Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were submitted by Cllr Culverhouse (Buckinghamshire Council – co-optee), Cllr Kandy Jefferies (Bracknell Forest Council), Pamela Mackenzie-Reilly (Co-opted Independent Member) and Cllr Stephen Newton (Wokingham Borough Council) (Cllr Chris Johnson substituting).

11.00am

To agree the Minutes of the meeting held on 15 September 2023.

The Minutes of the Panel meeting held on 15 September 2023 were agreed as a correct record.

11.05pm

The report of the PCC sets out activity by the OPCC and Thames Valley Police in delivering the strategic priority of fighting serious organised crime, as set out in the Police & Criminal Justice Plan 2021-2025.

A report of  the Scrutiny Officer is  attached which provides a summary of a Home Office publication on the criminal exploitation of children, young people and vulnerable adults for the supply of drugs, and transportation of the associated money and weapons (County Lines).   

A report of the PCC set out the activities by the OPCC and Thames Valley Police in delivering the strategic priority of fighting serious organised crime, as set out in the Police & Criminal Justice Plan 2021-2025. The report before the Panel contains a myriad of different risks but the focus in the report was around vulnerability, particularly around County Lines.

The PCC reported that serious organised crime can come in many forms but the report provided a particular focus on protecting vulnerable people. Serious Organised Crime did not only taken place in big cities with the reality that this crime took many forms and took place in many areas, including rural areas.

There were lots of different crimes which were related to serious organised crime such as vehicle crime and the stealing of catalytic converters which was a sophisticated crime as these were stolen to order.

The Rural Crime Team have made great efforts to tackle the trade in stolen vehicles and machinery, supporting the introduction of new legislation. Retail crime and the theft of vehicles and machinery had to be identified as serious organised crime.

The Panel was informed that a Serious Organised Crime was County lines. This was a violent and exploitative form of drug distribution. A common feature of county lines is the exploitation of children, young people and vulnerable adults who are instructed to deliver and/or store drugs, and associated money or weapons, to dealers or drug users, locally or in other counties.

A report was also provided to the Panel which summarised the Home Office guidance on Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines.

The PCC referred to Police Forces looking to disrupt operations, but it was difficult to measure the disruptions of the criminal network. One such disruption resulted in recently Thames Valley Police making 98 arrests during a week of drug busts targeting county lines.

Members’ Questions:

(1)   To help the fight against “County Lines”, what training do professionals in other organisations receive (teachers, health workers, social workers etc) to prevent young people from being coerced into such crimes.

[The PCC replied that it was not only the Police that were trained. There was specialised training, but more could be done. There was lots of training carried out around Modern Slavery.   Where someone is suspected of being a victim of modern slavery then they should be considered a child or adult at risk and the relevant child or adult at risk operational guidance followed. The Force will seek support from relevant partner agencies and address any immediate safeguarding requirements. A referral may then be made into the National Referral Mechanism in line with the operational guidance.

The biggest difficulty was getting into the NHS and providing training.  Partners needed to be pushed more and look at the risks. All had a provider responsibility and a serious violence duty which was to ensure relevant services worked together to share information and worked together on interventions to prevent and reduce serious crimes within  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

11.35am

The PCC will present a report providing details on a TVP Education campaign for Violence against Women and Girls.

The PCC presented a report which provided details on a TVP Education campaign for Violence against Women and Girls.

The Panel was informed that TVP were working with Lisa Squire the mother of murdered student Libby Squire, and a specialist agency TMC, to produce a PSHE education package for 14-16 year olds.

The education package would put two key messages out of looking after your friends and to report non-contact sexual offences. The encouragement of young people to report non-contact sexual offences was to enable the intelligence from their reports to help police identify hotspots and identify perpetrators. The killer of Libby had displayed an escalation in non-contact sexual offences before his horrendous crime.

Since being launched in February 2023, work has taken place with TMC to produce an audit of existing campaigns and materials, to hold focus groups at four Thames Valley schools to get feedback on the plans and the holding of a Project Advisory Team meeting to ask a range of experts their thoughts on the programme.

