Meeting documents

Strategic Objective 3 – Reducing Re-offending.

Panel Members may also wish to ask questions on the OPCC Strategic Delivery Plan  2017/18 (attached) or the Thames Valley Police Delivery Plan including their proposed new plan 2018/19 and Quarter 3 report at the following link:-

 https://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/about-us/publications-and-documents/delivery-plan/

The Panel received the report from the PCC on Strategic Objective 3 of his Police and Crime Panel on reducing reoffending. The PCC reported that the report referred to a number of commissioning activities with voluntary organisations who helped reduce reoffending.

Cllr Page referred to the last page on the report which said that there would be an opportunity this year for partner agencies to apply for grant funding for projects that would help the PCC to deliver against areas within the Police and Crime Plan which are currently identified as gaps. This related to his first three key aims in the Plan. He asked for further information on the process. The PCC reported that this initiative would be launched shortly with a deadline of the end of May. The amount of funding involved was £400,000. The Chief Finance Officer commented that he could let Local Authorities know of this process but he would inform Community Safety Partnerships in the following week.

Action: PCC

Cllr Mann referred to the fact that many offenders had complex needs themselves and how this was being addressed. The PCC reported that this was being dealt with by Health and Wellbeing Boards and the Health Service who were very active in dealing with mental health policies. The Chief Constable reported that there were many good examples of helping offenders with rehabilitation schemes to stop them reoffending in the future. He commented that he would make sure that this information is included in future reports to the Panel. The Chief Executive, OPCC also reported that there was a cross over with this priority and the first priority in the Police and Crime Plan relating to vulnerability. One of the key aims in Strategic Objective 1 was improving recognition across the criminal justice system of mental health distress experienced by both victims and offenders.

In relation to the OPCC Delivery Plan (page 46 of the agenda) Cllr Page asked for further information relating to Camden Council’s coercive control campaign which is being utilised by the OPCC in June 2018.

Action: PCC

Cllr Hayes asked about how concerned the PCC was in relation to the increase in drug trafficking and knife crime relating to serious organised crime ? The PCC referred to county lines and the major drug dealers who operated in London and Birmingham who were now targeting the Thames Valley. He expressed concern about stop and search and referred to the pressure of putting under 18’s in police cells. Children were being exploited to ‘run’ drugs to other towns and cities but there was a safeguarding issue as some of these children were victims themselves and could be being blackmailed. He commented that this was a real concern and referred to the recent murder in Oxford which was gang related. Cllr Egleton referred to the special operation in Oxford. The Chief Constable commented that they were trying to dismantle and disrupt groups and reported that some children were being ‘cocooned’ and exploited for drugs and sex. They had some successful operations but as soon as one group had been dealt with another reappeared. They were working very closely with neighbouring regions and the National Crime Agency and in addition there was the new Serious Violence Strategy being developed by Government. Cllr Hayes also asked about the home grown drugs trade. The Chief Constable commented that there were a number of local drug groups who operated a ‘turf war’ and that some gang violence was armed but it was not at the scale being experience by London. However, as the incidents in Oxford showed, they were not being complacent. There was a lot of preventative work being undertaken on knife crime.

Cllr Bendyshe Brown referred to page 48 of the agenda where there was a red rag status relating to TVP victim referral pathways into PCC funded victims services to replace Automatic Data Transfer by the end of March 2018. The Chief Executive, OPCC commented that this related to IT issues and that currently information was being uploaded manually onto a spreadsheet, until an interim IT Solution was developed pending the implementation of the new Contact Management System (this would have an automated referral process). This should be in place by the end of June.