APCC General Meeting (27.5.21) APCC General Meeting Minutes: Thursday May 27 2021: Item 1: Welcome from the APCC Vice Chair and minutes of the last meeting: • Roger Hirst (RH), the Vice Chair of the APCC, welcomed new and returning PCC colleagues to the APCC General Meeting, and congratulated them on their recent successes in the PCC Elections. He provided a brief update on proceedings for the meeting. • RH reflected that PCCs can influence both community safety in their own elected area and also nationally through working together with the APCC, and it was important that the APCC is perceived as the body representing all police governance. APCC General Meetings are an opportunity for members to come together and discuss and progress current issues and common concerns. • The minutes of the last meeting (20.1.21-21.1.21) were agreed as a true and accurate record. KB asked for 2 additions to be made to the business crime section relating to the ‘Keeping Christmas Kind’ campaign and the opportunity for PCCs to go back later in the year to the HASC to provide evidence on retail crime. Item 2: Welcome from the Home Secretary – Rt Hon Priti Patel MP: • The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, congratulated PCCs on their success in the May election. She noted the PCC role is a critical one in addressing challenges / opportunities and in delivering for the public. • The Home Secretary noted the positive news on County Lines, with over 1,000 arrests nationwide last week. This demonstrated the government’s focus on cutting crime / restoring confidence in the CJS. The Police Uplift Programme (PUP) had also recruited 8,771 more police officers and forces are feeling strengthened and supported – not just with financial backing for policing but because of the strong commitment from the government to cutting crime and delivering for the public. • The Home Secretary noted it will be important to demonstrate how the PUP investment is reducing crime. The Home Office is introducing national measures to demonstrate delivery and PCCs have a key role as leaders in guiding and supporting their police forces, including delivery against the national priorities: • Reducing murder and other homicide • Reducing serious violence • Disrupting drugs supply and county lines • Reducing neighbourhood crime • Tackling cyber crime • Improving satisfaction among victims. • The Home Secretary particularly highlighted the importance of support for victims – and victims of domestic abuse in particular - and the PCCs role in local provision of victims’ services. Democratic accountability is key, and government recognises the importance of the local priorities reflected in Police and Crime Plans. This approach must be based on data and evidence, and PCCs help to ensure this via their scrutiny role. Government, PCCs and others are ‘one team’ supporting policing and the CJS – the Home Secretary’s door is ‘always open’ and she encourages PCCs to raise issues and concerns with her. • The Home Secretary then highlighted some key crimes of concern. Anti-Social Behaviour – This is a big part of the Home Secretary’s postbag, as it is for PCCs, and as reflected in Police and Crime Plans; it blights lives and is often linked to drugs. Many PCCs are committed to putting more police patrols on the streets to reduce ASB, which she supports. It is also important to support community development and increase ‘pride in place’. Drugs – Drugs lie behind much crime and ASB. The Home Secretary said they were linked to half of homicides and acquisitive crimes. The government will come down hard on recreational drug use which fuels markets that exploit the vulnerable. The Home Secretary heralded ‘brilliant’ work on County Lines and the ‘whole systems’ work being developed via the government’s investment in Project Adder. VAWG – Violence against women and girls is a big priority, and PCCs will hear more about this in the months ahead, including the findings of the end-to-end rape review. We need to get to grips with digital/ technologically enabled abuse and to take a tougher approach on sentencing. • As PCCs develop their Police and Crime Plans they will be thinking about how to deliver on these priorities locally and the Home Secretary is keen to hear back on good practice and what’s working. On CT and SOC, the Home Secretary highlighted the impact of Operation Venetic. A CT Operations Centre will ensure forces are aware of threats and have the resources to deal with them. On the Police Uplift Programme (PUP) the Home Secretary highlighted the once in a generation opportunity to recruit future leaders from diverse backgrounds. • Finally, the Home Secretary highlighted the importance of working as a team across the policing family, with PCCs a key part of that team. She updated on the work on the PCC Review: Delivery of Part 1 is under APCC General Meeting (27.5.21) way and Part 2 will be launched