To hear any announcements the Commissioner may have for the Panel. This item will also see the Chief Constable in attendance.
Minutes:
The Chair invited announcements from the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire (hereafter referred to as ‘the Commissioner’), and noted that the Chief Constable was also in attendance in order to introduce herself to new Members, and to give a brief overview of where she saw Hampshire Constabulary as being and aiming a year into her role.
The state of policing currently was complex and fast moving, and the Chief Constable aimed to bring purpose and a focus on sincerity to the Force. The Chief Constable shared an internal document which would aid this intention, and dovetailed with the Police and Crime Plan.
The Constabulary needed to be alive to the fact that policing is changing fast, with a significant move of crime types from a public to a private space. For example, rape and sexual assault crimes had trebled in terms of reporting, with the ‘Jimmy Savile’ effect seeing more victims coming forward to report crimes who might not have done so previously. These changes in activity required the Force to have a moveable resource to respond to crime, particularly in relation to hidden crimes, such as those conducted online.
Lots of work was being undertaken in collaboration with regional colleagues, such as on counter terrorism and counter extremism, and the Chief Constable was extremely proud of the response of officers and staff in ensuring readiness for these events should they happen in the Hampshire region. Hampshire had sent officers to London and Manchester to work on the response to these events, in order to both contribute to, and learn from them. Through all of these events, two thirds of the response had been through local policing, and if this type of act was a new normality for the police to respond to, then this would have an impact on resources going forward.
Hampshire Constabulary now had six core areas of focus which sat alongside its purpose. These are:
· Tackling crime and offending
· Identifying and protecting those who need our help
· Track, assess, learn and improve
· The values in the code of ethics
· Looking after our people
· Building partnerships that enable a better public service
Specifically, the Chief Constable felt that the police provided a public service and had a key responsibility in preventing and responding to crime, but, in addition, she felt that there was a new responsibility for the police to identify who was likely to be vulnerable to crime and to help these individuals, e.g. victims of child sexual abuse and modern slavery. It was also key to the Chief Constable that the workforce was fit and well, and that as an organisation the Constabulary looked after the people who worked in it, especially given the traumatic or stressful events that some staff were exposed to.
In response to questions to the Chief Constable, the Panel heard:
· That terrorism-related events had brought into stark view what was already there. The Constabulary had well-rehearsed and thorough procedures in case of such events, but that wouldn’t make a response to such things easy. The model of police response to terrorism wasn’t sustainable if this became a regular occurrence, and the decision not to go ahead with the fairer funding formula would continue to have a negative impact on Hampshire in this regard.
· The police will always be there in an emergency, and will always investigate complex and serious crime. What's left is the choices around proactivity in terms of operational policing.
· Police morale is noticeably better, now that the structural changes in the Force had been fully embedded and a period of stability had been maintained. Health and wellbeing had also been a focus, ensuring that the workplace was a safe space for individuals and teams to talk about exposure to trauma.
· In terms of rape reporting increases, the Chief Constable was satisfied that the data did not suggest an increase in offending. In terms of prosecution rates for rape and sexual offenses, this is a shared responsibility with the Crown Prosecution Service. There had been a huge increase in sexual offence reporting, but a lot of them fell outside of the forensic evidence window given their historic nature, which had an impact on how strong the evidence is to go to court. In addition, all parties need to respect a victims’ wishes, as some do not want to go through the criminal justice system. The police may sometimes work with the Crown Prosecution Service to pursue a victimless charge if they feel that cases may be the result of a serial offender.
The Commissioner then spoke to his update, setting the context for the Panel in terms of recent events related to terrorism and fire safety, all of which impact on policing and emergency services. The Commissioner had been encouraging his team and the Chief Constable to question and learn from these events, and to be supportive and reassuring to the public. There were robust plans in place to respond to such events, which were fluid enough to adapt to national events, but it should be remembered that generally the public do live in a safe environment.
It would be increasingly important to be a part of the national debate, and to have a strong voice regionally and nationally. Partnership was the key to providing strong public services which met needs in a collaborative way, for example, through the ‘Frankie workers’ scheme, an advice service for people who had suffered child sexual abuse, which was funded through a partnership between policing, health and others.