Agenda item

Meeting in its capacity as West Berkshire Council’s Crime and Disorder Committee, to receive a presentation from the Building Communities Together Partnership.

Sitting as the Crime and Disorder Committee, the Commission received a presentation (Agenda Item 6) concerning the Building Communities Together Partnership.

Nick Carter explained the history of the partnership, its role, responsibilities, membership and vision. He noted that an Annual Strategic Assessment was carried out to determine the Partnership’s priorities and he highlighted the Partnership Plan, which was based around four objectives.

Superintendent Zahid Aziz provided a summary of work undertaken in the previous 12 months around the priority areas of domestic abuse, county drug lines, violence and knife crime, and anti-social behaviour and orders, as well as partnership working.

He highlighted challenges and changes to working practices and changes in crime patterns associated with Covid. He noted that operations were affected by financial cuts, although five new officers had started in West Berkshire in the last year as a result of a national increase of 20,000 officers. He highlighted the strength of the partnership approach in tackling crime.

Nick Carter explained that the Partnership was being reshaped. He indicated that a new Community Alliance would take on / increase community engagement activity and allow the Building Communities Together Partnership to revert to a Community Safety Partnership.

Councillor Tony Vickers noted that there were several Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) in the district. He suggested that these clashed with planning and transport policies, since PSPOs closed routes that were useful for permeability and active travel. He highlighted a recent PSPO application where there had been no involvement of the Council’s Transport Public Rights of Way Teams. He indicated that planning policy sought to ensure good access into new developments for pedestrians and cyclists and suggested that discussions on proposed closures should involve the Council’s planning and transport officers.

Nick Carter indicated that there were only a few PSPOs in the district and they required extensive consultation. He noted that they were driven by safety concerns. He offered to investigate whether other parties could be involved, or if it was a statutory process dictated by legislation.

Action: Nick Carter to investigate whether planning and transport officers could be engaged as part of the PSPO process.

Councillor Lee Dillon noted that the number of reported domestic abuse incidents had fallen, but he was aware that a local support organisation had reported an increase in calls. He wondered if local organisations working in this area could provide intelligence and asked if the decrease in reporting to the Police was due to victims lacking opportunities to make reports. He also asked how ethnically diverse and deprived communities were being engaged. He noted the decrease in violent crime and asked if this was the level that had been expected in lockdown and the closure of the night-time economy. He asked if violent crime figures included domestic abuse crimes. Finally, he asked for some examples of positive outcomes that had been achieved.

Superintendent Aziz acknowledged challenges in victims reporting domestic abuse from the home. He was unable to give a definitive answer as to how this had affected local reporting. However, he highlighted that there had been an increase in reported domestic abuse incidents nationally and also elsewhere in the Thames Valley. He was confident that the numbers were a true reflection, but accepted there may have been incidents where victims were unable to contact the Police or disclose incidents to colleagues at work.

He explained that a lot of work was being done to understand where ‘hard to reach’ communities were and how to engage with them. He stated that TVP was developing a tactical neighbourhood plan that would address this, and confirmed that it would be more of a focus in 2021/22.

He confirmed that domestic abuse crimes were not included in the violent crime statistics.

Councillor Garth Simpson asked why the outcomes from County Drug Lines operations appeared to be modest relative to the scale of the problem.

Superintendent Aziz explained that West Berkshire suffered from an influx of County Drugs Lines from all directions, which operated over very short timeframes. He stated that it was difficult to gather intelligence and execute warrants quickly enough to be able to seize drugs and cash. He noted that other operations had been carried out in the last year, one of which recovered £45,000. He highlighted problems with vulnerable individuals being exploited (i.e. children trafficking the drugs or vulnerable adults whose homes were used). He indicated that where it was not possible to carry out enforcement, the Police would seek to disrupt activity.

Councillor James Cole considered that the reports were very positive. He noted the local trend in domestic abuse incidents was contrary to the national trend and asked if that was due to the effectiveness of the Building Communities Together Partnership.

Superintendent Aziz stated that West Berkshire had a very strong partnership, with strong safeguarding processes, a positive approach to encouraging domestic abuse reporting, and enforcement or help when needed. This meant that people were able to seek support before they became victims. Also, there was a wraparound service for victims to support them and remove them from the environment, so they did not become victims again.

The Chairman reiterated Councillor Dillon’s question about examples of positive outcomes.

Superintendent Aziz explained that if there was a positive charging decision at the end of an investigation, that was a positive outcome.

The Chairman indicated that Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs) could be helpful in providing intelligence, but felt that his local NAG had not been as engaged in recent months. He asked if they could be more engaged in future. He also asked what was happening in terms of rural crime, which had been a priority of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Superintendent Aziz reported that crime had been limited over the last year, and Police activity had been restricted due to Covid, with the focus on addressing domestic abuse and safeguarding.  He confirmed that a Rural Crime Task Force had been established with one inspector, two sergeants and a team of 18 officers. This would support the larger local Police areas with significant rural crime. This force-wide unit would provide relevant skills and expertise and would tackle cross-boundary offenders with neighbouring forces. In terms of local resources, he confirmed that there were two officers and a PCSO who undertook community engagement work. He reported that some analysis on rural crime had been undertaken and further work had been commissioned. He acknowledged that there were peaks at certain times of year, with repeat crimes at vulnerable locations. He indicated that activity would  be significantly increased over the coming year.

Resolved that: the presentation be noted.