Agenda item

The Police update was provided by the Deputy Borough Commander, Superintendent Trevor Lawry.

The Chairman directed the attention of the Committee to the MOPAC 7 crime figures which had been tabled:

The Chairman requested that the MOPAC figures be circulated pre-meeting in the future, and it was noted that criminal damage was not included on the list.

The Committee heard that new directions for priorities had not been received from the London Mayor’s office. In view of this, performance was still being measured against MOPAC 7 targets. In the MET generally, the performance levels against MOPAC 7 were now either slowing or reversing; this was not the case in Bromley where there was now a 21% reduction in overall crime. These figures were positive and encouraging. There was no further news on the possible transition to a BCU model. Two pilots had been undertaken, but in the light of no decisions being made for Bromley police, they would continue to operate as an individual entity, without any mergers.

A Member requested that in future, ‘theft of motor vehicles’ be broken down so that it could be seen what type of vehicles were actually being stolen.  Members were informed that the new Policing and Crime Plan would need to be finalised by 31^st March 2017, subsequent to a 12 week consultation period.

A Member stated that she had attended the Crime Summit and that the Borough Commander had provided a good update. She expressed disappointment that a MOPAC representative did not attend. She asked the Deputy Borough Commander (DBC) if he would provide assurances that town centre patrols in Orpington would be retained, and also if the patrols in Mottingham and the Crays would also be maintained. The DBC responded that a ‘Tasking Meeting’ was held on a weekly basis to assess where resources should be allocated.

The same Member stated that all 22 Wards needed to have patrols on night duty. She remarked that she had received many emails from police officers and police staff asking her for help because of current conditions in the police force. She expressed concern about the current state of the MET Police force, and the general morale of officers. She pointed out that it was Lambeth control room that was dealing with calls relating to incidences in Bromley, and that calls were stacking. She expressed concern that because of delays in response to serious incidents, there was a danger that members of the public would be dead by the time police arrived at the crime scene. She further expressed concern around the consequences of police patrols being limited to particular wards. She questioned if the police in Bromley were really up to strength.

The DBC responded that it was indeed the case that Bromley police were currently over strength in terms of officers and PCSO’s, and that they worked across different teams. The Town Centre patrols in Orpington were enabled by the extra posts currently available.

The DBC highlighted that 90% of the most urgent calls were responded to within 15 minutes, and most urgent domestic abuse calls were responded to within 10.4 minutes. It was the case that LBB was one of the better performing boroughs. The DBC noted Member concerns, but expressed the view that Bromley police were meeting all of their required targets and call response times, and was indeed one of the better performing boroughs.

A Member asked if Bromley police had ‘Resilience’. The DBC responded that resilience levels were what they were, and that they had no fewer officers this year than in the previous year. The situation could vary if a BCU was introduced. A Member enquired why there were not Ward patrols in every Ward if Bromley police were over strength. The DBC answered that this was because officers were required on response teams.

A Member asked when reductions in police numbers in Bromley would take place, and what effect would this have on front line services. The DBC replied that it was difficult to answer this question as the rate of reduction in numbers was not clear; Bromley police had previously anticipated a faster decrease in numbers which had not manifested, and they were still currently getting new officers.

A Member asked about the large number of officers leaving the police force, which seemed to indicate that there was a high degree of dissatisfaction amongst officers concerning current conditions. The DBC confirmed that morale was low, and it was also the case that some experienced officers were leaving the force. He stated that there were various reasons for this. A Member expressed the view that this was because conditions in the MET had changed which meant that it was not the same career that officers had originally signed up for. He suggested that police now had too much form filling to undertake.

The DBC acknowledged that officers did indeed have a lot of paperwork to complete and that this was recognised. However, the reason for this was that police officers were under more and more scrutiny. The police had reverted back to previous shift patterns to try and improve morale. A Member asked the DBC to take back the Committee’s concerns to the MET.

The Chairman enquired if Bromley police could make better use of technology to try and reduce the volume of paperwork that officers were required to complete. The DBC responded in the affirmative and stated that tablets were now being rolled out, along with body worn video.

A Member enquired if the MOPAC 7 priorities would soon be obsolete. The DBC responded that the new London Mayor had indicated that his priority areas were likely to be neighbourhood policing, VAWG, counter terrorism, hate crime, child protection, and the criminal justice system. Of course it would still be the case that the police would still be concerned about the old issues as well. 

The Chairman expressed the view that burglary, robbery and violence with injury should still be priority areas. She also expressed concern about what seemed to be an increase in cybercrime. The DBC mentioned that Bromley police had recently relocated officers from the cyber-crime unit to focus on fraud involving vulnerable adults.

A Member expressed concern around young victims of violence. He stated that it seemed that there was no funding available to be directed towards the issue of gang violence and asked why this was the case. He asked if the police regarded crimes of violence against young people as an issue. The DBC responded that the problem of gang violence was an issue, particularly in the Penge area, where there were additional cross border issues. A sergeant and six officers had been allocated to investigate these matters.

The DBC referenced ‘Operation Autumn Nights’ which was an initiative that would be focusing on gang related crime and knife reduction. He felt that it was important to undertake more preventative work. The police were now working closely with the Youth Offending Service and Child Safeguarding concerning these issues. Prevention and Diversion strategies were required.

The Member that had previously asked the question concerning the town centre ward team in Orpington re-asked the question, as she felt that it had not been answered previously. The DBC responded that the team would stay for the time being, but was not able to provide long term assurances that this would be the case. A Member raised the issue of crime involving mopeds. The DBC confirmed that ‘Operation Bowland’ had been set up to tackle moped crime. 

RESOLVED that the Police update be noted.