Agenda item

The Panel was invited to consider the Police & Crime Plan Activity and Performance Monitoring Report for June to August 2018 and determine whether it would wish to carry out any further scrutiny or make any comments.

The PCC introduced the Report and drew the Panel's attention his commitment to recruit an additional 100 officers, which would take officer numbers from 1930 to 2030.  Recruitment to fill the extra posts would begin as soon as possible, and was in addition to existing recruitment plans in West Mercia.  Demand was increasing in all police forces and these additional officers would help to ensure that West Mercia’s communities received the service they needed and that the force had the resilience to cope with changing demands.  West Mercia Police still had efficiencies to find in the coming years, but the PCC was able to make this investment in frontline services now through a combination of continued reform, effective use of reserves and council tax flexibility.

Discussion points

·       It was confirmed that when the PCC was elected, there were 1988 police officer posts and that PCSO's numbers would remain the same.

·       A member suggested that previously when the Police Authority was in existence, at one point there were 2180 police officers.

·       The PCC was asked if he had an upper limit of Police Officers he was aiming to have in post.  The PCC advised that he didn’t have an upper limit in mind, but was committed to having the right number of police officers and the appropriate resources to ensure this happened.

·       It was hoped that the additional 100 posts would have been recruited and training would have commenced by the end of the financial year.

·       A member suggested that West Mercia had 8.5[JS1]  police officers per 100,000 of population (one of the lowest ratios in the Country) and questioned whether this could be considered as sufficient.  The PCC advised that West Mercia had a high level of Council Tax per house and a low grant per head of population and there needed to be a fairer way to fund the Service nationally.

·       The PCC confirmed his commitment for buildings within the West Mercia Estate to become wherever possible, shared buildings to maximise the benefits. It was agreed that an update on Estate profile would be provided to the Panel as part of the Budget process.

·       Further to a question from a member, the  PCC's suggested that the changes to the remand court process ie to centralise remand cases for West Mercia to Kidderminster worked in theory but not in reality. The intention of the change was to reduce the length of the court process but as West Mercia was a very large area, this was not proving to be the case. There were delays with paperwork, increased travel time, increased number of remote advocates and Kidderminster struggling to cope with demand. A member of Panel invited the PCC to submit his views in this area to House of Lords Select Committee, which was looking at rural economies in Herefordshire which included local justice.

·       A member suggested that justice for local people should be for local people and remain local.

·        A Panel Member referred to a Staff survey carried out by Durham University Business School and suggested that it indicated that West Mercia had the lowest levels of staff morale in the Country.  The PCC pointed out that although there had only been a 27% response rate, it was indicative of a worrying trend about the pressures placed on Police Officers.  In his view, morale was more than increasing the number of police officers in post but other things such as organisational fairness, how views were heard, working environment and having the correct tools to carry out the job effectively. The PCC acknowledged that there was much more work to do.

·       It was acknowledged that the Police Cadet Scheme was a worthwhile programme aimed at young people to give them a practical understanding of policing, develop their spirit of adventure and good citizenship, while supporting their local policing priorities through volunteering. There did however, need to be more emphasis on encouraging young people from harder to reach groups to join the Scheme. The PCC agreed to circulate the details about the Scheme to the Panel.

·       The PCC referred to Appendix 2 Extract of Police Performance Summary April – June 2018 and advised that recording of crime continued to be tighter than it had ever been and it was likely that there would be a crime data inspection in the coming months. Satisfaction rates in West Mercia were good, but needed to be better particularly in respect of follow-up; however, there were clear strategies for improvement in place.

·       The Panel were reminded that the main Performance Summary, which was a large detailed report, was available for members to access online as part of the Agenda and contained the direction of travel and background data for reported performance.

·       In response to a members concern about the Chief Constable advocating the removal of the comfort zone (10% +2 mph) when exceeding speed limits,  the PCC pointed out that the Chief Constable was involved with this work in his role as the lead for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) on road policing, not specifically West Mercia.