Members’ Questions

(1)  Will this education campaign be rolled out to partner organisations to get the message out as far and wide as possible? Reference was made to arts and culture who helped get the message out there, in the form of plays and theatre and telling a story which would be more engaging for young people.

[The PCC replied that the focus of this will be getting into schools with PSHE making it available more widely across Thames Valley. There will also be broader exposure with the use of social media, working with partner agencies. There would be a film on Libby’s mother which would grab the attention of young people as she describes from a personal perspective and raise awareness greater than anyone else could.

The real focus of the campaign was getting in schools and hopefully eventually getting it into the curriculum. Work had been done on County Lines, on “sexting”, and there was funding from the crime prevention budget to do this preventative work.

The PCC said he could see no reason why this work could not be extended to colleges and Universities.]

(2)  The PCC was asked how prepared were TVP to act on the usually non reported sexual offences which were not always reported, and which sometimes led to far serious offences such as the murder?

[The PCC replied that the murderer of Libby Squires did not have his earlier offences reported. This was not a case of the Police missing something. It really mattered that these offences, no matter how small, were reported to the Police. Victims needed the confidence to come forward, although the allegations may not lead to a conviction. This was about intelligence gathering and it would be on record as being reported and would build a wider picture if other allegations were made and would lead to escalation if required.

There were much better processes now in place with “Red Box” offences prioritised in the escalation process. There  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

12.00pm

To receive an update from the PCC on the progress made on the proposed CCTV partnership across the Thames Valley.

The Panel was reminded that in April 2022, the PCC set out his strategic vision for a Thames Valley CCTV Partnership.  The report of the PCC provided the Panel with an update on the proposed model.

The PCC reported that TVP would own the system and equipment for public space CCTV and be responsible for the maintenance and employment of the staff.

The Panel was informed that Phase 1 was currently underway and involved upgrading the CCTV systems for Slough and Milton Keynes City, with both areas to be monitored from a Milton Keynes Command Suite.

Phase 2 would involve Oxfordshire local authorities and a consultation took place to seek feedback on the operating model to be delivered and the funding formula to be used to calculate the annual local authority revenue contributions.

The options were Oxfordshire having its own Command Suite or whether their cameras would also be integrated into the Milton Keynes Command Suite. Feedback on the consultation would be reported to the TVP CCTV Programme Board in December 2023 with recommendations then made to the Chief Constable and PCC.

The CCTV Project Team would continue to engage with Buckinghamshire Council who have decided not to join the Thames Valley CCTV Partnership at this time and will now be monitoring all CCTV for Buckinghamshire from their Control Room in High Wycombe, as well as local authorities in Berkshire who will be included in Phase 3 of this programme.

The PCC pointed out that CCTV was not a statutory responsibility of the Police or local authorities, however, financial contributions were required from local authorities who had a responsibility for community safety. There were advantages of having more local authorities signed up to the partnership in terms of costs, a joined-up network of CCTV which would help the Police and the local authorities. Maintenance costs would be reduced in terms of maintaining cameras and being able to replace broken cameras.

Members’ Questions:

(1)   The PCC was asked about the location of control rooms not having the local knowledge of other local authority areas and not being as responsive which would create a time lag. Existing control rooms in local authority areas had that local knowledge and without this, for example there could be delays on environmental offences, the tracking of known shoplifters etc.

[The PCC replied that this system was about an important bit of public safety. If local authorities such as Windsor and Maidenhead and Buckinghamshire had CCTV systems which worked that would be great, but it would be good if the local links were also linked to the Police.  The PCC referred to the Vale of White Horse district which was a huge area, but the CCTV control unit was in Abingdon, so it would have been difficult for the staff at the control unit knowing all parts of the geography of a large area, but over time this local knowledge would be gained. This would also be gained from a Milton Keynes control unit.]

(2)   Reference was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

12.20pm

This Annual Assurance Report 2022 explains how the Independent Audit Committee has complied with each of its specific responsibilities, during the last twelve months covering the period December 2021 to December 2022.

The Panel was provided with the Annual Assurance Report 2022 which explained how the Independent Audit Committee to the PCC and Chief Constable of TVP had complied with each of its specific responsibilities, during the last twelve months covering the period December 2021 to December 2022.

The PCC reported that in relation to the 2021/22 Peel Inspection, when the Force was graded as requiring Improvement in the areas of responding to the public; and good use of resources, there was soon to be another report. The Panel was informed that in relation to Contact Management there were still issues with “drop off times” on calls which would be reflected in the report.

Part of the reason for delays in answering calls has been due to the work which has taken place in improving of crime data integrity which has reduced the capacity of call handlers and added on average an extra 6 minutes to calls.  

The Panel noted the report.

12.25pm

To receive an update on the membership of the Panel’s Task and Finish Groups. 

The Panel received updates on the membership of the Panel’s Task and Finish Groups.

In relation to the Strategy for Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) Task and Finish Group, the Panel was informed that Cllr Shaista Aziz, the Chair had been replaced as Oxford City Council’s representative on the PCP.

The Chair of the Panel asked that due to Cllr Aziz’s expertise in VAWG and Domestic Abuse that she continues to be the Chair of this Task and Finish Group. To enable this to happen the Panel can appoint co-opted Members to Task and Finish Groups and it is recommended that approval be given to Cllr Aziz appointment as a co-opted Member of the VAWG Task and Finish Group.

Oxford City Council’s new representative to the Panel is Cllr Mark Lygo and he has asked to be appointed to the VAWG Task and Finish Group.

In relation to the Road Safety Task and Finish Group, the Chair updated the Panel on the first meeting of the Task and Finish Group which took place on 1 November 2023 and looked at the draft Road Safety Strategy and heard from the PCC, an officer from the Roads Policing Unit and a Road Safety officer from a local authority.

In relation to the Budget Task and Finish Group, Cllr Simon Werner asked to be appointed to the Task and Finish Group.

RESOLVED – (1)  That approval be given to the appointment of Cllr Aziz as a co-opted Member of the VAWG Task and Finish Group.

(2)  That Cllr Mark Lygo be appointed to the VAWG Task and Finish Group.  

(3) That Cllr Simon Werner be appointed to the Budget Task and Finish Group.

12.30pm

To receive updates from the Chair of the Panel and the PCC, if required. Also, to note and ask questions on the attached topical issues report.

The Panel was provided with a report which provided details of recent crime and police topical issues.

National Reduction in Burglaries

A Member referred to a constituent who had recently been burgled and within 24 hours a burglary advice pack had been delivered to households in the area and a detective attended the burglary scene within 40 hours and had downloaded CCTV footage. This was impressive.

Reference was made to the use of social media when Police were called to challenging incidents to deal with and the filming which took place. This was corrosive and difficult to tackle and made the Polices’ job very difficult and only looked at situations negatively. The PCC agreed that the use of social media when officers were doing their jobs was difficult and could prejudice investigations.

The PCC referred to the death of PC Andy Harper and the restraint which was used in arresting the offenders. The Police had the body armour footage to show the other side.   

Update on Recruitment of PCSOs – The PCC said he could circulate updated information on this. [Action: PCC]

Contact Management Staff – A Member commented that he was pleased that Contact Management staff would be receiving a retention payment.

Shoplifting

The PCC was thanked for his community engagement in High Wycombe when he came to talk about how the Police was going to tackle shoplifting. The PCC reported that a strategy on shoplifting would be available around Christmas.

Reference was made to small shops which are raided by shoplifters on a daily basis which was costing owners a lot of money and was a risk to their safety. The PCC stated that any danger to shop workers should be actioned, but he acknowledged that there were areas where TVP could do better. There were offenders who the Police were trying to prosecute for several offences. The PCC said that there did need to be better information sharing between TVP and local businesses.

The Panel noted the report.   

12.45pm

For Panel Members to put forward items for the Work Programme including ideas for themed meetings.

The Panel noted that the item on Race Action Plan had been deferred and it was asked that this be added to another date in the work programme.

The work programme was noted.