Agenda item
POLICE COMMISSIONING AND COMMUNITY SAFETY
Minutes:
Andy Bamber, Safer Communities Service Head, Communities, Localities and Culture, tabled a document and gave a PowerPoint presentation for Members on Policing and Crime. The following salient points were highlighted:
- The Police Commissioning and Community Safety was enshrined in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act – this created Police and Crime Commissioners;
- The shift from the Metropolitan Police Authority to the Police and Crime Commission was significant;
- There were 24 hour response teams, investigative teams and Safer Neighbourhood teams. There were also support services including custody arrangements, financial and HR teams.
In response to questions by some Members, Andy Bamber made the following points:
- The Council had the ability to call in the Borough Commander and hold him to account;
- The Mayor and the Police and Crime Commissioner had joint responsibility for delivering a national Policing and Crime Plan for London – this was issued to the Metropolitan Police who in turn issued it to the Borough Commander each year;
- As a partnership, the Council had responsibility to produce a Community Safety Plan which could influence the Borough Commander’s wider agenda taking account of local issues;
- Funding – the Council’s vision and objectives needed to fit in with that of the Borough Commander’s in order to receive funding streams for local issues;
- Homicide was not investigated by the police, but by a central team geographically based in London;
- Where a borough was considered a “volume” contributor to crime, then it was possible to be able to access funding;
- “Prevent” does not feature as some of the data on this was still being assessed;
- Hate crime did not feature as a stand-alone item at present, although if it were escalated to “serious crime” status this would change. However, between now and March 2013, there was an opportunity for Tower Hamlets Council to influence what was placed on the agenda as regarded “prevent funding”;
- There was a structural process in place to feedback local concerns through a number of consultation events taking place in the borough. These local concerns, together with the “volume” crimes statistics ultimately inform and influence the objectives for London and the London Policing Plan;
- Data showing where the highest rate of crime occurred was not readily available, but Mr Bamber endeavoured to make retrieve this information. Ward based profile data was available on request from the Borough Commander;
- With reference to Cllr Uddin’s concerns about safety priorities, Mr Bamber explained that as a borough, the Council carried out regular strategic assessments. These covered a host of crimes including sensitive crimes affecting communities e.g. drug dealing on estates;
- As far as the manoeuvrability of funding was concerned, these provisions were enshrined in section 92 agreements and were fixed. However, one of the agreements was due to expire in 2013 and a new one was due to start in October. It was important to note that investment must focus on locally agreed priorities.
In response to some concerns raised by the Chair, Mr Bamber endeavoured to produce data on crime detailing common assault, residential burglary, theft etc. He promised to produce a benchmarking document showing how Tower Hamlets compared to the rest of London, looking at crimes including violence, residential burglary, robbery, theft of motor vehicles and theft from MV etc.
Mr Bamber promised to:
- Do a breakdown and produce an analysis on the number of officers dedicated to the borough based on square mileage by September 2012;
- Consider the front counter service – there had been no response to date from the Metropolitan Police about this;
- Evaluate the future of the Safer Neighbourhood teams.
In summary Andy Bamber also agreed to produce data requirements on
- Police officer benchmark against total notifiable offences (all crimes reported to the police);
- Police officer benchmark on borough size and population;
- Benchmarking of priority crime types across London.
Members agreed to invite the Borough Commander to discuss local Policing issues with the committee in the coming months.
The Chair also requested specific Councillor briefing from the police on local issues arising during the Olympics. Mr Bamber confirmed that there would be a visible presence in every neighbourhood team during this period. Additional policing for the borough could be sought from the Pan-London response team.
RESOLVED:
That the presentation be noted.
Supporting documents:
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Police and Crime Commissioners cover report 6.1, item 6.1
PDF 54 KB
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Police and crime commissioners A guide for community safety partnerships 6.1, item 6.1
PDF 478 KB