Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel Task and Finish Group Creating Confident Communities: Heading towards the objective “The police are the public and the public are the police.” February 2015 Table of Contents 1. Foreword from the Chair .................................................................... 1 2. Recommendations .............................................................................. 2 3. Executive Summary ............................................................................ 4 4. Conclusions ......................................................................................... 6 5. Evidence ............................................................................................ 11 5.1. General Information ....................................................................... 11 5.2. Community Safety Partnerships .................................................. 12 5.3. Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable .............. 15 5.4. Editors of Local Media .................................................................. 19 5.5. Independent Advisory Groups ..................................................... 22 5.6. Faith Groups and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups ..... 25 5.7. Victim Support ............................................................................... 32 5.8. Neighbourhood Watch, Street Watch and Speed Watch ............ 35 5.9. General Public ............................................................................... 40 5.10. Police Force’s Schools Co-ordinator ........................................... 43 5.11. Parish and Town Councils ............................................................ 47 5.12. Young People ................................................................................. 52 5.13. Elected Members ........................................................................... 54 Appendix A: Project Scope ..................................................................... 56 Appendix B: Terms of Reference ............................................................ 59 Appendix C: Project Plan Gantt Chart .................................................... 61 Appendix D: Taking Forward the Vision................................................. 62 Appendix E: Luton General Public Results ............................................ 69 Appendix F: Luton Ward Forum Results ................................................ 76 Appendix G: Bedford Borough on-line Results ..................................... 79 Appendix H: Bedford Borough Citizens’ Panel Results........................ 88 Appendix I: Central Bedfordshire Results ........................................... 126 Appendix J: Central Beds Town and Parish Council Results ............ 129 Appendix K: Glossary ............................................................................ 142 1. Foreword from the Chair This report sets out the findings of the year long, detailed review conducted by the Task and Finish Group, established by the Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel at its meeting on 6 February 2014. Its purpose was to consider how to create confident communities in Bedfordshire; heading towards the objective set by Sir Robert Peel “The police are the public and the public are the police.” This Task and Finish Group was the second Group to be established in close co-operation with the Police and Crime Commissioner in order to contribute to his policy and strategy development work. The Group appreciated the open approach and full co-operation it received from the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in undertaking this review. Particular thanks go to Simon Bullock, Policy Director, who attended and assisted in facilitating many of the Task Group meetings. The Task Group’s work involved major consultation projects with partner organisations and the general public across Bedfordshire. These projects ranged from social media campaigns, through more traditional postal consultation, to workshops attended by many relevant parties and organisations that can have an influence on confidence in their communities. I would like to thank the other members of the Task Group, Councillors Dolling, Graham, Hollick and Whittaker for their commitment to this review and support for the whole process. If I had to summarise in one word the loudest message that was expressed by the contributors throughout the review, that word would be “visibility”. There was almost universal agreement from all of the organisations and people whom we consulted that visible policing will increase the confidence in any community. Naturally, visibility comes at a cost and that perhaps is the biggest challenge the Commissioner faces. Finally, on behalf of the Task & Finish Group, I would like to thank the officers of the Panel’s Host Authority who have provided extensive support work, organisation, assistance and advice to the Group’s work. Cllr Colleen Atkins MBE Chair, Task and Finish Group (Creating Confident Communities) of Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel February 2015 1 2. Recommendations After careful consideration of the evidence gathered during the review and the conclusions reached, the Task and Finish Group agreed that the following recommendations be made to the Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire. They revolve around three themes that became very prominent as the review progressed, visibility, responsiveness and communications. Whilst the Group is making the recommendations to the Commissioner they appreciate that the Chief Constable will also be instrumental in their implementation. The Bedfordshire Police and Crime Panel recommends that the Commissioner: 1. Ensures that the Police increase their visibility; 2. Reviews the customer service experience received by victims and those reporting crimes, as it is seriously below the required service level; 3. Improves the 101 service to provide prompt, consistent and appropriate responses, ensuring that staff receive an appropriate level of training to deliver a reassuring service; 4. Continues with the recruitment of Special Constables in order for the Force to engage better with the urban and rural communities, and where possible, ensures that “Specials” are allocated to a dedicated area; 5. Ensures that the Police increase their responsiveness, transparency, and the keeping of promises; 6. Improves communication with the public using the following methods: i. Ensure that the Police provide appropriate and timely feedback to victims and those reporting crime or providing information; ii. When the force publishes crime related information, it should be put into context against the bigger picture of falling crime levels; iii. The use of additional channels such as Parish Newsletters where it is easier to retain editorial control; iv. Ensure high profile cases which involve solving the crime and a good judicial outcome are communicated well; v. Further engage with Faith and BAME Groups to establish their needs and objectives, and bring greater confidence to these communities, engaging in two way communication; vi. “Ringmaster” should be publicised more to increase subscriber levels, and should be used to publicise good news stories such as successful prosecutions; vii. Review whether “Community Alert” is a more effective communication tool than “Ringmaster”; viii. All of the “Watch” schemes throughout the County should be publicised more to increase membership. 7. Reviews the way “Operation Vision” operates to ensure a consistent management approach throughout the County, recognising the need for sufficient flexibility to suit local needs; 8. Ensures that those engaged in local Policing are known to the local population; 2 9. Encourages the Force to build stronger and positive relationships with local media using face to face meetings and informal briefings, encouraging the publication of good news stories; 10. Ensures the Force continues to engage with young people, through, for example, talks at schools, colleges and other forums, including the Youth Parliament when appropriate, in order to build a better understanding of each other. 3 3. Executive Summary In order for the Panel to strengthen its role in supporting the development of policing in Bedfordshire, agreement was reached between the Commissioner and the Panel that “Task and Finish Groups” would be set up to carry out pre- decision scrutiny, looking at particular and topical issues of policing in the County, which the Commissioner will need to consider over the coming period. The second of these Groups was established to review the issue of how to create confident communities in Bedfordshire. The Terms of Reference and the Scope for the review were agreed by the Panel at the 6 February 2014 meeting, which also appointed Panel Members Cllr. Atkins, Cllr. Graham, Cllr. Hollick, and Cllr Whittaker to sit on the Task and Finish Group. During a period of the review Cllr. Whittaker was substituted by Cllr. Dolling. At the first meeting of the Group on 20 March 2014, Members looked again at the terms of reference and the scope of the review. This produced the following agreed lines of enquiry: 1. What is the current public perception of risk from crime in Bedfordshire, and how does it compare to the national picture? 2. What does the public want policing to look like in order to feel different/safer/confident? 3. How are the three areas (communication, community policing and active citizens) identified in the “Confident Communities vision” being addressed? 4. How do we