Issue - meetings

Members were reminded that it was the responsibility of the PDS Committee to scrutinise the Safer Bromley Partnership at least on an annual basis. The update report provided Members with details concerning the progress made by the SBP with respect to their strategic priorities. It was a testimony to the hard work that had been put in by partners.

The Assistant Director explained that the Crime Needs Assessment had to be produced by the Community Safety Partnership as a statutory requirement and it would highlight the wards within the Borough where resource was needed to be allocated to deal with incidents of ASB and crime.

The assessment showed that the two priorities identified by MOPAC of non-domestic violence with injury and domestic burglary were accurate and appropriate. It was noted that the percentage figure for non-domestic violence with injury was not 64% but was actually 29% .

It was noted that the documents and appendices relating to the annual update on the Safer Bromley Partnership Strategy had been disseminated previously for Members’ attention. At the same time, a request was made for Members to submit any questions that they deemed appropriate with respect to the strategy. One member submitted questions, which were answered in full and the questions and answers had been previously disseminated. 

A discussion took place regarding Hate Crime and how the data was broken down.

A Member stated that the way in which the information had been presented with respect to the update on the Safer Bromley Partnership Strategy had made it difficult to get to grips with. The Chairman agreed with this. He suggested that some sort of covering report be drafted next time (with pointers to relevant details) so that scrutiny would be easier. The Assistant Director responded, saying that in future she would draft a covering report with additional sections and pointers to the relevant appendices. The Chairman suggested that he have a meeting with the Assistant Director and the Portfolio Holder to discuss this issue.

A Member requested that going forward could the issue of hate crime be broken down further and could a definition of hate crime be provided?  Chief Inspector Craig Knight stated that with respect to obtaining a definition of Hate Crime, the Police or Crown Prosecution Service websites would provide a good definition. Discussion took place between the matter of hate crime and free speech in a democratic society and how these could be balanced.

A Member noted that in the papers presented to the Committee there had been a reference to 513 Hate Crimes. He asked if there was a breakdown of how these were constituted. This was noted as a matter arising for Chief Inspector Craig Knight to take away and he promised that the Member would be provided with the answer to his question.

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A Member raised the issue concerning the Chairmanship of the Safer Bromley Partnership, stating that it was the Portfolio Holder who had previously chaired these board meetings and expressed concern that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12