Community Safety & Leisure Scrutiny Panel25 July 2006

COMMUNITY SAFETY AND LEISURE SCRUTINY PANEL

A meeting of the Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel was held on 25 July 2006

PRESENT:Councillor Robson (Chair), Councillors Clark, Harris, J Jones and Khan

OFFICIALS:E Chicken,P Clark, V Flynn and J Nolan

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE were submitted on behalf of Councillors Davison, Morby and Porley

**ALSO IN ATTENDANCE – Inspector D Smith and Acting Inspector G Bass

**DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST – There were no declarations of interest.

** MINUTES

The minutes the meeting of the Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel held 4 July 2006 were submitted and approved as a true record.

NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING

The Senior Scrutiny Support Officer presented a report, the purpose of which was to advise the Panel on the Terms of Reference and ‘Setting the Scene’ for the Neighbourhood Policing topic.

Members were reminded that the Overview and Scrutiny Board had agreed the Panel’s Work Programme at its meeting on 27 June 2006. The first topic, on the Respect Agenda, had been considered at the Panel’s meeting of 4 July 2006 and, due to its inception being in the early stages, an update was to be reported to the Panel at its meeting on 16 January 2007.

Therefore, the Panel’s current scrutiny topic was to be on the topic of Neighbourhood Policing and a report on Neighbourhood Policing and Partnerships was attached as Appendix 1 of the report.

The proposed Terms of Reference for that scrutiny exercise were as follows :-

  • to assess the progress for introducing Neighbourhood Policing in Middlesbrough
  • to determine the present and proposed stages for forming the Partnership between all relevant agencies
  • to assess the process for the integration of the local community in Neighbourhood Policing, as well as identifying the impact on wards, how this would be measured and what accountability there would be. The role of Ward Councillors would also have to be examined.
  • to identify the anticipated benefits of Neighbourhood Policing.

The purpose of this meeting was to allow senior police officers to present to the Panel a ‘Setting the Scene’ outline and to advise of the current position in the establishment of Neighbourhood Policing in Middlesbrough.

The two senior police officers present addressed the Panel on the progress to date and the main points raised were as follows:-

  • Neighbourhood Policing (NHP) arose from the Police Reform Act 2002, which established an organisation called the National Centre for Police Excellence. This was to address how to deliver policing, as there was room for improvement in that crime figures were falling but the fear of crime was still present. Neighbourhood Policing was now a statutory duty.
  • The aim of Neighbourhood Policing was to establish a dedicated, local policeman, who would become known to all the neighbourhood and would be part of a localised team including a Police Community Support Officer, Special police constables and street wardens.
  • Reference was made to the core principles, as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.
  • The police team establishing NHP had identified crime figures and disorder incidents for all the wards in Middlesbrough and teams for each ward were to be identified, as detailed above, also including volunteers and partner agencies, which could be varied from ward to ward.
  • Hartlepool had piloted a NHP scheme, introduced in April 2006 and one of the officers involved in that pilot scheme was present at this meeting. He proposed that contact be made by the Panel, with Hartlepool District, to ascertain the position there, as this would be of great value to the Panel, as Hartlepool was one of the Pathfinder forces over the country, for NHP.
  • The NHP scheme has to be operating nation-wide by April 2008, as decreed by government legislation. In Middlesbrough, a pilot NHP scheme was to be set up in East Middlesbrough by October 2006 and the finer details of that operation were being defined. Middlesbrough District was divided into four crime areas, with East Middlesbrough being Area 2.
  • A Police Sergeant would manage each NHP Team. What was new was that each NHP team would have its own localised beat officer who would remain in that area and not be withdrawn to attend other police matters. Overarching the NHP Teams would be the Ward Support team, which could be used as ‘cover’ for the dedicated police officer and to provide additional support as and when required. There would be six Ward Support Teams in East Middlesbrough.
  • Ward ‘surgeries’, to allow members of the community to meet the NHP team, were proposed and a lot of the NHP Team work would be dictated by information received through local intelligence.
  • Each NHP Team would have its own six-month Action Plan, each covering three priorities to be addressed within that area, e.g. the Town Centre NHP Action Plan could target shoplifting, graffiti and prostitution. Each Team would also have a Priority Plan to identify other specific problems.
  • Also, there would be a Neighbourhood Co-ordination meeting, involving police, partners, community representatives, to fit in with the time-scales of other related groups such as the Police Tasking meeting, held every two weeks, or the weekly AIM meetings. Action Plans would also be discussed at these meetings, to create pro-active policing rather than reactive.
  • There was also a Local Project Board, made up of police personnel, council officers, local people, etc. and its first meeting was scheduled for September 2006, to ensure that all the right resources were in place to commence Neighbourhood Policing in East Middlesbrough in October 2006.
  • Another aim of NPH was to reduce response times following the reporting of incidents. Members were advised that additional response officers had been recruited to improve response times by allocating incidents more quickly and accurately. There would also be a contact number to police headquarters, for each ward, which would go directly to the officer concerned.
  • It was anticipated that the NHP team would operate from 8.00 a.m. to midnight, for the whole team, then Response Teams would cover the period from midnight to 8.00 a.m. Twenty-four hour coverage by the full team was not possible, due to lack of resources, although some teams may adjust their hours to ‘fit’ local circumstances.

