ROCHDALE METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

JOINT AUTHORITY REPRESENTATIVE REPORT TO THE COUNCIL

REPORT OF THE REPRESENTATIVE TO THE GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE AUTHORITY TO THE MEETING OF THE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY 26TH JANUARY 2011

The purpose of this report is to inform colleagues of major issues relating to the Police Authority.

CURRENT CLIMATE

GMPA and GMP have for some time been identifying and implementing ways to make the Force the most efficient service possible and ensuring the maximum resource is focused on frontline policing.

As with other public sector organisations we face a financial challenge with projected figures showing that £134 million needs to be saved in the next four years. There is already a broad programme of change in place that is improving Force performance on tackling crime and antisocial behaviour and is increasing public confidence.

On Monday November 15th, a joint Force and Authority report was published that outlines the impact of the budget situation in the next four years. This was presented to a special GMPA meeting on November 22nd.

At the heart of the work are plans to reduce the corporate costs, which have been higher than comparable organisations. On Tuesday 16 November 1,900 staff who were affected by the first phase of work were briefed. GMPA and GMP will be doing everything possible to support those affected and find them other roles within the Force. Approximately 400 posts will be lost and we are hoping most will be through voluntary redundancy.

The posts will be removed from the corporate headquarters from the beginning of the next financial year, with the loss of a further 350 police staff posts from operation support departments during 2011/12. There will also be a reduction of 309 police officers posts with 244 from the back and support offices. The officers in those roles will be moved to frontline policing as they cannot be made redundant.

This is an unsettling period but the end result will be more resources put into frontline policing and a more efficient and effective service for the people of Greater Manchester.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE SETTLEMENT AND POLICE FUNDING

Formula Grant

1. All Police Authorities will experience a Formula Grant reduction of 5.1% in 2011-12 and 6.7% in 2012-13.

2. Three changes have been made to the Police Allocation Formula: § Rule 2 Grants, Crime Fighting Fund and Basic Command Unit Fund incorporated in Police Grant (and allocated by formula). § Bar density data at Community Safety Partnerships level has been included. § More up to date data used to determine Activity Based Costings.

3. Damping has been introduced to ensure that no Police Authority has a grant reduction of more than 5.141% in 2011-12 or 6.703% in 2012-13. GMPA receives £1.062m because of this as it loses out on the formula changes. Capping

4. It had been advised the GMPA (and Nottinghamshire) would be capped if proposing precept increases in 2011-12 were above 2.5%. The Authority had until 11th January 2011 to notify the Minister if it wished to appeal or accept the capping.

5. However, as GMPA qualified for a one-off ‘Council Tax Freeze Grant’ of 2.5% they have notified the Communities for Local Government that they would take advantage of this and would not be appealing the capping.

Specific Grants

6. As mentioned above, three Specific Grants have been moved to the Formula Police Grant. The sums announced for Neighbourhood Policing Fund are £17.4m in 2011-12 and £17.3m in 2012-13 are in line with expectations.

7. The Counter Terrorism Grant is to be announced in January and it has also been announced that the PFI Grant will continue. It is anticipated that announcements on Security, Asset Incentivisation and other grants will be made over the next 3 - 4 weeks.

Impact on GMPA

8. The announcements of Formula Grant, Police Grant, and capping are approximately £6m less than expected and it appears that reductions in the forecast expenditure of approximately £50m in 2011-12 and a further £44m for 2012-13 will be required.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The latest figures show total crime has been reduced by 10 per cent in the first six months of the financial year. This means 12,254 fewer victims of crime when compared with the same April to September period in 2009. Domestic burglary and vehicle crime continued to reduce by 10 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. Recent months have seen a small increase in burglary in some areas and this is being monitored closely. A number of operations are underway in hotspot areas and to manage the arrival of students back into Manchester.

As part of continued efforts to demonstrate openness and accountability, the Force provided people with access to see 24 hours in GMP. The calls for assistance were posted on the social network site Twitter. The activity received widespread support from the public who were able to take a look inside the control room in real-time.

There have been a number of high–profile court cases and arrests for serious offences as well as substantial activity at a neighbourhood level to tackle the issue of antisocial behaviour.

