Agenda item

Martin Surl, Police and Crime Commissioner

The Chair welcomed Martin Surl, Police and Crime Commissioner (P&CC) for Gloucestershire and thanked him for his attendance.

The P&CC reminded members that the Police and Crime Panel were duty bound to support, as well as challenge the commissioner and whilst he was happy to attend other scrutiny meetings, out of respect to the panel he wanted to be clear on that point.

As part of a brief overview, the P&CC advised the committee:

·      Gloucestershire, by comparison to other areas, is a safe place to live.  In comparison to areas deemed most similar demographically by the Home Office (Most Similar Group), Gloucestershire has the second lowest rates of crimes per 1000 population.

·      The County saw a spike in burglary last year due to a small number of active offenders but rates have dropped since those individuals were arrested and detained (Oct 2018).  Year on year comparisons of burglary [12 months up to the end of June 2019 compared with the year before] still show increases though and rates [per 1000 population] remain high in comparison to peers across the county.     

·      Violence with injury is down from last year.  All violent crime however is showing an increase – note that this includes verbal threats and threats made on social media.

·      The Lansdown site is working well.  Feedback from officers has been positive although there are not as many staff as he would like.  Support such as from the Dog Section and Firearms is available from Bamfurlong.

·      The former Tourist Information Centre is to become the home to Special Officers and Cadets and the PCC thanked the council for their support with this.

·      In terms of the night time economy, Cheltenham is not as violent as in other areas. Peer analysis shows Cheltenham has the second lowest rates of violent crime per 1000 population in its Most Similar Group (15 CSP areas).

·      A plea was made by the PCC, that the council look at replacing their CCTV cameras; noting that Gloucester had installed digital cameras which are much better than analogue.

·      Partnership working is critical and the ‘City Wardens’ scheme in Gloucester City is an excellent example of how successful this approach could be.  This is equally funded by the PCC, Gloucester BID and Gloucester City Council.

·      The current Police and Crime Plan will run to 2021, beyond the elections in 2020.   As it is now half way through the life of the Plan, the PCC has refreshed the document with a number of key areas of focus.  One new area is Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime which disproportionately affects rural communities.    

·      ‘Every Crime Matters’ sets out a standard of support that victims should expect to receive, placing the victim at the centre of police processes.  

·      The PCC welcomed the announcement by Government that 20,000 more officers would be recruited and looks forward to seeing more detail.  The PCC is clear that Gloucestershire needs its fair share of available funding and, based on the police funding formula, this would equate to approximately 150 additional officers.

·      Dealing with missing people and mental health issues is an increasing issue for the Constabulary in relation to demand.

·      Following an unfavourable report on how children were dealt with in the county in 2017, the PCC is working with the County Council and others to adopt a ‘Child Friendly’ approach in the county.  He took the opportunity to thank CBC for their ‘No Child Left Behind’ initiative, which he was pleased to support.

The PCC gave the following responses to member questions:

·      The ‘City Wardens’ scheme in Gloucester was not tasked with generating income, nor was it looking to displace people into residential areas; it was more about a joined-up problem solving approach.

·      It is hoped that the figure of 20,000 officers announced by the Government would have to include support staff (HR, call-handlers, etc).

·      County-lines is a big concern, though thankfully it had not impacted Gloucestershire as badly as some other areas and the Constabulary are working hard to address it, and doing well. The PCC stressed however that the issue only existed as there was demand for drugs that fuels the supply and that this demand included people from all walks of society.  He also noted that a ‘bobby on the beat’ would not solve this issue. 

·      The PCC estimated that 274 officers had been lost since 2010.  More officers had been recruited last year, and though not all of them were necessarily on stream yet, it was likely that the force was still down by about 150 officers.  The PCC would get definitive figures and circulate them to members.  This reduction, paired with how policing had changed over that time (with the number of 999 and 101 calls having increased, along with the time spent dealing with mental health issue for example), means officers are stretched like never before.  He personally felt that the Government were now starting to accept that their approach to Policing has been wrong.

·      Night-time policing took a hit when changes to Neighbourhood Policing were implemented - this was a real issue initially but the PCC feels that a better balance had now been achieved.  He feels that officers are doing a good job and he supported the judgement calls made by officers on how to police the night-time economy.

·      Neighbourhood Policing nearly disappeared back in 2015 after the loss of so much funding, but the PCC is fully committed to Neighbourhood Policing and bringing it back.  Members had to understand that moving officers from one area to another, would create gaps. 

·      The PCC highlighted that in his time as Commissioner no police stations have been closed, in-fact he had prevented the Lansdown station from being closed.  Members of the public can attend Lansdown by appointment, or attend Hesters Way.

·      The PCC feels he was elected on the back of the priorities he had set out during his campaign and one of these had been a focus on young people and diverting them from crime.  He noted that a large proportion of his fund supported youth work across the county and that this would continue, with new bids invited, if he were to be re-elected in 2020.

·      He suggested that 70% of all calls to the police had a mental health dimension and though a triage car attends call-outs where mental health issues were suspected, this service only operated between 9am and 5pm, 4 days a week.  The police have to deal with issues outside of these hours and this could often result in the loss of an entire shift.  Suicide rates are up and the PCC stressed that increased police officers would not solve this problem.

The Cabinet Member Healthy Lifestyles thanked the PCC for his support for No Child Left Behind.

The Chair thanked the PCC for his time and questioned whether he found such visits useful.  He confirmed that he welcomed the opportunity to come and speak to the council and would be happy to repeat the exercise next year. He closed with a request that the Police not be blamed for increases in crime; drawing a comparison with the NHS and a flu epidemic.