Minutes:
The Borough Commander updated the Committee as follows:
The MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) Police and Crime Plan 2013-2016 had set a target to reduce key neighbourhood (or MOPAC 7) crimes by 20% over a five year period. The Borough Commander informed the Committee that Bromley Police had reduced overall crime by 16.2% against the 20% target.
Four years into the MOPAC 7 Policing and Crime Plan, it was noted that as well as overall crime being reduced by 16.2%---over the four year period to date:
· Burglary had reduced by 27.7%
· Violence with injury had increased by 7.5%
· Robbery figures were down by nearly 48%
· Theft from motor vehicles was down by 26.2%
· Theft of motor vehicles had increased by 1.5%
· Theft from the person was down by 4.3%
· Criminal damage was down by 8.2%
The Chairman referred to a document detailing MOPAC crime data to July 2015. The data detailed increases in violence with injury, assault with injury, increases in sexual violence, increase in knife crime with injury and an increase in homophobic, disability and racist crime. These were issues of concern to the Committee.
The Committee were updated concerning Operation Omega, which was a nationwide MET initiative to infuse the streets with police officers in crime hotspots. The initiative had involved the use of new recruits, Safer Neighbourhood Officers and CID, and had proved very successful in improving primary investigation. Data showed that the Operation had contributed positively to MOPAC 7 crime statistics, and so Bromley Police were looking to extend the initiative.
The Borough Commander was pleased with call handling response times. It was the case that 90.9% of “I” calls were responded to within 15 mins, and that 92.4% of “S” calls were responded to within 60 minutes. “I” calls are calls requiring an emergency response, and “S” calls are priority calls needing a police response, but not with the same urgency as an “I” call.
Bromley Police were developing plans to deal with possible crime and ASB on Halloween and Bonfire Night in targeted areas.
The Borough Commander updated the Committee concerning the rollout of “Met Trace”. “Met Trace” was an invisible liquid that could be used to mark property; it was only visible under UV light. The MET plan was that 440,000 homes would use the product to mark items over a three year period. Previous trials of the product had resulted in a fall in burglaries by 70%. Distribution of the product in Bromley had commenced the week prior to the PDS meeting, with a team of 1PC and 5 PCSOs. The plan for Bromley was to distribute 3500 kits to 4,300 households in roads with the highest number of recorded burglaries in different Wards.
The Committee were appraised concerning the number of police officers and PCSOs
currently assigned to Bromley Police. There were 484 police officers, against a weighting of 445, which was 39 above target. The allocation of PCSOs for Bromley was 44, but 57 were currently working for Bromley Police, the FTE was 54, so in terms of full time PCSOs, Bromley Police were currently 4 above target.
The Committee heard that a new Superintendent had arrived to replace David Tait as Deputy Borough Commander. David Tait had now reverted back to the role of Chief Inspector for the Safer Neighbourhood Team. The new Superintendent was Trevor Lawry, who would be acting as Deputy Borough Commander.
The Borough Commander touched upon the work of the Bromley Gangs and Serious Youth Violence Strategic Board, which had been set up by David Tait, and on the work of the Bromley Gangs Focus Group which had been set up by Peter Sibley. The Borough Commander also referenced the Gangs prevention programme that the Local Authority and the Police were encouraging schools to take up. Joint funding for this had been secured from LBB and the MET.
The Borough Commander outlined the work of the Police Gangs Unit, and sub divided the work of the Unit into six primary categories:
· Proactivity
· Reactivity
· Pre-release plan and prison visits
· Matrix nominal home visits
· Operations
· Patrols
The Borough Commander had some difficult news to disseminate to Members around the MET’s plans for the future due to continued reductions in the Police budget. It was the case that in the region of £560m-£600m of savings had already been made. These savings had been made by reducing staff numbers, closing buildings, and bringing in new structures to Brigade Services. The bad news was that the Police budget was not protected, and that it was anticipated that further savings of between 25%-40% would be announced at the end of the year. This would equate to estimated total savings of between £800m-£1.2b. It was the case that to set a lawful budget, the MET Police Commissioner had to find a way of saving £160m from the 2016/17 budget. In Bromley, this could mean that officer numbers could reduce by 100, and that Safer Neighbourhood bases may have to close. All stakeholders were waiting for the Home Office budget to be clarified.
The Chairman expressed concern that reducing police numbers would have a negative impact, and that crime figures may start to ascend as a result. Cllr Samaris Huntington Thresher expressed concern over the effects of a possible reduction in police buildings, and wondered where officers would be based, and if there would be a loss of police time in officers having to travel greater distances between buildings. The Borough Commander responded that due to developments in mobile IT, there may be less reliance on officers being based in buildings, and that they could be more mobile, but he also acknowledged that some police time could also be lost in travelling between locations.
Councillor David Cartwright thanked the Police for all of their hard work. He stated that the value of PCSOs had not been fully appreciated and that they were part of the local community and a source of invaluable intelligence. He also referenced the recent death of a young pillion passenger and expressed dissatisfaction with the current MPS “non pursuit” policy. He felt that young people on motor bikes were being allowed to do what they wanted, even if this meant that they killed themselves. The Borough Commander responded that it was current MET policy not to pursue young people on motor bikes, and his officers would continue to abide by this policy until it changed. He made the point that if this young person had died while the Police were in pursuit, then the Police would have been scrutinised. The Borough Commander noted the point made concerning PCSOs and responded that there were no easy decisions. Cllr Cartwright expressed the view that it should be made a more serious offence to ride a motor bike or motor scooter without a crash helmet, so that this would act as a deterrent. The Borough Commander informed the Committee that the Police were looking to undertake more talks in schools, and more schools intervention.
RESOLVED that the Police Update be noted.