Agenda and minutes

Venue: Monkfield Room, First Floor. View directions

Contact: Patrick Adams  03450 450 500 Email: democratic.services@scambs.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Election of Chair

Minutes:

Chris Parker was elected unopposed as Chair.

2.

Election of Vice Chair

Minutes:

Lina Joseph was elected unopposed as Vice Chair.

3.

Introductions and Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Steve Kerridge and Paul Rogerson. Those present introduced themselves.

4.

Declarations of Interest

Minutes:

None.

5.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 141 KB

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2017.

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 November 2017 were agreed as a correct record.

6.

Action Plan Update (Mike Hill)

Minutes:

Mike Hill provided an update on the achievements made against the targets in the Action Plan. He explained that the Action Plan was agreed by the Board and the monthly Task Groups monitored performance.

 

Low crime area

It was important to note that South Cambridgeshire remained a low crime area and so small numerical fluctuations could look more concerning when expressed in percentage terms.

 

Child exploitation

This year had seen a focus on areas such as child exploitation which was feared to be under reported. It was noted that a theatre group was due to visit schools to educate children on this issue.

 

Protecting vulnerable residents

There had been considerable work done to protect vulnerable people from rogue traders by setting up of 49 no cold calling zones, which were run by local people.  Stickers on doors helped to give home owners the confidence to say no. This encouraged neighbours to look out for each other. It was noted that organisations that carried out home visits could identify vulnerable people and help mitigate risks, whether it was due to isolation or fire hazards, as well as address Health and Wellbeing issues.

 

Misting systems were being added to the homes of vulnerable residents who would not be able to evacuate in the event of a fire.

 

It was noted that an item had been put in parish newsletters recently  highlighting the risks associated with hoarding and how to identify those with hoarding behaviours.

 

Promoting diversity

It was noted that a Facebook campaign to promote LGBT month had resulted in the removal of a number of inappropriate posts. Kathryn Hawkes agreed to provide Phil Priestly with details of the comments received, although it was unlikely to qualify as a hate crime. Future campaigns would learn from this.

 

Mike Hill explained that the latest population data showed that South Cambridgeshire was becoming more diverse.

 

Jack Ossel reported that a focus group Cambourne Crescent had said that one of their main issues was finding a place to worship. A focus group for disabled people had found that the more able considered themselves victims of hate crime because they were out and about more, whilst the less able were not so aware of being discriminated against, but it was noted their carers may know more and this would be an area for future investigation. The challenges of engaging with the Traveller community were noted, including the range of groups within this cohort or South Cambs residents and that it was easier to speak to female Travellers on encampment sites. People’s opinions about the Traveller community were often coloured by one bad experience.

 

Vehicle crime

It was noted that this included both theft of vehicles and theft from vehicles.

 

Shed burglaries

It was noted that burglars tended not to carry their own tools, so residents could protect their homes by making their sheds secure and locking away items that could be used as potential tools to aid burglaries.

 

Social media

It was noted that all villages  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

7.

Community Triggers (Emma Knight)

Minutes:

It was noted that there had only been two requests for Community Triggers in the last 12 months, neither of which needed the Community Trigger to be resolved. However, both incidents had been resolved using the Community Triggers process or a variation thereof where appropriate. It was understood that other avenues existed for dealing with anti-social behaviour.

8.

Strategic Assessment (Jack Ossel)

Presentation and discussion

Agree content and publication

Minutes:

Jack Ossel presented his report on recorded crime in South Cambridgeshire for 2017/18 up to December 2017. It was noted that part of the reason for the increase in reported crime was the changes to the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS).

 

Violence against persons

The increase in violence against persons could be explained by the fact that it now included violence without injury offences, such as stalking and harassment. Domestic Violence had increased, but this was an area that was historically under-reported.

 

Hate crime

Jack Ossel explained that hate crime was typically underreported, although there had been an increase in the number of reported instances following the EU referendum, suggesting that the current increase was due to an increase in reporting and an increase in actual instances.

 

Child Sexual Exploitation

The evidence suggested that the abuse that was taking place was not organised and that there was not a large unreported problem within the District.

 

Sexual offences

The 60% increase in reported offences was evidence of improvements in recording and an increasing willingness of victims to come forward.

 

Hoarding

National estimates suggested that the level of hoarding in South Cambridgeshire was greatly unreported. This was a difficult area to monitor and so would require Partners who carried out home visits for other reasons, to work together in order to tackle it.

 

Domestic Burglary

It was noted that over the last 12 months the number of domestic burglaries in South Cambridgeshire had increased by 15%. The increase across Cambridgeshire was 32%. Tackling this was seen as a priority. It was reported that residents had been encouraged to assess the security of their homes through the Bad Woolf Test.

 

Hare coursing

There had been a sharp increase in the number of incidents of illegal hare coursing, which could be partly attributed to the efforts of the Rural Crime Action Team who had urged the public to report these offences. Hare coursers were trespassing on farmers’ land and causing criminal damage to crops, gates and fences. These crimes had become more violent in nature.

