Agenda item

The Panel was provided with overview of the impact COVID-19 on policing in West Mercia.  The report set out how West Mercia Police had responded to the pandemic and used its resources to address the demands it had faced including strategic planning, partnership working, the impact of COVID-19 on the nature and scale of crime and incidents and the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC’s) governance and oversight of the Force response.

During the introduction to the Report, the PCC highlighted that:

·           COVID was the second major incident of the year, flooding being the first

·           to fulfil its duties in light of the pandemic, West Mercia Police had adopted a gold, silver and bronze command response

·           overall, although not perfect the PCC was pleased with the how the COVID situation had been handled and how the community had been supported by the Police. The PCC thanked all staff for their hard work and dedication during the pandemic

·           some of the costs around COVID were yet to be quantified and some funding had been provided by Government

·           he was continuing to hold the Chef Constable to account (as appropriate).

During the discussion, the following main points were made:

·           A Member reported that the new format of the Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) Reports provided to Parish Councils were not detailing the Parish areas.  Parish Council’s had reported that it was helpful if the relevant parishes were detailed in the report. The PCC agreed to look into the matter and report back.

·           In response to a question about how employees’ mental health was being supported, the Chief Constable advised that the health and well-being of staff was at the forefront of the organisational leadership. Initially, at the start of COVID staff were anxious about the sufficiency of personal protective equipment (PPE), but this had now lessened as supplies became more readily available.  It had been noted that during the first wave of COVID, staff attendance was higher and they had felt that there was a greater appreciation of the of role of the Police and generally felt more valued.

·         The PCC’s November holding to account session with the Chief Constable had taken place on 25 November and notes from this were available from the PCC’s website.  Public involvement and engagement in this process was more difficult but moving forward, the PCC was planning a more interactive approach to engagement, which would hopefully achieve a stronger public voice.

·           It was noted that £466,243 had been received from Government to support more visible policing in West Mercia around coronavirus.  Approximately £300k of this was supporting overtime allocations for staff and the remaining funding was being put toward messaging communities and the demand coming into the organisation to ensure that the COVID response wasn’t overwhelming the emergency response. There were a number of pressures arising, which would need to be reviewed as part of the budget setting process.

·           The PCC confirmed that the recruitment of new Police Officers was going well and in addition, the recruitment of Special Constables had commenced too.

The Chairman thanked the PCC for his report and asked that he ensured that going forward PPE was in sufficient supply for Police Officers to be enabled to their job safely.