ROCHDALE DIVISION Police officers in south Rochdale held a week of intense activity to tackle crime in the Milkstone and Deeplish area. Officers from the Rochdale South Neighbourhood Policing Team were joined by representatives from Rochdale Borough Council and Rochdale Boroughwide Housing for the week long activity from Monday 29 November to Sunday 5 December. It was designed to prevent and disrupt criminal activity while giving the community a chance to meet their area police. It resulted in 20 people being stopped and accounted and two people were arrested. During the week visits were made to 10 licensed premises, including takeaways in a drive supported by the Rochdale Borough Council and the UK Border Agency. It was designed to ensure that local businesses abide by their license conditions and help and advice was offered where necessary. Eight people were detained by the UK Border Agency as a result.

Police in Rochdale arrested 14 people on Thursday 9 December 2010 after police raided 15 more addresses across the Middleton, Moston, Cheetham Hill and Heywood areas as part of Operation Frond. Items seized during the day included firearms, class A drugs valued at approximately £40,000 and £3,000 in cash. The raids involved over 70 officers and searches continued during the day.

Police in Rochdale arrested 65 burglars, robbers and thieves between 29 November and 5 December in the latest clampdown on offenders across the borough. High impact enforcement activity saw officers make 19 raids on properties of suspected criminals to search for stolen goods. The crackdown was part of the Force’s latest hard hitting operation geared to targeting thieves and was launched to curb a potential pre-Christmas rise in theft-related crime. Over the week officers also visited 73 known offenders to check they were complying with bail and curfew conditions and deliver special Christmas cards warning them to stay out of trouble to stay out of prison. PCSOs and crime reduction advisors visited more than 389 homes to give crime prevention advice. They also distributed 126 free timer switches to residents in burglary hotspot areas to use to switch lights on at dusk to deter criminals.

Officers who tackled a violent and wanted man armed with a knife were among officers and staff awarded at Greater Manchester Police’s Rochdale Division Awards. Greater Manchester Police's Chief Constable, Peter Fahy presented officers, staff and members of the public with medals and certificates for long service, outstanding work and bravery at the ceremony at Rochdale Town Hall. The Mayor and Mayoress of Rochdale, Councillor Zulfiqar Ali and Shaheen Akthar hosted the event and Rochdale Division's Chief Superintendent John O’Hare performed as Master of Ceremonies. Guests included family and friends of the award recipients.

RECENT CRIME STATISTICS - GENERAL TREND AND POSITIVES FOR ROCHDALE

• At the end of December, Rochdale had recorded 2185 fewer incidents of anti-social behaviour year to date, compared to the previous year. This is a reduction of 18.1% when compared to the previous rolling 12 months. • Numbers of vehicle crimes are also better than target and 447 fewer crimes were recorded compared with the previous rolling 12 months. Numbers of sanction detections for vehicle crimes were only 3 detections below target and have improved every month since April. • Rochdale was not meeting its sanction detection targets for domestic abuse and religiously/racially aggravated crimes. However, the detection rates for both measures have improved compared to the last rolling 12 months. Religiously/racially aggravated crime detections in particular have improved substantially: 51.1% higher compared the previous rolling 12 months. • Rochdale is close to meeting its target for detection of serious sexual offences of 35%. The detection rate year to date is 33.6%. • The sanction detection rate for burglary was 2 detections above target at the end of December. Although the number of burglaries had fallen slightly compared with the previous month, burglary was still 380 crimes above target for the year to date. • 77.5% of service users are satisfied with policing in Rochdale. This is the same as the previous month and remains below the target of 85%.

(Data from GMP monthly bulletin to end of December 2010) COMMENTS RECEIVED FROM HER MAJESTY’S INSPECTORATE OF CONSTABULARY

Roger Baker of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary attended the meeting of the Police Authority on 10 th November, 2010 at which he made the following comments:

Crime was at the lowest it had been for 10 years, and he indicated that he would be attending a meeting of the Police Monitoring Group, at which the hard work of Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Police Authority would be recognised. In addition, the advances made by the authority over the last 12 months would be acknowledged.

The HMIC would be visiting police forces and authorities to look at their plans, which would need to communicate to the public the proposed changes and their impact. This work would involve looking at the productivity of staff in an environment where more needed to be done with less, and also the availability, who would be available to the public at which time.

With regard to the front loading of the budget cuts, this often occurred with major change projects, and this would assist with the proposals for the appointment of Police and Crime Commissioners.

The Force and the Authority should be congratulated for starting a journey and making a significant impact for the people of Greater Manchester. The Police Authority had gone through a difficult time and it was now evident that there had been a significant shift in how strategic issues were dealt with which was extremely positive.

Councillor Pat Colclough, Representative on GMPA

Thank you Mr Mayor, I will be pleased to answer any questions from Members of the Council about these or any other matter relating to the Greater Manchester Police Authority.