anti-social behaviour on the street but included middle class families where parents drank too much during the week.
·	The percentage number of domestic abuse figures were particularly high for North Devon as opposed to the whole Devon area. This higher prevalence in numbers suggested the public had the confidence to report incidents and could be seen as a positive thing.
·	There was a need for an elected Member to sit on the new Forum that was being set up to discuss Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence.
·	There was evidence to suggest that beggars were travelling from out of the area to Barnstaple.

The Crime and Disorder Sub-Committee received a presentation from Sergeant Noel Bourke entitled “Homeless/Street entrenched”. The following points were presented:

·	The Partnership were working to get the message across that rough sleeping was a social problem not a criminal one. The safe sleep provision at The Freedom Centre was available.
·	There were better ways for members of the public to help the homeless by donating cash to a registered charity who helped work with the homeless as opposed to giving cash to the person on the street.
·	It was more common place for the outdated Vagrancy Act (1824) not to be used. The more recent Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2014, (updated December 2017) was being used instead
·	Police Officers along with NDC employees, accredited to take alcohol from individuals, had spent the last four weeks in the town talking to people and businesses gathering information on concerns and ‘hotspots’.
·	The Barnstaple Town Centre Manager was in agreement with displaying adverts in vacant shop windows and getting stall holders to report any activity.

The Chairman suggested that the Chamber of Commerce were approached as businesses were affected by anti-social behaviour.

In response to a question about attending CSP meetings Sergeant Bourke advised Members to contact him and he would ensure they were able to attend.

In response to a question on whether purchasing none-perishable goods to give to the homeless was possible Sergeant Bourke advised that this had caused issues whereby the person receiving such goods then returned them to the store demanding a cash refund, it was not advisable to give none-perishable goods.

In response to a concern raised about rough sleepers intimidated in the High Street by out of area newcomers Superintendent Davies explained that rough sleepers were at very high risk to being a victim of crime because of their circumstances.

Councillor Spear gave thanks to the Police for setting up a drop in session in Braunton but felt it needed to be more widely advertised.

In response to a concern raised around the roll out of Universal Credit and the link with increased hardship and homelessness for families Sergeant Bourke advised that was not sure the support was there for families presenting as homeless. Superintendent Davies added that North Devon Council were working well with current schemes such as the Freedom Centre and Safe Sleep creating success stories.

In response to a question on the replacement of the Community Protection Manager the Community Protection Officer advised it was not known at this time what would happen.

The Sub-Committee then discussed concerns over the drop in number of PCSO’s which was forecast as 196 down to 150 by 2021 which was a 25% decrease in Officers.

RESOLVED that a letter be sent to the Police Crime Commissioners office expressing the Sub-Committee’s concerns over the planned decrease in PCSO’s and the impact this would have on local communities and that the Sub-Committee were seeking assurances and a further report on this developing situation regarding these numbers from the Office of the Police Crime Commissioner.