Agenda and draft 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 13 March 2019 (copy enclosed).

RESOLVED

(i)              that the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 March 2019 be received.

Minute No. 964 – Maldon District Community Partnership Update

Councillor M S Heard requested that it be clarified whether the 185 Stop Checks conducted related to the Maldon or Chelmsford area.

Councillor M S Heard requested that the minute be amended to include the additional word (highlighted in red) as follows:

“Police accessibility – There was a brief discussion regarding the loss of village police offices and Members were advised that the Government had changes the policing model and it was now necessary to identify innovative ways to engage with residents…”

RESOLVED

(ii)            that subject to the above amendment the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 13 March 2019 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 M S Heard declared that he no longer had a non-pecuniary interest in all agenda items as he had retired from the police service.

To receive the views of members of the public on items of business to be considered by the Committee (please see below):

1.       A period of ten minutes will be set aside.

2.       An individual may speak for no more than two minutes on a specific agenda item, the time slots to be allocated on a “first come first served” basis.

3.       Participation may take the form of a statement, or alternatively a question to be addressed to the Chairman. There will be no discussion on questions put unless it is formally moved. In line with the current scheme applied to other Committees, the questions must:

·         not be defamatory, frivolous, vexatious or offensive;

·         not be the same or substantially the same as another question to the same meeting or anything so put in the last six months;

·         not involve the disclosure of confidential or exempt information.

4.       Anyone wishing to speak must notify the Committee Clerk between 7.00pm and 7.20pm prior to the start of the meeting.

In accordance with the Council’s Public Question Time and Participation at Council and Committee Meetings Scheme, Councillor Chrisy Morris addressed the Committee as a member of the public.

Mr Morris raised concerns and requested that Inspector Barry Booth note his comments for further investigation.

To receive a presentation from Ms Kirsty Gibbons, Manager Service Delivery, Essex Community Rehabilitation Company.

The Committee received a presentation from Ms Kirsty Gibbons, Manager of Service Delivery for Essex Community Rehabilitation Company (ECRC), which informed the Committee of the work conducted on the rehabilitation of service users through community payback following Community Court Referrals.

As part of the presentation, and in response to questions from Members, the following information was provided:

·       The ECRC manage low to medium risk cases.  High risk cases were managed through the Probation Service;

·       At time of writing the report:

o   There were 47 service users in Maldon, 6 in Southminster, 3 in Heybridge and 6 in Burnham-on-Crouch;

o   13.04% female, 86.96% male;

o   The majority of service users were between 20-29 years of age;

·       A large proportion of service users undertake unpaid work, with the inclusion of a punitive element alongside rehabilitation;

·       As part of Rehabilitation Activities Requirements (RAR) probation officers work alongside other agencies to address other requirements service users may have as part of their rehabilitation, i.e. addressing drug use.  This would ensure that service users were getting full value from rehabilitation;

·       Unpaid work supports many areas of the community.  A large number of non-profit organisations have been supported, some local authority work undertaken including local churches and schools.  This unpaid work provided a visible demonstration of justice within the community.  Within Maldon, service users have undertaken unpaid work at the Museum of Power and Heybridge Cemetery;

·       A Community Court Referral can sentence Community Payback for up to 300 hours.  This was expected to be a minimum of seven hours per week, where the service user was employed, up to twenty-eight hours per week where the service user was unemployed;

·       Service user surveys show that 99.8% of offenders were less likely to re-offend having completed Community Payback;

·       As part of the service, Community Integration Officers work closely with the Jobcentre Plus (JCP), and refer and support the acquisition of various qualifications, such as the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), by service users;

·       Once employment is achieved a review gets carried out, however, following the end of the court order, no further information on service users was received.

Ms Gibbons advised the Committee that the team would welcome suggestions and projects as they are always looking for ways to best support communities through payback.  Members were also advised that, if they were inclined to do so, site visits would be welcome.

The Chairman, on behalf of the Committee, thanked Ms Gibbons for an interesting and informative presentation.

To consider the report of the Director of Service Delivery (copy enclosed).

The Committee received the report of the Head of Paid Service, presented by Mr Spencer Clarke, the Community Safety Manager at Maldon District Council.  The report provided Members with an update on the progress of activities undertaken by the Maldon Community Safety Partnership (CSP) since the previous meeting of this committee (13 March 2019) and to inform on the strategic priorities for 2019/20.

The report provided a detailed update on the following matters:

·       Statutory Duties – the CSP was required to produce the Strategic Assessment of Crime, a draft was currently being reviewed with publication expected for December 2019-January 2020.  It was noted that as part of the Crime Risk Matrix, which looks at over 30 different types of crime within Maldon district the majority of cases, as a result of public perception, related to road use, i.e. speeding, dangerous and irresponsible driving.

