Agenda item

An update from the police is provided at every meeting.

Superintendent Andy Brittain and Inspector Stuart Baker attended to provide the update from the police.

A Member asked why it appeared that the figures with respect to the crime of ‘harassment’ had increased and she requested that in future a more detailed breakdown of this data be provided. Inspector Baker agreed that the figure seemed high. He said that he would look into this further and provide more detail to the Member outside of the meeting.

(Post Meeting Note—the data concerning levels of harassment were not subsequently released to the Member as the police reported that this data was not readily available on their current IT systems).

A Member referred to the increase in offensive weapons crimes and in drug trafficking. She asked why the former had increased by 120%, and the latter by 77%. Inspector Baker answered that it was partly a case of small numbers and big percentages. He said that these figures were a reflection of the police’s increased presence on the streets dealing with these crime types. He regarded it as a positive that these figures had gone up. He explained the difference between drug trafficking and drug possession. The former was the more serious offence, but sometimes the police had to settle for prosecuting for drug possession as this was easier to prove and to get a conviction in the courts.

The Member asked what plans the police had to reduce these crimes apart from the various MOPAC projects that were planned. Superintendent Brittain responded that the police were considering various options concerning this, to try and improve engagement with young people, and this would include the use of Police Schools’ Officers when the schools were re-opened after lockdown. The police would also be advertising and promoting more of what they were doing with respect to knife crime.

The Chairman asked why the number of convictions for drug possession and the number of sanctioned detections had decreased. At the same time the number of stop and searches had increased and the Chairman wondered how these factors could be reconciled. Inspector Baker said that this was because in many cases there was not enough evidence to prosecute. The police had now set up a Drug Focus Desk which was a small team of experienced detectives, to assist officers in capturing the best evidence to increase prosecutions. This was a relatively new team, and it was hoped that their involvement would lead to an increase in the number of sanctioned detections in the future.

The Chairman asked if going forward the Committee could be supplied with data relating to ‘crime hotspots’—this was information that had been supplied in the past. The Chairman felt that it was important that some form of scrutiny with respect to these hotspots was undertaken. Superintendent Brittain said that he would be happy to meet with the Chairman to discuss this issue and provide any additional information that may be of interest. Going forward, the police were intending to provide a better police performance/data pack. 

The Chairman was keen to find out if police times of attendance had been affected by the new low traffic zones. The Chairman expressed the view that low traffic zones had adversely affected the times of attendance for the London Ambulance Service and the London Fire Brigade.

Superintendent Brittain was not aware of any evidence to show this but stated that data regarding this could be provided at a future meeting if required.

The police explained why there had been a big increase in ASB calls during the first lockdown. This was largely related to Covid, where neighbours were reporting each other for allegedly breaking lockdown restrictions. The figures had also spiked over the Christmas period.

A Member praised the police for their pro-active work in closing down a ‘cannabis farm’ in St Mary Cray and other areas like Penge. Other addresses were being looked at. The Member asked that Inspector Baker’s swift, decisive, and professional actions be noted in the minutes. Inspector Baker gave some detail concerning police operations that had been undertaken as part of ‘Operation Heat’ which covered a variety of areas. There had been an operation undertaken in St Mary Cray where an investigation had recovered cannabis that was worth in the region of £100k.

The police emphasised the importance of the involvement of local communities in assisting the police and providing intelligence that the police could use. Inspector Baker highlighted that in recent police raids, individuals had been charged with drug related offences and the police had come across a victim of human slavery. 

The police were questioned with respect to the low level of sanctioned detections. The police were aware of the need for these figures to improve.

A discussion took place concerning the theft of dogs, and the police said that although some dogs had been stolen, and there were some ‘Traveller’ sites where puppies were being bred; on the whole there was not much evidence of this crime taking place in Bromley and the public should not be alarmed concerning this.

A Member, referring back to the matter of sanctioned detections, stated that in his view this could be a misleading figure, as it may not convey the whole picture of what the police were doing on a daily basis on behalf of the public. He felt that the police could be selling themselves short by using this statistic. Although the police were grateful for this comment, Inspector Baker maintained that the police did need to improve the level of sanctioned detections.

The Chairman thanked the Member for his comments regarding sanctioned detections but highlighted that anyone undertaking serious scrutiny in this area (including the police themselves) acknowledged that there needed to be a marked increase in the number of sanctioned detections.

A Member asked if individuals were randomly turning up at the Princess Royal University Hospital, in the hope of being vaccinated.  The police responded that this did not seem to be a significant issue.

Inspector Baker informed Members that the Covid Pandemic had hit the police hard. The first wave had not impacted the police to any significant extent.

However, the police were currently having to cope with around 20 to 25% of their staff either being sick or self-isolating. Fortunately, in many cases, investigative work could still be undertaken from home. There had been a few officers that had ended up in hospital/intensive care but had recovered; the Covid Pandemic was not affecting the response to 999 calls.

A discussion took place concerning the recruitment of new detectives and it was noted that 52% of the new trainees were female and around 30% were from Black, Asian or minority groups (November 2020 figures). The Chairman said he would be interested to receive data concerning how many in the 30% group successfully passed through the training programme. 

A Member asked what were the retention rates for new officers. Inspector Baker responded that he could provide an update concerning recruitment and retention at the next meeting.

A Member asked if there was a plan to vaccinate the police. The response to this was at the time of the meeting no definitive plans were in place; the Police Commissioner Cressida Dick was lobbying to move this forward.

A Member mentioned that anyone who volunteered in the vaccination process  (in terms of actually administering the vaccine to the public) would be offered the vaccine themselves, and perhaps some police officers should consider joining in the volunteer process so that they could get vaccinated. Naturally the downside of this would be that if they were involved in the vaccination process then they would not be undertaking police duties.

The Chairman thanked Superintendent Brittain and Inspector Baker for attending and answering questions and stated that if there were any further questions that committee members would like to ask, they could be submitted in writing.

RESOLVED that

1)  The police update be noted.

2)  Inspector Baker would ascertain whether it was possible to provide a breakdown of the data relating to ‘harassment’ to Cllr Bance.

3)  The police would endeavour to provide data relating to ‘crime hotspots’ at future meetings.

4)  Going forward, the police would endeavour to provide data to the Committee regarding the number of new trainees from Black, Asian, or ethnic minorities that had successfully passed through the training programme.

5)  At the next meeting, the police would endeavour to provide data relating to the recruitment and retention of new police officers.