Minutes:
It was noted that the latest public access closures had been actioned on 17th December 2017. This meant that the police counters previously based at West Wickham and Copperfield House in Penge were now closed. The only front counter that was now open 24/7 was the one at Bromley South Police Station. The Safer Neighbourhood Bases still existed, but were likely to close in the coming year. The viability of the District Ward Hubs was being assessed. Two dedicated Ward Officers and a PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) were still operational in each ward. Some contact had been made with the Probation Service concerning the matter of the Police utilising Probation Service buildings that were either not being used or being under-used.
The Borough Commander appraised that the BCU Pathfinder Sites were in the final stages of the evaluation process. This would be completed by the end of January 2018. The Borough Commander reminded the Group of the email update that he had recently sent out concerning this matter. It was his view that the BCU plan would be agreed and signed off. This being the case, the BCU Commander for Croydon, Sutton and Bromley would be Chief Superintendent Jeff Boothe who was currently the Borough Commander for Croydon. Full implementation was likely to occur in June 2018. Superintendent Paul Warnett would be the primary Police contact for Bromley subsequent to BCU implementation. The Borough Commander expressed the view that continuity would be reduced. Under the new arrangement the Borough Commander role would be defunct.
Under the new BCU structure, the BCU Commander would be responsible for 4 new command areas:
· Investigations
· Emergency Response
· Safeguarding
· Neighbourhood Policing
The BCU Commander would be supported in these areas by 4 Superintendents.
The Borough Commander stated that the crime rate in Bromley was now starting to rise. This was London wide, but marked in Bromley. He rejected the view that that rate rise was due to a lack of resources. He explained that under the previous MOPAC 7 targets, crime had been reduced by 20% and that it was not totally unexpected that after plateauing, there would be an increase at some point.
Terry Belcher (Vice Chairman of the Safer Neighbourhood Board) was concerned that the BCU amalgamations were taking place at a time when crime levels were on the increase. The Borough Commander responded that it was not the case that there would be an automatic drain of resources to Croydon. There would still be three staff members per ward, and at this point it was too early to assess impacts. The MET could no longer afford to run as 32 separate entities. Currently, there was still a £410m shortfall in the budget. A member asked what the reason for this shortfall was, and the Borough Commander pointed out that extra costs had been incurred with respect to the uplift in armed police officers and investment in IT. Sharon Baldwin (Chair of the Safer Neighbourhood Board) asked if LBB paid any sort of financial supplement to assist the Police with their costs. The short answer to this was ‘no’. She then asked if this was something that could be considered by LBB. Amanda Mumford (LBB Community Safety Officer) pointed out that LBB did support the work of the Police in other ways. This included various co-location projects, CCTV, and the work of the Atlas Team. It was noted that co-location work was also undertaken with LFB.
The Borough Commander asked when the Safer Bromley Newsletter was being published. It was noted that this had been published about a month previously, and had been distributed and was well received. Ms Baldwin was disappointed to note that no reference had been made in the newsletter to the work of the Safer Neighbourhood Board. Andrew Rogers (Communications Executive) explained that due to limited Council funding, space was always a problem, and that the content of the newsletter was more generic to the SBP. Ms Baldwin expressed the view that there was some confusion regarding the funding of the newsletter. The Borough Commander clarified that the SNB had not approved funding for the newsletter. Ms Baldwin stated that she was waiting for the SNB finance update.
RESOLVED that the Chairman’s update be noted.