Agenda item

Purpose:  To receive information relating to crime statistics and activity undertaken in relation to these.

The Committee received a presentation by Superintendent Robin Rickard (Thames Valley Police), Rachel Craggs (Community Safety Manager) and Alex O’Connor (Assistant Community Safety Officer) concerning crime statistics and the strategic assessment process.

Following questioning, the following points were clarified:

§         The strategic assessment process was an annual assessment of crime, anti-social behaviour and substance misuse trends which resulted in the identification of annual priorities.  Corrective action would be taken between reviews if evidence indicated that it was necessary.

§         Superintendent Rickard explained that the introduction of the Partnership Intelligence Monitoring and Mapping System (PIMMS) has increased the speed to which incidents could be responded, allowing the rapid movement of resources to resolve a problem or enable a longer term solution to be implemented quickly.

§         The Committee was reminded that responding to crime was not limited to police activity, and that partners played a critical role in reducing crime.  For example, neighbourhood wardens were able to provide reassurance through visibility; and tackling anti-social behaviour was led by the local authority and housing with the police playing only a minor role in providing evidence.

§         As less focus was placed on National Indicators, the strategic assessment process was expected to become more important in order to identify and react to local problems.  It was expected that nationally there would remain priority crime categories.

§         It was acknowledged that there had been a recent short term spike in reported burglaries, however crime could be seen to follow a series of peaks and troughs over time and the recent figures reflected this pattern.  Some changes could also be explained by the changes to national crime recording standards such as an amendment at the end of 2004 allowing arrests to be made of people committing assault with no injury, where previously this had not been possible.  However, all crime had been reduced by more than 16% (951 crimes) compared to the same period in 2009 and this was also less than in 2008.

§         The number of priority and prolific offenders (PPOs) was determined locally in relation to the number of people who were able to be managed.  There were currently 34 people in the PPO category in West Berkshire.  The PPO management scheme aimed to identify, manage and remove the motivation to offend.  This might involve ensuring they had somewhere to live on leaving prison, or providing assistance to find work.

§         It was confirmed that there was no significant increase in crime levels experienced during the 2010 World Cup.  However Superintendent Rickard explained that preventative work had been undertaken in preparation, including licensing officer patrols during each match, and more police resources being made available with greater visibility.

§         Activity around anti-social behaviour was being led by the Safer Communities Partnership, and it was likely that the Council along with the police would take the lead on this through the Safer Communities Partnership.  However responsibility for reporting and addressing anti-social behaviour could not sit with a single organisation and would remain with individual organisations.

§         It was proposed that work be undertaken with schools to address the current issue of robbery committed by youths, where the motivation was bullying rather than the acquisition of particular items.  There was a concern that young people were not aware of the implications arising from this (fitting the definition of, and therefore being recorded as, a robbery) and therefore possibly resulting in a sentence of several years in prison for perpetrators.

The Committee enquired whether there were local schemes, as in some other areas, aimed at empowering local people to deal effectively with confrontation or perceived hostile situations such as when faced by large groups.  The Committee was informed that no schemes were available in this area, and the Committee agreed that this should be added to the work programme for review. 

The Committee was informed that the future of the activities able to be undertaken around crime reduction was uncertain in the current climate.  However two areas that should be pursued were the PPO scheme (now known as integrated offender management) and the need for all partners to be aware of the contribution they could make to crime reduction, such as to improving building developments in order to design out crime at the planning stage.

The Committee queried whether it would be appropriate to request comments from the police for planning applications submitted to the Council for larger developments. 

It was agreed that the Committee should add to the work programme items to support the integrated offender management programme and designing out crime from the planning stage of a proposed development.

RESOLVED that:

• A review would be undertaken into the possibility of making available activities to empower local communities facing perceived hostile situations.
• The Committee would undertake a review in support of the integrated offender management programme.
• The Committee would undertake a review in support of designing out crime from the planning stage of a proposed development.