Attendance MINUTES OF THE POLICE AND CRIME COMMISSIONER S PERFORMANCE AND SCRUTINY GROUP WEDNESDAY, 9th MARCH 2016 POLICE MUTUAL, 20 CHAPEL STREET, LIVERPOOL at 2.00pm Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) Jane Kennedy - Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner (Chair) Sue Murphy - Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jo Liddy - Chief of Staff John Riley - Chief Finance Officer Eddie Smithwick - Research and Policy Merseyside Police Andrew Cooke - Deputy Chief Constable Nikki Holland - Assistant Chief Constable (Matrix Serious and Organised Crime) Ngaire Waine - T/Assistant Chief Constable (Operations, Criminal Justice and Call Handling) Rob Carden - T/Assistant Chief Constable (Collaboration) Geoff Broadhead - Director of Resources Nikki Boardman - Head of Corporate Support and Development Louise Kane - Corporate Support and Development (Corporate Analysis Manager) Paul Vautrinot - Corporate Support and Development (Secretary) Observers Andy Knapton - HMIC Staff Officer OPEN MINUTES (FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REFERS) 1. Minutes of the Last Meeting and Actions Tracker The minutes of the last meeting held on 18 th December 2015 were accepted as a true and accurate record. Members also considered written updates in respect of actions from the last meeting, which were noted. 2. HMIC Programme of Work Members considered the HMIC Programme of Work, principally the outcome of the PEEL Assessment 2015, a new method of annual inspections introduced last year for all Forces. Score categories comprised outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate. Merseyside Police scored good in all categories, except Serious and Organised Crime which scored outstanding. The Force was one of a very few not to receive any requires improvement scores and were the highest scoring overall of the Metropolitan Forces. The PCC congratulated the Force on the results of the inspection, particularly the Serious and Organised Crime category. PCC P&SG 9.3.16 Page 1 of 5
The Chief of Staff referred to a previous recommendation from the 2014 inspection in relation to effectiveness and the need to capture and share learning and good practice. Members were advised that this recommendation had been addressed by the creation and use of Iplans which formed part of the what works approach. The PCC referred to the Force s commendable overall assessment of good in respect of the way in which the Force engaged with the public, however the PCC asked what actions were being taken to ensure feedback from the community informed the Force s understanding of the views of communities at a strategic level. The PCC was informed that the Force was to review its methods of obtaining community feedback in the next 6-12 months including community forums and social media with a view to capturing a full range of views. The Force was also to review Home Watch schemes. The Chief Finance Officer drew attention to Sir Tom Winsor s Annual Assessment of Policing which claimed that on a national scale police forces had failed to learn from one another or adopted the practices of best performing forces. The Chief Finance Officer suggested that Merseyside Police s ongoing academic work in conjunction with LJMU and N8 Policing Research Partnership was an ideal opportunity to lead the way in identifying and sharing best practice and perhaps charge for the service. The Deputy Chief Constable indicated that the Force was developing an academic partnership to develop research capability aimed at embedding evidence based policing into public protection and crime prevention. The intention was to share research findings and avoid duplication of effort. There was no intention to introduce a charging regime as this could potentially discourage would-be participants from engaging in this work and sharing ideas. The Deputy PCC highlighted a previous HMIC recommendation in 2014 in relation to restorative justice and specifically to the need to ensure that case papers recorded that the views of victims had been sought. The Deputy PCC was advised that following a dip sample exercise of level 1 cases (low level) the Force was confident that victims were consulted and records endorsed accordingly. In short, the Force could amply demonstrate that the organisation operated a victim led approach. 3. Crime Data Integrity Members considered the latest crime data that showed levels of compliance with recording standards was generally high. A small number of incidents had been placed in the wrong category which mostly related to dog related incidents and had since been rectified. The crime data was noted. 4. Strategic Priorities Members considered the Force s strategic priorities and were advised of the reasons for amending the levels of strategic risks and priority map, which were noted. 5. Stop Search Members considered the latest stop search statistics, including stop search by volume, by age and gender, ethnicity, outcomes, number of arrests as a result of stop search and data quality. The PCC, Deputy PCC, Chief Finance Officer and Chief of Staff all queried certain aspects of the stop search statistics. PCC P&SG 9.3.16 Page 2 of 5