shortly; the government looks forward to engaging with PCCs and the APCC on this. • There followed a Q and A session. Q & A: • Roger Hirst (Essex): Looked forward to continuing to deliver PUP and highlighted the importance of crime prevention and not just detection, with PCCs ideally placed to deliver on prevention locally. Response: The Home Secretary strongly supported the need for prevention and the importance of developing evidence-based practice. • Stephen Mold (Northamptonshire): Welcomed commitment on the CJS, while noting the impact of backlogs on victims and witnesses. Can the Home Secretary continue to raise this with the Attorney General/MoJ Ministers? Many PUP recruits are relatively young and inexperienced. Could the Home Secretary look at other pathways into policing other than the degree route to attract people with life experience? Response: The Home Secretary will continue to highlight issues with the CJS, recognising that backlogs corrode confidence and lead to victim attrition. Magistrates are working through cases and addressing backlogs. PCCs should look for opportunities to pull the regional CPS into discussion with policing early on; there is a lot of discussion of this challenge through the national Crime and Justice Taskforce, which is chaired by the PM. If there are issues locally, then she encouraged PCCs to also let the Home Office know so these could be picked up nationally, noting there is work to do to develop good data nationally, including on courts. The government has tasked the system to pull data and information together to provide an overview and pick out regional differences. On police officers, experience and life skills are important, and retention is important e.g. looking at changes in pension arrangements to keep people in the service. The College of Policing is being reviewed and the Home Secretary encouraged PCCs/the APCC to feed into this. The College needs to deliver for policing in the 21st century, with investment in the right professional pathways and career development. • Kim McGuinness (Northumberland): Anti-social behaviour is the number one priority for many communities, and there is a lot of frustration that police, local government, and others are not more joined up in their approach. Could the Home Secretary raise this with MHCLG Ministers, noting the potential role for PCCs given their convening powers? Response: The Home Secretary agreed that this was a problem, we need a system wide approach. It is frustrating for the public where they feel the local authority could do more to for example tidy up an area or address fly tipping and they do not understand why they do not work with the police to support that. • John Campion (West Mercia): Welcomed the Home Secretary’s priorities, and particularly the vision on VAWG, but noted the biggest killer in West Mercia is the roads. How would this be addressed? Response: Road traffic deaths should be picked up via the national policing priorities, for example where deaths are linked to dangerous driving; and with roads getting busier again it was important to raise awareness around preventing road deaths, including focussing on hotspots. • Katy Bourne (Sussex): Thanked the Home Secretary for the investment in VAWG, in Sussex a normal spend was £1.5 million a year but had spent £3.4 million this year – more than twice as much - and this was delivering huge benefits. Sussex is also working to encourage people to report business crime, it is important that it is understood that if the figures go up as a result that this is not because of an increase in offending. (See below for response) • Jeff Cuthbert (Gwent): Welcomed the emphasis on victims and VAWG, noting that in Wales the key partners were devolved, so it would be a different model. It is important that there was a commitment from both governments to work together to ensure equivalence of service and response in England and Wales. (See below for response) • Festus Akinbusoye (Bedfordshire): Highlighted the importance of a narrative on prevention and proactive and not just reactive policing, as this would reassure local residents. (See below for response) • Donna Jones (Hampshire): Highlighted the importance of prevention and the need to work with the DfE to prevent young people being drawn into crime in the first place, with drugs a key concern. (See below for response) Response to KB, JC, FA and DJ: The Home Secretary replied there would be more from the government on direction of travel on crime in the summer, including a commitment on communities and the importance of working together as one system to deliver safety for the public. Prevention must be at the heart of the approach and relying on the CJS is not sustainable – locking people up tends to create a vicious circle. We must bring together policing, the CJS, local government, social services and other partners and localise this approach.