 

Vehicle crime

There had been a 42% increase in vehicle crime, although the majority of this had been thefts from vehicles, instead of theft of vehicles.

 

Population increase

It was estimated that the District’s population had increased from 152,000 to 157,000 in the last three years.

 

The Board NOTED the report and recognised that it needed identify a specific area to focus its resources on.

9.

Set and agree priorities for 2018/19 (ALL - Mike Hill to lead)

Minutes:

The Board discussed which areas should be its priorities for 2018/19.

 

Hare coursing

Concern was expressed at the increase in illegal hare coursing and the violence associated with this crime. It was noted that this was a county-wide issue and so it was suggested that the Board could work with East Cambridgeshire’s Board as their area had seen a greater increase.

 

Cyber crime

Concern was expressed at the increase in cyber crime, which was an offence that was under-reported, particularly by victims of fraud. It was also noted that online harassment often did not constitute a criminal offence.

 

It was noted that Sue Loaker had done some excellent speeches to schools and youth groups in the East Cambridgeshire area and it was suggested that if South Cambridgeshire wanted to appoint a lead person to coordinate similar actions in this District, this could be done through the children and young people’s area partnership.

 

Dwelling Burglaries and Theft from Vehicles

It was suggested that the Board should focus on tackling the rise in dwelling burglaries and theft from vehicles in 2018/19. However, it was noted that there were no official figures that would cover both areas. It was suggested that the Board could focus on theft, but this would include a wider area than thefts from just vehicles and dwellings.

 

The Board AGREED to make dwelling burglaries and thefts from vehicles a priority for 2018/19.

10.

Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner's Funding Review 2018/19

OPCC Funding Review (Alasdair Baker)

Delegate 2018/19 funding allocation decisions to T&CG (Chris Parker)

Minutes:

Alasdair Baker presented a report on the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s funding review. He explained that the purpose was to help co-ordinate crime reduction initiatives and not to impose its own programmes.

 

Funding available

It was noted that £155,000 of funding was available for crime reduction plans and could be applied for by contacting Nikki Philipson by Friday 16 March.

 

The Board NOTED the update from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s funding review.

11.

Proposal to align South Cambs CDRP meeting with City CSP (Mike Hill) pdf icon PDF 304 KB

Minutes:

Mike Hill presented this report, which proposed that this Board worked more closely with the Health Partnership Board and City Community Safety Partnership.

 

It was noted that there were some areas, such as tackling cyber crime or promoting Living Well, where the two Partnerships could co-operate more closely on. However, there were also some areas, such as hare coursing, which were more relevant to rural areas.

 

It was generally agreed that this proposal would make both Partnerships more efficient and so should be tried.

 

It was suggested instead of holding three combined meetings a year, two should be held and one standalone meeting to allow issues purely relevant to South Cambridgeshire to be discussed. It would also allow the two Partnerships to set their own priorities.

 

The Board

 

AGREED        to combine the current 2 formal meetings (in October and February each year) of the South Cambridgeshire CDRP with those of the Cambridge City Community Safety Partnerships, and align these newly combined meetings with the South Cambridgeshire & Cambridge City joint health “Living Well Area Partnership” meetings.

 

(a)          Agendas would allow for separate discussion for each partnership where appropriate to ensure no loss of local focus and no neglect of areas of concern for each partnership.

(b)          New terms of reference would be developed for the combined meetings, which give consideration to the current terms of reference of both partnerships.

(c)          Members of each Partnership would only be able to vote on the matters impacting on areas their Partnership covers. South Cambridgeshire CDRP Board would vote only on South Cambridgeshire issues and Cambridge City CSP members would vote on Cambridge issues.

(d)          The chairing of the proposed combined Partnership meetings would rotate between the Chairs of the 2 Partnerships.

(e)          Funding streams available to each partnership would remain separate, with the flexibility to discuss joint funding of projects if appropriate.

(f)           Working groups (including the monthly South Cambridgeshire CDRP Tasking & Coordination Group and Problem Solving Group) would remain separate but with the flexibility to combine when dealing with shared issues and if working together would produce better outcomes.

(g)          It is proposed to hold 2 combined meetings each year, open to the public as is the current arrangement. Combined meetings would be schedules for October / November (to review progress against priorities and consider outline issues for the Strategic Assessment) and February (to received the Strategic Assessment and agree priorities for the coming year). The combined meetings would take place immediately before or after the joint health Living Well Area Partnership meetings. The first combined meeting would take place in October/November 2018.

(h)          A third meeting would be held during the year of just the South Cambridgeshire CDRP Board.

12.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

OP&CC’s Youth and Community Fund

Alastair Baker reported that bids of up to £1,000 were invited from youth and community groups to deliver a project that assists in crime prevention in younger people.

 

Mapping crime

Jack Ossel explained that interactive maps had been set up online which showed crime statistics by District.

 

Modern slavery survey

Partners were encouraged to return the above surveys to Kathryn Hawkes.

 

13.

Date of Next Meeting

Minutes:

To be agreed for October/November.