Meeting documents

Strategic Objective 2 Prevention and Early Intervention. The OPCC and Thames Valley Police Delivery Plans are attached as a supplement.

The Panel received the report of the OPCC on Strategic Aim 2 of the PCC’s Police and Crime Plan which was prevention and early intervention. Within this his objective was to improve safeguarding. Specific areas also included road safety, cybercrime, peer on peer abuse, hate crime, technological surveillance and female genital mutilation.

During discussion Members raised the following points :-

• Cllr Culverhouse asked the Chief Constable whether he had a clear policy for sexting particularly when it came to thinking about how to classify those involved in sexting cases as suspects, victims or otherwise. The Chief Constable reported that there was national guidance on this area in relating to crime recording and how to deal with individuals. If an offence had been committed this had to be recorded but there needed to be a careful approach in relation to the criminal justice system. A large amount of work had been carried out with schools. Cllr Culverhouse referred to an article which mentioned prosecuting parents as they held the contract for the phone. The Chief Constable reported that it would be highly unlikely that a parent would be taken to court.
• Cllr Hayes referred to the performance measures for hate crime. He referred to the policy resource within the OPCC and asked what was being done to increase the reporting of hate crime. The PCC commented that there was an increase in reporting but it was a difficult area to differentiate between a crime and general rudeness. These figures are being monitored by the Force.
• Cllr Hayes referred to child drug exploitation and the increasing use of county lines. The PCC said that he was concerned about this area and the use of children to supply drugs.  Vulnerable children were being drawn into serious organised crime and often it was not right to put them through the criminal justice system. If a child lost the drug supply they would then be beholden to the gang to pay back a loan. Cllr Hayes commended the work being undertaken by Supt. Joe Kidman in Oxford in this area and commented that many children drawn into this area had often experienced domestic abuse at home. He asked the PCC whether this was a priority ? The PCC reported that it was an implicit priority.
• Cllr Burke asked for an update on the FGM strategy. The PCC reported that one of his concerns was understanding how big an issue this was because of the lack of reporting by the health service or schools. The OPCC were continuing to work on the strategy as set out in the OPCC Delivery Plan.
• Cllr Mann asked what the PCC was doing about revenge porn. The PCC reported that there were a number of school initiatives and there was also a school play which educated children in this area. This was a social issue and needed to be addressed by all partners not just the police.

The report was noted.