Agenda item

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) had been asked to provide the Panel with an update on the Serious Violence Strategy in respect of West Mercia, including the proposed strategic response to the Strategy and the key actions and commitments.

In his Report, the PCC was specifically asked to include:

·         The extent of the serious violence problem in West Mercia, including the analysis of problem profiles (eg knife crime) to give the Panel a clear picture of the current and predictive situation

·         The PCC's approach to governance and partnership co-ordination across West Mercia

·         Early Intervention Youth Fund (EIYF)

·         The PCC's commissioning plans reflecting the requirements of the Strategy

·         The effect on the Police and Crime Plan

·         Links with Public Health.

The PCC advised the Panel that the Serious Violence Strategy was launched by the Home Secretary in April 2018.  The Strategy was intended to balance the need for prevention and early intervention with effective law enforcement.  It focused on a partnership approach to tackling serious violence, with all agencies working together to address the challenges.

The Strategy included several proposals for PCC involvement and set out a new challenge for Community Safety Partnerships (CSP's) and other local groups. The Strategy also set out new initiatives including the Early Intervention Youth Fund (EIYF) and the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre.

There five main areas of PCC involvement identified within the Strategy were:

(i)               Local Leadership Role – PCC's were asked to play a key leadership role, bringing local partners together to address serious violence

(ii)              New EIYF – £22m to support local partnership initiatives. This would be PCC driven through setting strategic direction and working with CSP's and other community groups

(iii)            Police & Crime Plans – inclusion of serious violence as a priority in Police and Crime Plans and setting out what action would be taken

(iv)            Strengthening Links with Health – further consideration to be given to widening the PCC role e.g. around drug treatment

(v)             Sharing information and best practice – with specific mention of the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) project in South Wales and the multi-agency analytical hub in Avon & Somerset.

The PCC highlighted the following key areas:

·       There were 10,161 violence with injury offences were recorded for West Mercia in 2017/18, a 2% reduction compared to the previous financial year. Current volumes of violent crime (Q1; Apr – Jul 2018) were below projected levels and were 3% below the same period in 2017/18.

·       In relation to knife crime, 710 possession of weapons offences were recorded in West Mercia in 2017/18; an 8% increase compared to the previous year. The increase was driven by “other firearms offences”, such as offences related to illegal trade, supply and repair etc. There was no increase in possession of knives/bladed articles and firearms during this period. Data related to the use of knives/firearms was recorded separately.

·       81 gun crime offences were recorded in 2017/18; an increase of 15 offences compared to the previous financial year. It was noted that volumes remained low in this area (0.064 offences per 1,000 residents).

·       The Force produced a number of intelligence products related to serious violence. These included a knife crime problem profile, a County Lines problem profile and a County Lines presentation for partners. These products were routinely shared with the PCC. The PCC was confident and reassured that that he had a good strategic oversight of how the Force were identifying the risk and responding to it.

·       Telford & Wrekin had been identified as the pilot area to embed the Serious Violence Strategy in West Mercia. The pilot was set to run for 12 months and the PCC would provide scrutiny of the pilot through his holding to account processes. Activity undertaken in Telford & Wrekin would be based on ongoing analysis of serious violence within the area including the link between serious violence, deprivation and houses of multiple occupation (HMOs).  The PCC would report back to the Panel on the outcome of the Pilot.

·       The PCC was linked in with partners nationally through the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) Serious Violence Task & Finish Group. Existing partnership arrangements such as Serious Organised Crime Joint Action Groups (SOCJAG's) and CSP's would be useful vehicles for co-ordinating local partnership activity.

·       SOCJAG's were in every county and brought partner agencies together with the aim of pursuing, preventing, protecting and preparing against serious organised crime (SOC). Partners (including the police) shared data and intelligence within this forum to inform multi-agency activity. A PCC representative attended every SOCJAG meeting and the PCC’s Crime Reduction Board (CRB) provided overarching governance across the 4 SOCJAG's.

·       A number of serious organised crime (SOC) partnership conferences had been arranged to further raise awareness and understanding of SOC across West Mercia. The first conference was held in Worcestershire in July 2018. Further conferences would be held in Shropshire/Telford and Herefordshire in September 2018. Each of the conferences would be opened by the DPCC/PCC.

·       As part of the Serious Violence Strategy, the Home Office’s Violence and Vulnerability Unit (VVU) had offered 3 key areas of support and intervention to forces and PCCs. This included Locality Reviews, Strategic Framework Reviews and training packages. With support and funding from the PCC, West Mercia was one of few areas that had taken up all three offers.

·       The PCC had also funded a Strategic Framework Review at a cost of £25,000 (including match funding from the Home Office) focusing on County Lines, gangs, violence and vulnerability across West Mercia.

·       The PCC was also in the process of launching a number of initiatives to address vulnerability factors underlying serious violence:

Ø  A pilot targeting vulnerable missing children in Shropshire

Ø  Development of a long term strategy for Restorative Justice (RJ) to include children excluded from education

Ø  Development of a Drugs Strategy to tackle drug misuse and associated criminality including serious violence and County Lines, the Panel would be provided with an update on this in due course.

·       The DPCC was on the APCC Serious Violence Task & Finish group. This group fed into the national Serious Violence Task Force, Ministerial meetings and facilitated wider discussions with Home Office officials. In order to be successful in a bid for EIYF, PCC's needed to evidence either a rise in serious violence or persistently high levels of serious violence.  As West Mercia had not had an increase in serious violence and volumes of gun/knife crime remained relatively low, a decision was made to put in a bid as a region (comprising Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands). West Mercia was leading on the development of the bid in conjunction with CSPs, on behalf of all four PCC's.

