The Chairman welcomed Members and officers to the meeting and invited officers to present the report.

The Blaby DC Strategic Director and the HBBC Community Services Manager spoke to the report highlighting successes, challenges and performance outcomes of the Joint Community Safety Partnership for 2017-18 the key ones being:-

·       Successes of work with children and young people

·       Increased reporting, awareness and profiling of hate crime

·       The partnership has a strong strategic and operational framework

·       Rural crime watch continues to grow with membership increasing

·       Listen to and action consultation findings

Consultation with young people is currently in progress and action outcomes will be reported next year to scrutiny. 

Members’ asked what specific actions had been taken to improve the 101 abandonment rate from 23% mid 2017 to 3.2% January 2018

Inspector Maxwell explained a sergeant now sits in the control room which has improved knowledge sharing and staff confidence.  Staff training has also helped improve staff retention. With the new digital platform 85% of 101 calls were answered even with reduced staffing levels due to the flu. 

The following suggestions were noted by the Neighbourhood Policing Area Commander, Inspector Emma Maxwell:-

·       Local community papers are a good tool for the Police to get information out to the community on local crime issues.

·       Make better use of social media to showcase 101 improvements and improve public image.

The Blaby District Council Community Safety Partnership Chairman,  Cllr Lee Breckon confirmed CSP funding was on track with funding streams released across all areas; in addition the CSP outputs wheel (parg. 5.3 page 9) demonstrated the work done alongside stakeholder comments.

Performance

Members noted that the 3 year trend for the majority of CSP performance measures was up and questioned the reliability of recording crime categories correctly. 

Inspector Maxwell confirmed crime category recording had been checked by Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) and had shown a realistic 8% increase.  Police crime figure reporting will in future provide a clearly distinction of crime i.e. house burglary, shed burglary which would provide a clearer picture of emerging crime. 

Concern was raised in relation to Police resource challenges and whether the Police force was safe going forward.  Inspector Maxwell acknowledged police numbers for Leicestershire were down by 500 and there was less funding but the precept would help increase capacity.  Overall, locality working across Hinckley & Bosworth and Blaby is strong and visibility is up with better information gathering and sharing.

Limited interaction with Parishes (15 minutes each quarter to attend Parish/Town Council meetings) was raised by Members as a weakness.  Inspector Maxwell said a monthly Police newsletter was circulated to local authorities, Parish/Town Councils.  In addition, Inspector Maxwell gave a commitment of herself and her officers to attend meetings.

The extent of and response to cyber crime and young people was referred to and officers confirmed all schools have designated safeguarding training as well as raising awareness with children and parents, a video of Kayleigh’s story being a recent example.  

Modern day slavery was identified by Inspector Maxwell as an area where more work would be done.

The Chairman thanked the CSP Blaby Chairman, Inspector Maxwell and officers  for the comprehensive update.