Members were informed that the average number of stop searches had reduced partly as a result of the way in which the Force executed operations; several years ago Big Wing operations had taken place which resulted in a large number of stop searches in a short space of time but cessation of these large scale operations had resulted in fewer stop searches overall. In addition, the Force had adopted the concept of evidence based policing where stop searches were undertaken only when intelligence and professional judgement led officers to perform a stop search, and there were now fewer officers available to undertake stop searches. Finally Home Office guidance was unclear and bureaucratic which could discourage officers from undertaking stop searches. An app was being developed for Niche which would simplify recording practices. It was emphasised that in the right circumstances stop search continued to be an effective policing tool and the Force received few complaints about its use. The PCC indicated that there was anecdotal evidence to suggest that members of the public who had been subject to a stop search including young persons recognised the need for this police tactic. It was acknowledged that in a relatively small number of cases (13%) the age and/or ethnicity of the individual searched had not been recorded. Members were informed that this omission was due to an issue with Niche and work was ongoing to resolve this matter. In addition, champions had been nominated in BCUs to reinforce the need to record all data required. 6. Custody Data Members considered slides on custody including average detention times, use of police custody as a place of safety (mental health) and youth accommodation. It was noted that in future the Force would consider separating the category of adults average hours detained into vulnerable and nonvulnerable adults average hours detained. It was also agreed that the Force would consider introducing a system of calling an appropriate adult for vulnerable adults in custody, which should reduce time spent in custody. The PCC was to be updated on progress in this regard. T/ACC Waine 7. Force Alert Summary Members considered charts and statistics in respect of Force alerts including violence against the person, sexual offences, stealing, domestic abuse and hate crime. The PCC drew attention to the charts showing what appeared to be a significant increase in violence against the person and recommended that the Force find a way of presenting these statistics which provided a clear illustration and/or explanation for this increase which, in essence, was due to more rigorous crime recording, not a real increase in violence. In relation to the rape crime trends and analysis XMR chart the Deputy PCC noted that the rolling average figure for both rape and other sexual offences from November 2014 to December 2015 was flat. The Deputy PCC was advised that 69% of offences had occurred within a relatively short period (April and December 2015) and it was envisaged that the rolling average would reduce in due course. The PCC also noted that in 2013/14 the number of sexual offences saw a significant increase and had remained at this level ever since. The PCC was informed that changes to crime recording rules had resulted in large increases in recorded crime and would continue to do so. In addition, the category of other sexual offences comprised a large number of offences and a small increase in any of these offences resulted in consistently high overall figures. PCC P&SG 9.3.16 Page 3 of 5
The Chief Finance Officer highlighted the apparent rapid increase in burglary dwelling offences in November 2015. The Force acknowledged the significant increase which could be attributed primarily to car key burglaries. The winter period often resulted in an increase in the number of burglaries. Consequently, an operation had been put in place and a Lead Responsible Officer appointed to tackle this issue. The Deputy PCC noted that the figures for UTMV/TOMV were rising whilst vehicle interference was falling and was informed that the increase in UTMV/TOMV was a real increase due to offences around scrambler bikes and not to an increase in crime recording. The Deputy PCC was assured that Basic Command Units had plans in place to tackle these offences. It was noted that the PCC had also instigated an initiative to tackle this issue. In response to a PCC query in relation to domestic abuse statistics which had seen a steep increase Members were advised that this was due to more rigorous recording of offences, for example figures for stalking had recently increased from 3 to 146. It was envisaged that figures should plateau in the near future. In response to a query from the Chief Finance Officer in relation to the rather erratic nature of hate crime reporting members were advised that this was due to the proactive steps being taken around the night-time economy. 8. Key Risk Areas ACC Holland delivered a presentation on key risk areas comprising child exploitation, child sexual exploitation, cyber-crime, human trafficking, honour based violence, and the drugs market. It was agreed that the PCC be provided with a briefing on the new structure of the Strategic Safeguarding Board and ongoing negotiations between relevant parties. T/ACC Waine/ ACC Holland 9. Organisational Risks Members considered an update on current organisational risks including national threats. In relation to the recent public disorder in Liverpool City Centre the PCC asked that the Force consider naming and shaming those responsible. ACC Holland 10. ANY OTHER BUSINESS No items were raised. 11. DATE OF NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the PCC Performance and Scrutiny Group will take place on Monday 6 th June 2016 at Police Mutual, 20 Chapel Street, Liverpool 3, commencing at 2.30pm. PCC P&SG 9.3.16 Page 4 of 5
Abbreviation/ Acronym BCU HMIC LJMU PCC PEEL T TOMV UTMV XMR Definition Basic Command Unit Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary Liverpool John Moore s University Police and Crime Commissioner Police Efficiency, Effectiveness and Legitimacy Temporary Theft of Motor Vehicle Unauthorised Taking of Motor Vehicle Mean, Moving, Range PCC P&SG 9.3.16 Page 5 of 5