Rushmoor Borough Council Joint Crime and Disorder Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Basingstoke/Hart/Rushmoor) Meeting

Councillor Keith Dibble, Rushmoor Borough Council, was appointed Chairman for the meeting.

Apologies for absence were submitted on behalf of Cllr Laura Edwards (BDBC), Jessica Berry (Basingstoke Integrated Care), Probation Services, Kirsty Jenkins (HDC) and Liz Fisher (Frimley Integrated Care).

There were no declarations of interest for the meeting.

There were no urgent matters raised at the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on 29th June 2022, hosted by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, were agreed as a correct record.

The reports circulated to the Committee, presented an overview of the performance of the Strategic Safer North Hampshire Community Safety Partnership for 2022/23. The Committee, were asked to review performance and summarise the findings and recommendations at their own Overview and Scrutiny Committees.

Councillor Maurice Sheehan (RBC), Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership (CSP), introduced the Chairman’s Report. The Report provided details on the overview and trends during the year. It was advised that, due to the pandemic, data had been compared to both the previous year and 2019/20, pre pandemic data. Data showed that there had been a 7% increase in recorded crimes during 2022/23, a 4% rise on pre pandemic figures. A number of crimes had however, shown a decrease, these included residential burglary, hate crime, domestic crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Report also set out the CSP’s achievements throughout the year, and identified a number of areas for improvement moving forward, including the enhancement of Elected Member knowledge and understanding of the CSP and better accountability through attendance, actions and tasking. The positive appetite for partnership working was also noted, however it was important to understand that the pressure on resources were significant and a better understanding of the impacts of this was required.

During discussions, in particular in relation to crime data, it was noted that some residents were less likely to report crimes due to inefficiencies with reporting methods such as long wait times on 101 and delayed response times with online reporting methods. The Committee were assured that the police were looking into this issue.

With regards to police numbers, it was reported that the police were in the process of recruiting and training 650 new officers in the Hampshire area. However, it was felt that it would take around 12 months to see the impact of this intake of serving police officers on the streets.

The Committee reviewed the Joint Action Plan, in which the four key priorities were set out, as below: 

·         Improving Feelings of Safety and Health Outcomes in the CSP area

Areas of discussion included:

o   Multi Agency Risk Management Meetings (MARM) – at which the person at the centre of the matter was invited to participate in the meeting with partners

o   Police presence  - the perception of police visibility making the community feel safe

o   Engagement with communities - in particular hard to reach communities

o   Street Safe – initiative which allows people who feel vulnerable in particular places to report this to partners for potential action

o   Borough wide engagement events – Community Safety Teams attended events hosted by their Councils and other community groups, based in their areas, to share community safety messages

·         Serious Violence

The Committee discussed the priority and were apprised of the following:

o   Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), these units formed part of the Home Office’s targeted approach to serious violence. A VRU was a multi-agency delivery body established in areas most affected by serious violence. Each VRU brought together essential partners to reduce local violent crime and address the underlying causes. The local VRU attended CSP meetings and vice versa.

o   Data showed a reduction in most serious crime of 9% and in knife crime of 11% in the Hampshire area.

o   Stay Safe – a secondary school aged initiative to raise awareness around Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), Knife Crime, Domestic Abuse and the impacts of Antisocial Behaviour (ASB).

·         Domestic Abuse

The Committee discussed the priority and noted the following:

o   The importance of sharing best practice, training and awareness raising across Domestic Abuse Forums

o   Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) Safe and Well Visits -  referral based initiative which covered fire safety, crime, health and safeguarding issues

o   Military Community – it was noted that cases of domestic abuse, within the military community, were broadly aligned with those in the civilian community. However, cultural differences were evident especially in cultures where these issues were more accepted. It was advised that in most cases, the soldier, as the critical asset, would be prioritised over their partner, but that this was being addressed to have a more victim centric focus, regardless of gender.

·         Antisocial Behaviour

The Committee discussed the priority and the following key points were noted:

o   How was Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) defined and how was this communicated? – the perception of what constituted ASB varied greatly and the CSP aimed to reiterate the message widely and tackle issues accordingly

o   Tolerance levels – It was noted that tolerance levels in general had dropped considerably since the pandemic. Community engagement and learning had been key to addressing this issue

o   Car meets – It was noted that this had been a big issue across Hampshire and through working with the police, activity in this area had reduced locally. The Committee noted that the HFRS previously offered a “Safe Drive Stay Alive” theatre production, with a hard hitting message of how irresponsible/dangerous driving could impact on individuals, families and friends.

o   Young People – It was advised that best practice was to engage early with young people showing signs of ASB to educate and raise awareness. School engagement helped, and it was noted that the Bareface Theatre offered interactive workshops that addressed issues such as healthy relationships, exploitation and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). It was important for young people to understand ASB and its impact on people and to also understand that they should be able to go out and not be victims of ASB themselves.

The Committee ENDORSED the work of the Safer North Hampshire Community Safety Partnership for 2022/23 in relation to the discharge of its statutory functions.

Also Present: