Agenda and minutes

The Chairman drew attention to the list of notices published on the back of the agenda.

There were none.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 April 2017 (copy enclosed).

RESOLVED

(i)              that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 April 2017 be received.

Minute No. 1210 – Public Participation

In response to a question the Chairman clarified that public participation had been omitted from this agenda in error and this would be corrected for future meetings.

The Chairman noted that Councillor H M Bass was in the chair at the end of the meeting and therefore the Minutes should be corrected to show this.

RESOLVED

(ii)            that subject to the above amendment the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 18 April 2017 be confirmed.

To disclose the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interests, other Pecuniary Interests or Non-Pecuniary Interests relating to items of business on the agenda having regard to paragraphs 6-8 inclusive of the Code of Conduct for Members.

(Members are reminded that they are also required to disclose any such interests as soon as they become aware should the need arise throughout the meeting).

Councillor Mrs P A Channer disclosed a non-pecuniary interest, as she was a Member of Essex County Council.  She also declared that she sat on the Police, Fire and Crime Panel as a representative for Maldon District Council and the Reducing Reoffending Board as a representative for Essex County Council.

To receive a verbal update from Chief Inspector Ronnie Egan.

Chief Inspector (CI) Ronnie Egan, District Commander introduced Detective Inspector Rob Kirby to the Committee who would be providing an update on burglaries.  She then addressed the Committee and provided Members with a detailed update and highlighted the following areas:

·                 Current Crime – Maldon had one of the lowest accumulative crime rates from April to September in Essex and was one of the safest places in the county.  Members noted that there had been an 11.8% increase in crime seen across the whole of Essex.

·                 Rural Crime Rates – CI Egan advised that she would circulate the figures relating to rural crimes after the meeting.  Maldon had recorded 2,067 rural crimes, an increase of 31 compared with the previous year and 41 of these related to hare coursing.

·                 Rural Team – A new dedicated rural team would be operational from 1 October, based centrally and looking to target areas.  It was noted that this team would give more impetus, visibility and presence out in the District.

·                 Domestic Abuse – It was noted that domestic abuse was a high profile area for the Police who were working closely with other agencies. 

·                 Theft of Motor Vehicles – This had increased by 16 offences on the previous year.

·                 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) Cameras – These were now live.  In every 24 hour period around 25,000 movements on weekdays were captured by the cameras with this figure dropping to 10 – 15,000 at weekend.  This data was used to build an intelligence picture along with all cameras across Essex.  DI Egan highlighted a number of specific areas where the ANPR cameras had been directly involved in assisting with prosecution, road safety, missing persons etc.  She advised that the Committee would receive regular updates on achievements.

The Committee then received an update on dwelling burglaries from Detective Inspector (DI) Kirby which included the following information:

·                 There had been an increase in the distance people were travelling to commit burglary.

·                 Although there had been a small increase in burglaries, Maldon had the lowest number of burglaries and the most solved burglaries in the force.

·                 The Police had been engaging more with the public through social media, such as Facebook and the Essex Community Messaging service.  DI Kirby gave an example of how information shared through social media had led to a quick arrest.

It was agreed that the Essex Police Performance Summary for all districts would be circulated to Members and the Chairman confirmed that this report would be brought to future meetings of the Committee.

In response to a number of questions raised by Members they were provided with the following additional information:

·                 CI Egan agreed to provide some further comparison to see how Maldon crime statistics compared with similar groups / area to provide better comparative.  She reassured Members that although demand and recorded crime had to be compared across the same force area they did look across the country to identify any best practice.

·                 Sexual offences – Incidents involving over 16s were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 571.

To receive and note the report of the Director of Customers and Community, (copy enclosed).

Councillor Mrs P A Channer declared that she was the Chairman of the Maldon Youth Strategy Group and that she was Chairman of the Essex County Council Safeguarding Member Reference Group and some matters contained in this report came under the auspices of these bodies.

The Committee noted the report of the Director of Customers and Community detailing progress of activities undertaken by the Maldon Community Safety Partnership since the last meeting of this Committee and highlighting the strategic priorities adopted in March 2017.

It was noted that five key priorities had been identified and were set out in the report.  Members’ particular attention was drawn to the priority ‘tackling rural crime and strengthening communities’ which was applicable to the Maldon District in light of the crime trends seen in the past few years. 

The most recent Essex Police strategic management performance data was attached as Appendix 1 to the report. 

The Community Safety Partnership Manager presented the report and provided Members with update on a number of areas relating to the Partnership set out in the report and in response to questions from Members the following information was provided:

·                  Speed Cameras – Safer Essex Roads Partnership carry out speed enforcement on a variety of sites across Essex.  Any new sites identified would not be duplicated, i.e. enforcement using TruCam would not be the same site as for the Safer Essex Roads Partnership and not carried out in the same area as Community SpeedWatch.  It was noted that TruCam sites identified had to be assessed prior to being used.  In response to a question it was confirmed that the TruCam launch had been delayed but a date was due to be announced shortly.

·                  It was clarified that NHW stood for Neighbourhood Watch.

·                  Increases in Crime – Chief Inspector Egan explained that some increases in violence were gang related with the more populated districts seeing more problems with gangs. Whilst there was some spread of crime into smaller towns and villages (quieter areas) these were dealt with more quickly.  The Chief Inspector outlined the work being done by the Police to drive out gangs and noted that domestic abuse had seen an increase across all districts.

·                  Safeguarding – In response to comments about Member training on safeguarding and corporate parenting including gangs etc., the Director of Customers and Community gave assurance that this was on the work programme for the coming year and Member seminars would be arranged around this topic and also in terms of how it relates to local issues.

·                  Resources – A Member questioned whether more resources would lead to an increased solve rate and in response Chief Inspector Egan advised that there was always a need for more resources and explained how additional resources could be used.  She informed Members that the Police and Fire Crime Commissioner had recognised this and was working to secure additional funding for extra resource.  She outlined some other initiatives being used i.e. use of mobile devices, which were seeing positive  ...  view the full minutes text for item 572.