To receive a verbal update on Police performance from Grant Fryatt, Chelmsford and Maldon Acting Chief Inspector
Minutes:
Chief Inspector (CI) Aaron Homatopoulos, Chelmsford and Maldon District Commander from Essex Police introduced himself.
CI Homatopoulos drew Members’ attention to the Essex Police Performance Summary report, appended to Agenda Item 7 – Maldon District Community Safety Partnership Update. He reminded Members of the current Local Community Policing structure and highlighted the Force Plan 2024 – 2026. He provided a detailed presentation and highlighted the following areas:
· Maldon Performance Summary - Over a twelve-month period to January 2026, the Maldon district had seen a decrease in all crimes. However, there had been a slight increase in Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) reporting. The solved rate for all offences had increased. Burglary dwelling and burglary non-dwelling had seen a big reduction in crime?. Looking at the statistics Maldon was the lowest crime district in all of Essex.
· Public Perception survey - The CI stated that confidence in the Police had been surveyed at the lowest it had been in a long time in the Maldon District, and they were looking at ways to improve that perception.
· Tackling community issues - The Police alongside Community Safety Partners and Maldon District Council had worked on various community issues including; ASB, drug dealing, community engagement and vehicle crime. The CI highlighted a joint operation between Maldon District Council and the Police to combat speeding in the district.
· Application of Priorities in Maldon - Priorities were being applied to ASB with a review about how it was being managed across the force. ASB risk assessments and gradings were undertaken with an emphasis on personal nuisance and environmental ASB. The Police were targeting vehicle theft and identifying perpetrators and ASB vehicle use and speeding. Community engagement with local primary and secondary schools, colleges and youth clubs was taking place, including the delivery of weapons awareness presentations explaining the dangers of knife crime and possession of offensive weapons. The Police continued to develop new initiatives to support mental health and wellbeing.
· Successes in Maldon - Arrests in the district over the past 12 months were highlighted, with a breakdown of the numbers for all the different related offences excluding arrests from specialist departments such as investigatory teams.
· Community Engagement - The CI highlighted a number of events that the Police had been involved in and the benefit to the District. The Policing team were actively encouraging the community to report matters to build intelligence around what is happening in the community to allow the team to respond to concerns.
· Burglaries reduced in 2025 - The last 12 months had seen a reduction in reported Residential Burglary offences with 11 less offences recorded. This underlined the close work done by the Policing team with partners, Neighbourhood Watch and the community to educate the public around prevention and property security.
· Vehicle Crime - Theft from motor vehicles had seen a reduction of 77 offences and theft of motor vehicles a decrease of 14 offences from the previous year.
· Tackling Speeding - The focus had been to drive down casualties on the roads and reducing anti-social driving. The Maldon Policing team had reacted to speeding complaints across Maldon District. Working alongside partners including highways, Community Safety Partners, Safer Essex Roads Partnership and local Councillors speed checks had been carried out to reassure the public, deter drivers from speeding and help to keep the public safe.
· Examples of proactive drugs related enforcement - Regular proactive drugs warrants were being conducted with a recent conviction of a known drug dealer. Alongside this two search warrants for the ward area had been executed with a positive outcome.
Following the update and in response to questions from the Committee, CI Homatopoulos provided the following information:
· Drug-driving offences: There had been an increase in the focus on drug driving especially over the Christmas period. The Policing team undertook stop checks with drug swiping and there had been an increase in the rate of detecting these offences.
· County Lines: The Policing team had not identified any County lines activity within the Maldon district.
· Measures on arson prevention: The Police and Fire Education Team provided education on fire awareness to secondary schools. The Community Safety Partnership Manager advised that the Joint Education Team, made up of Police and Fire services, had provided a report on which primary and secondary schools were engaging in fire awareness. The report also highlighted that primary schools learnt about the Great Fire of London whilst secondary schools focussed more on ASB. Specific problems were targeted through patrols.
· Dealing with counterfeit notes and use of Pub Watch: CI Homatopoulos stated thatreporting was the key to solving these issues and sending the information that had been obtained through Pub Watch was essential. The Policing team could act as the link between the Pub Watch schemes in the Maldon and Chelmsford districts. In terms of prevention the team provided ‘Let’s Talk’ events and engagement days to help raise awareness and give advice over the issues with fraudulent currency.
The Community Safety Partnership Manager spoke about a package that was to be trialled in Chelmsford called ‘Shop Safe’. ‘Shop Safe’ was a system of data sharing and use of radios to help quick communication between areas, even those remote areas. He advised that if the trial was successful they would look at rolling it out in the Maldon District.
· Hate Crimes: Sergeant Dalby highlighted that the small increase in hate crimes was isolated to an individual repeating this behaviour.
· Policing over the Football World Cup: CI Homatopoulos reassured Members that the Police had an operation in place under which additional resources would be allocated during the World Cup. In addition, education initiatives would be rolled out to help reduce any incidents.
· Reporting crimes through the website: CI Homatopoulos stated that he understood that the reporting on the website could be difficult for some people but he encouraged Members to also send reports into the policing email inbox. He reminded Members of the ‘Let’s Talk’ events where the local communities could speak to the policing team in person.
The CI confirmed that there was a team that dealt with the Single Online Home and that feedback from the Committee would be passed onto them.
The Chairperson thanked CI Homatopoulos for his presentation.