Meeting documents

The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Paul Rogerson and Arif Hussain.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes from the meeting were agreed held on 29 June 2010 and 6 July 2010 were agreed.

Context:

Throughout July, members of the joint review Task and Finish Group met with their Local Area Police Commanders to find out about their work in the various districts areas to help reduce the fear of crime.

Purpose:

The purpose of this agenda item to allow the members to report back to the Task and Finish Group the main points from their meetings with the Local Area Police Commanders.

Contributors:

·                   Meeting with Gilbert Houalla – Local Area Police Commander          Wycombe

            Bill Bendyshe-Brown and Paul Rogerson

·                   Meeting with Ian Hunter – Local Area Police Commander Chiltern

            Julie Burton and John Wertheim

·                   Meeting with Richard List – Local Area Police Commander Aylesbury

            Brian Roberts

·                   Meeting with Paul Cook – Local Area Police Commander South Bucks

            Alan Oxley and Trevor Egleton

Members reported back on their interviews with their Local Area Police Commanders.  The interviews are summarised below:

Meeting with Gilbert Houalla – Local Area Commander for High Wycombe, Bill Bendyshe-Brown and Paul Rogerson

·                     Gilbert was in the process of introducing a new regime focused on reducing fear of crime

·                     Anti social behaviour (ASB) was a key priority for Gilbert that was being addressed by prioritising calls and responding quickly to them.

·                     Although figures showed that detection rates were increasing which was very positive, a member had expressed concern about the other 80% which were not detected.  Although the member acknowledged the good work of the Police in this area, he pointed out that residents would not necessarily be reassured by this percentage. In this context it would be better to show actual numbers. Gilbert explained that the 80% figure included criminal activity where the perpetrators were known but there was insufficient evidence to convict them.

·                     Gilbert stressed that he wanted to focus on the fear of crime but not to the detriment of tackling crime.

·                     Messages were sent out through Community Messaging about the arrests that have been made. There was a discussion about the fact that these kinds of messages could add to the fear of crime as they implied that the area was unsafe. To help combat this, it was important that positive messages were also used.

Meeting with Ian Hunter – Local Area Commander for Chiltern

Julie Burton and John Wertheim

·                     Members were impressed by the effort Ian and his team were putting into reducing the fear of crime.

·                     He told members that people in the Chilterns area thought there was much more crime occurring than was actually happening; for instance in the Chilterns there is less than one house burglary a day.

·                     Ian spends a lot of time reassuring people that the rate of crime was not as high as people thought. He did this partly through attending talks with forums such as U3A, older people groups and youth groups.

·                     He had produced a document called ‘The Realities of Crime’ which contained crime rates for the area. Feedback to this from the public had been very positive.

·                     Communication resources in the area were an issue as, for instance, there was no local radio in Chiltern.

·                     Ian supported that view that members have a clear role in informing people about crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) rates in their local areas.

·                     There wasn’t a problem with ASB caused late night congregation in the area.

·                     From Ian’s view partnership reporting arrangements were confusing.  He feels having too many reporting mechanisms results can cause lack of accountability which is made worse in a two-tier structure. Ian finds working through his Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) the most efficient way of taking work forward.

·                     Members were particularly impressed by the fact Ian responded directly to community safety emails from the public using his ‘Have Your Say’ mailbox. He also had weekly community safety meetings with Chiltern District Council (CDC).

Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Context:

Victim Support is the only independent charity for victims and witnesses of crime in England and Wales. It was set up 35 years ago and has grown to become the oldest and largest victims' organisation in the world. Every year, Victim Support contacts over 1.5 million people after a crime to offer its help.

Purpose:

For members to receive a presentation about the role and function of Victim Support in helping victims of crime. Members will be told about the physical and social repercussions on people who have been victims of crime, and the work Victim Support carries out to help and reassure them.

Contributors:

John Hayward-Cripps - Regional Manager South East

Victim Support/Witness Service

Papers:

Victim Support Corporate Plan 2009 - 2012

Victim Support – Presentation - John Hayward-Cripps, Regional Manager South East, Victim Support/Witness Services

The Chairman welcomed John to the meeting and explained the purpose of the review.

John explained that Victim Support (VS) began in Bristol 30 years ago and developed into a federation of charities.   In 2008 the 77 area/county VS charities merged into one large national charity with a single group of trustees.  VS has 10 regions coterminous with the Government Offices. Each region has a number of Divisions; Buckinghamshire is part of the Thames Valley division.  Thames Valley has approximately 40 staff and 250 volunteers.

VS supports witnesses in all criminal courts and supports victims of crime. The majority of victims are referred by the police but VS also supports victims who have not reported the crime to the police.  John explained that 80% of the funding is provided from the Ministry of Justice and 20% was from grants and fundraising.  Victim support does not deal with some minor crime such as minor criminal damage or car crime: clarification was given to the effect that as ASB was not a crime VS was not funded for it. However where locally funded there are VS projects provided to support people who are victims of ASB. VS has 2 service delivery arms the Witness Service and the Victim Service.

Witness Service:

·                     Witness Service staff and volunteers are based in all Magistrates and Crown Courts across the UK; to support all witnesses.

·                     Pre-trail visits to show witnesses the Court rooms and talk through the process.

·                     Special measures at Court e.g., giving evidence behind screens, video link etc.

·                     Support for young witnesses where projects exist through home visits.

Community

·                     Referrals primarily from TVP - currently 40% of possible level. TVP and VS are committed to improve this and work was being done to increase this to over 85%

·                     VS will attempt to contact the victim 3 times by phone within 48 hours to undertake a needs assessment and to offer them support.

·                     A commission service budget provides funding for a wide range of practical services such as, paying for lock changes, removals, money for food if required.

·                     VS also runs the National Homicide Service where referrals come through the police family liaison officer.

·                     VS is currently rolling out a set of enhancements to the service provided including weekend working.

·                     Victims are offered emotional support by specially trained volunteers and are supported for as long as they need support.

Following the presentation members asked questions.  The questions and answers are summarised below:

A member questioned whether the media exaggerated crime?

The media does exaggerate crime as they want to have strong stories.  However everyone has a responsibility to promote positive stories.

People get a lot of calls if they report a crime, such as calls to see if they would benefit from counselling.  This adds to the fear of crime and stops people from wanting to report a crime.

The Criminal Justice System can be very confusing and we are trying  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Purpose:

For members to consider the points made from the meeting.

The members discussed who the final report from the task and finish group should be circulated to as so much information had been gathered during the course of the review.  The Policy and Partnerships Officer confirmed that the report would be sent to all those that had contributed to the review.

The Chairman circulated an article recently published in The Daily Telegraph by Sara Thornton, Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police. The focus of the article was on how principles behind the Government’s drive for the development of a ‘Big Society’ (i.e. increased volunteering and greater local devolution of power) could help bring policing closer to people and help them to feel safer. It was agreed that the article would be discussed at the next meeting of the Task and Finish Group.

Key points identified were as follows:

·               The fear of crime was exacerbated by the media.

·               Taking action to reduce fear of crime is more important than using valuable resources to measure it.

·               The final report should include examples of best practice found during the review.

Tuesday 24 August 2010, 2.00pm – 5.00pm, Mezzanine Room 3, County Hall, Aylesbury

The purpose of this meeting will be to consider the results of the questionnaire sent to members of the Safer and Stronger Bucks Partnership Board, look at best practice from other areas discuss emerging findings from the review.