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.

Apologies

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Paul Clarke, Jean Hunter, Charles Kitchin and Stuart Wallis.

2.

Welcome to Stakeholder Event - Maurice Moore

Minutes:

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made. He stated that the main purpose of these meetings was to allow discussions and information sharing on the important issues regarding crime reduction in the District.

3.

Minutes of Previous Meeting pdf icon PDF 68 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 21 January 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

4.

Crime and ASB in the District - Presentation by CI James Sutherland

Minutes:

James Sutherland gave a presentation on Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour in the District.

 

Raising awareness of human trafficking and exploitation

He explained that there was little public awareness of the issue of human trafficking. In order to address this an event was being held in the Council’s offices in Cambourne to publicise this issue. The aim was to ensure one delegate from each village in the District and so far three quarters of villages had agreed to send a representative. The issue of human trafficking was hard to prove and perpetrators were often charged with other offences. He explained that assistance from HMRC in trafficking cases was likely to be required to prosecute for less serious issues such as not paying staff the minimum wage and paying for work “off the books”.

 

Car parking and speeding

James Sutherland explained the two highest public concerns were parking and speeding and so parish councils were being given the option of funding PCSOs to these issues. £1,000 could fund 42 hours of PCSO time and 10-12 parish councils were looking to take advantage of this scheme. It was hoped that increasing PCSO presence in these villages could also help to tackle other crimes. Speed watch groups also existed but some of these were struggling to find volunteers.

 

Anti-social behaviour

James Sutherland reported that an offender had been sent to prison for repeated breaching of an ASB injunction. It was believed that this was the first such case in the country and he praised the local area sergeants for their knowledge and use of the new legislation.

 

Burglary

It was reported that burglary was down almost 20% in previous years. There had been three recent convictions for burglaries in the District and in all cases the perpetrators were from the London area.

 

Overall crime

The overall crime rate was slowly declining, but violent crime was increasing. Partners in the health profession had not reported an increase in injuries and so it was considered that the rise in violent crime was due to an increase in reporting of crime. The Board noted that South Cambridgeshire was a very low crime area.

 

Training of PCSOs

James Sutherland explained that new PCSOs had been trained up and he expected that the District would soon be up to its full quota of 15 PCSOs.

 

Social media and IT

James Sutherland explained that Cambridgeshire Constabulary had a new Facebook page which would be used to highlight local issues. In addition Neighbourhood Panel meetings were being shown online using Periscope, which was linked to the Constabulary’s Twitter account.

 

Under-reported crime

The Board agreed that all Partners should promote the efforts of the Police in their attempts to tackle under-reported crimes. James Sutherland added that he was always prepared to attend meetings of parish councils and community groups.

5.

Update from CDRP T&CG - Mike Hill pdf icon PDF 79 KB

Minutes:

Mike Hill updated the Board on the work of the Tasking and Co-ordination Group, which meets monthly. He explained that the new approach was to look for evidence of crimes such as child exploitation and human trafficking rather than assuming that no reported crime meant that no crimes were taking place. This involved using professional judgement to investigate possible areas of concern. Children who went missing in the short-term were often at risk. Gathering information from the community was important and would involve educating local representatives on what to look for. Working with other public partners, including Social Services was also important.

6.

Community Trigger - Philip Aldis pdf icon PDF 62 KB

Minutes:

Philip Aldis explained that the Community Trigger process was introduced a year ago by the Crime and Policing Act, which allowed victims of anti-social behaviour to have their case reviewed. Three people had used the process in the last year.

 

Philip Aldis reminded Board members that they might be asked to be part of an Appeal Panel if a trigger review goes to the appeal stage.

7.

Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (Verbal Update) - Nicky Phillipson

Minutes:

Nicky Phillipson gave a verbal update on the work of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

Victims’ Hub

Nicky Phillipson explained that Cambridgeshire’s Victims’ Hub had been in operation for a year. The Board noted that victims did not have to report a crime to the Police in order to benefit from the service.

 

Working with GPs

It was noted that GPs were sharing data from their Exeter System, which was database of all patients registered with the NHS, to allow the identification of vulnerable people.

 

Giles Grainger added that Cambridge Fire and Rescue Service were planning on using the data to inform their “safe and well” work which was expected to start soon.

8.

Police & Crime Panel (Verbal Update) - Cllr Ben Shelton

Minutes:

Councillor Ben Shelton explained that the new Chief Constable Alec Wood had agreed to be scrutinised by the Police and Crime Panel providing the request was supported by the Police and Crime Commissioner. This would allow the Panel to act as a “critical friend”. The Panel meets around the county four times a year.

9.

Date of Next CDRP Stakeholder Event

Minutes:

Philip Aldis agreed to liaise with Board members with regard to setting the next meeting in January 2016.