·       Existing diversionary initiatives within West Mercia had supported over 2,000 young people. A PCC representative had visited and evaluated every PCC grant-funded diversionary initiative. The evaluation was deemed best practice nationally and provided assurance that further investment in these initiatives would lead to positive outcomes for young people. 

·       There was a clear set of commissioning intentions which were not limited to the EIYF. The PCC supported a range of programmes and services focused on vulnerability factors and early intervention and prevention activity.

·       Serious Violence was already a priority within the PCC’s Safer West Mercia Plan. As part of Building a More Secure West Mercia, the PCC had committed to focusing on the most serious crimes committed against individuals and the most vulnerable in society.

·       A number of existing PCC-driven partnership forums and projects involved close working relationships with health. The PCC also funded CSP's in which health were a statutory partner. The PCC had established strong working relationships with Public Health, particularly in respect of serious violence within a domestic setting. This included the co-commissioning of the Drive project together with a multi-agency funding bid to support children affected by domestic abuse and domestic abuse specialists working within A&E.

·       Increased collaborative working with health partners was still an area requiring further work to ensure better alignment between services.

Main discussion points

·       A Panel Member asked why the Report didn’t include detection rates of offences as well as recording rates. The PCC advised that the Report was setting out the threat, not how the crimes were being solved.  Although detection rates were outside of the remit of the Report, the PCC advised that they were not as good as the public would wish to see, however, for the most serious crimes eg murder, the detection rates for the calendar year were good and two thirds had already been through the court process.  The PCC agreed to consider if data could be provided to the Panel in respect of detection and conviction rates for serious violence crimes.

·       There was a question about how partners could work together to develop greater knowledge, understanding and information sharing about the night time economy.  The PCC advised that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Inspection findings into police effectiveness had recognised that this wasn’t as good as it should be and that there was insufficient recognition and understanding by partners and more work to be done by West Mercia Police to enable this to happen. SOCJAGs, better engagement with CSP's and local leaders would be helpful in improving this.

·       The PCC drew the Panel's attention to paragraph 15 (first bullet point) which stated that the highest rates of knife crime occurred between 23:00 – 01:00 hrs. Knife crime was often linked to the night time economy but, in West Mercia only 3% of offences were committed near  night time venues.  The PCC emphasised that although these offences weren't happening in night time venues, they were happening around them and it was important to have better understanding of licencing decisions being made by District Councils.

·       The PCC referred to the analysis in respect of the link between homelessness and serious violence. The analysis concluded that individuals with no fixed address generated a disproportionate demand on custody. However, those individuals were primarily involved in acquisitive offences with little evidence of serious violent offending. There was more work to be done to determine the reasons for homelessness and to help people and partners to work together collectively to address this. The PCC was confident that at tactical level information sharing was happening successfully.  However, information sharing at a governance level needed to improve.  The DPCC further added that in West Mercia, the links with homelessness related to shoplifting and anti-social behaviour rather than serious violence.

·       It was noted that there was an error in paragraph 28 of the Report.  The PCC had funded £12,500 and the Home Office had provided a grant of £12,500 towards the Strategic Framework Review rather than the PCC funding the total £25,000.

·       A member expressed concern that over 95% of reported County Lines offences originated from the West Midlands force area. The PCC explained that identifying where the threats to West Mercia originated from was important to prevention tactics.  The PCC also explained that he worked collaboratively with Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) for the West Midlands to ensure there was good tactical oversight of the problem.

·       The PCC was asked whether he was aware of an increasing number of temporary placements for the homeless and the associated safeguarding issues around those placements.  The PCC wasn’t aware of a problem as such and believed that appropriate systems should be in place to support those issues.

·       The PCC was asked how many of the 710 possession of weapons offences recorded in West Mercia in 2017/18 had resulted in a conviction? The PCC agreed to look at the conviction rates but reminded the Panel that the 710 crimes included 'other firearms' offences too.

·       During the discussion about the development of a long term strategy for restorative justice the PCC explained that restorative justice was about enabling a victim to move on with their life, which didn't necessarily mean that a crime would result in a conviction; it was about the right outcome. He believed that restorative justice hadn't gone as far as it could and that in West Mercia it applied to a relatively low number.  The prevention work with young people to help them to understand the impact of their behaviour and prevent them becoming adult criminals was important.

·       The PCC's commissioning intentions were part of a very clear programme of projects with each having clear outcomes but not necessarily fixed timescales, it was about the outcomes being appropriate.

·       The PCC was confident that there was appropriate sharing of information between partners but still work to do around partners understanding each other's priorities.

·       A member referred to County Lines and asked why the focus of support was often on young people when the average age of victims was 39, often with complex needs, chaotic lives and poor decision making. The PCC explained that the emphasis on young people was about focusing on early help to try and prevent future crime.

·       It was confirmed Project Athena, which had been the biggest change in Police IT in West Mercia for three generations, had experienced teething problems and challenges but that they were being fully understood and addressed in order to maximise the benefit of the new system for the community. There was a risk to the Budget in terms of realising benefits as soon as they should be.  The Panel requested a briefing on Project Athena progress and its uses. The PCC agreed to consider this request.