·       Priorities for the partnership were reported as tackling violent crime; driving down anti-social behaviour; identifying and supporting vulnerable people; rural crime and promoting road safety and challenging irresponsible driving.

Members’ attention was drawn to the Essex Police force crime performance data for Maldon and the Essex comparison which was attached at appendix 1 and 2 of the report.  It was noted that the number of offences per 1,000 population was one of the lowest out of the Essex districts.

·       Eastern Region Counter Terrorism Local Profile – Main issue for Essex was a trend in the radicalisation of youths through social media and the internet. The CSP continue to work with Community Partners with representation from Jewish Community, Black African Communities and universities to monitor all types of hate crime.

·       Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (PFCC) Update – The PFCC encouraged concerns to be forwarded to determine concerns and priorities in the local area.  It was noted that the increase in the Council Tax Precept for 2018/19 had funded the employment of an additional twelve officers for the region, of which six were deployed to Maldon.  The next increase will be contributing towards the town centre, with the anticipated acquisition of four more officers, to focus specifically on rural crime.

Additional funding was received from the Home Office which totals £2.2 million and goes towards youth crime prevention and a Violence Reduction Unit.

·       Community Safety Partnership Hub – Maldon staff are now co-located at the Chelmsford hub, as of 26 March 2019.  The co-location had seen an improvement in tackling crime, safeguarding and effective policing.

·       Operation Overwatch – Operation Overwatch has been deployed five times and identified hot spots within the region.  Within Maldon, one of these was Promenade Park where effective policing had identified and neutralised various offences and low-level nuisances.  The Parish Clerk Forum had provided good intelligence on where these issues had occurred around the area and received positive feedback on the work carried out.

·       Work with the Crucial Crew is currently being reviewed and restructured as it was considered more effective that they approach primary schools in the Spring prior to students moving on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To receive a verbal report from Sergeant Barry Booth.

Inspector Booth presented his report to the Committee highlighting the following initiatives introduced in the last year:-

Project Enlightenment – re-invigorating officers into schools, this commenced end of December early January with the Plume, William De Ferrers, Ormiston Rivers Academy, Ramsden Hall and Heybridge. It was noted that it was not just middle and high schools that required intervention but also Primary Schools.  

Engagement Strategy – the PCSOs have taken the lead on this and are responsible for supporting all local initiatives:- fairs; coffee mornings with police officers; support in schools; regattas. They co-ordinate all arrangements for the aforementioned events.

Tasking and Co-ordination -  attending Safety Advisory Group meetings, Community meetings, MACE meetings etc. All feedback is taken away and acted upon as appropriate. 

Operation Overwatch  - work ongoing on sexploitation, drugs and gangs. Employing anti-social behaviour legislation such as Community Protection Notices ((CPNs) has been very effective, led by the Town Teams. There has been over seventy hours of police footwork, over forty searches, resulting in key arrests, community resolutions and dismantling organised crime groups.

CPT ( Community Policing Team) – the team take control of briefings, all community information is incorporated into briefings that drive the activity of the police, very successful strategy.

Gypsy Traveller Rural Engagement Team – working with them on organised crime groups, breaking up burglary rings that prey on the elderly posing as police.

Neighbourhood Watch – reinvigorating the neighbourhood watch. A success story in the Chelmsford area at the moment . Rolling out the active alert mobile telephone system which is now being used by three communities. The information provided through this system fills in the blanks for the police around local crime. This is working very well around drug dealing, suspicious persons, lifetime intelligence which has led to a number of significant arrests.  Noted that should other communities wish to sign up to the active alert number they should contact Sergeant Matt Dalby.

Stop and Search  - ninety plus stop searched since the beginning of January in Maldon alone. This is something we should be doing more of given the current climate.    

In response to questions Inspector Booth responded as follows:-

-        that Police attendance at Parish/Town Council meetings can be co-ordinated on email via an intelligence sharing document. This would generate an action on the central system and a Police Officer would be assigned to attend as required. In the case of Maldon Town Council, he signposted Members to the Town Sargeant Graham Thomas, to discuss the way forward. He added that as long as they had appropriate notice it should always be possible to send a police representative;

-        that if necessary a separate active mobile alert phone could be set up for the farming community;

-        that managing rural crime was a challenge given that the overall number of rural officers was only eight, there was a lot of area to cover and rural crime was on the increase. Police needed to know what the policing requirements were in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.