Discussion took place on the viability of ‘ward surgeries’ being held by the BHP Team and whether the right responses would be obtained or whether it would be the same people attending every time. It was noted that this was what had happened at Hartlepool and work was being undertaken there to address this problem. Some members felt that the NHP team would achieve more by meeting people from the community, out on the streets, as some people would be reluctant to be seen speaking to police at a more formal public meeting.

It was agreed that each ward would carry its specific problems but that the flexibility of the NHP Team would accommodate these differences. It was hoped that the Action Plans would be drawn up to accurately address the specific problems and priorities within each ward. It was also noted that all agencies involved would need to take ownership of problems and deal with them, with prioritisation being an issue. There were also Problem Solving Groups, one for each area of the town, which would also be involved, as each Problem Solving Group involved all relevant agencies and met on a monthly basis.

The aim of NHP was to encourage people, especially those who did not normally deal or interact with the police, and get them involved in their community. By demonstrating positive results, this would encourage more people to become involved in tackling criminal activity or anti social behaviour. It was hoped that the introduction of Neighbourhood Policing would help Middlesbrough reduce the levels of crime by 20% by 2008, also as decreed by government.

Members of the public would be advised about the NHP Team by means of a leaflet to every household and wide media coverage, including details of the new telephone contact number, identification of the NHP team members, an illustrated poster, etc., as had been undertaken in Hartlepool.

It was agreed that the Panel would benefit from a meeting with the officers involved in the launch of the Hartlepool District Neighbourhood Policing programme, either by undertaking a visit to Hartlepool, or by inviting the officers concerned to the next meeting of this Panel. The police officers present agreed to liaise with colleagues in Hartlepool and ascertain the more appropriate action.

It was also felt that the Panel would benefit from a sight of the Presentation and Launch, which was to be undertaken by Cleveland Police when the pilot NHP Team was launched in October 2006.

Agreed as follows:-

  1. that the information on Neighbourhood Policing, provided by Cleveland Police officers be noted;
  2. that the Terms of Reference as presented be approved by members of the Panel;
  3. that either a visit to Hartlepool District was arranged or an invitation extended to appropriate officers from Hartlepool, to the next meeting of this Panel, to advise on the progress of their Neighbourhood Policing programme;
  4. that the Panel was to receive a presentation when the launch of the Middlesbrough NHP scheme was commenced in October 2006.

The Chair thanked the police officers for attending and providing such an insight into Neighbourhood Policing.

OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY BOARD UPDATE

The Scrutiny Support Officer presented a report, the purpose of which was to update Panel members on meetings of the Overview and Scrutiny Board, held 12 and 27 June 2006.

At these meetings, the following matters were discussed and details of the recommended Action/Commentary were included in the report :-

  • Housing Renewal Policy Review – Call In
  • Executive Feedback – Final Reports on Boro Buzz and Tobacco Control within Enclosed Public Places
  • Outcome of Call-In Procedure – Housing Renewal Policy Review
  • Strategic Risk Register 2005-2006 Year End Monitoring Report and Strategic Risk Register for 2006-2007
  • Diversity Action Plans 2005/2008 Year-end Update Report for 2005/06 and Revised Diversity Actions Plans April 2006 – March 2008
  • Investigation into the Council’s Litter Bin policy – Final Report of the Environment Scrutiny Panel
  • Residents’ Parking Scheme – Final Report of the Regeneration and Transport Scrutiny Panel
  • Executive’s Forward Work Programme
  • Draft Scrutiny Work Programme Reports for 2006/07
  • Budget Timetable
  • Scrutiny Review – Implementation of Recommendations
  • Scrutiny Panels – Position Statement

Agreed that the report and its contents be noted.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting of the Community Safety and Leisure Scrutiny Panel was scheduled for Tuesday 15 August 2006 at 10.30 a.m. in the Spencer Room, Town Hall, Middlesbrough.

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