1.         to receive an update on local policing matters in Torbay including current crime statistics; and

2.         to receive and update on how the Police Community Support Officers are working with the Council and the community.

(Note:  Brent Davison, Superintendent Local Policing and Partnerships, Devon and Cornwall Police has been invited to attend the meeting for this item.)

Superintendent Brent Davison, Devon and Cornwall Police, gave the submitted presentation on local policing matters in Torbay, provided the context surrounding the statistics and responded to questions in relation to:

·                levels of vehicle crime following a previous waive in part of Torquay – this had remained fairly consistent at around 17.4%;

·                increase in the number of racial hate crimes by 17.9% and what action was being taken to address this – a number of strategies had been introduced including a local reference group for the wider Devon area, whose purpose was to engage and gain understanding from communities of the issues and to encourage increased reporting to enable the Police to address the issues with communities.  There had been an increase in dedicated Police Officers from one to two, with a new Sergeant being appointed to be in post from September 2021 to help drive forward activity around hate crime;

·                numbers of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Torbay and what had being done to fill any vacant posts – a Force-wide decision had been taken to reduce the number of PCSOs to 150 and as this target had not yet been met they were unable to recruit into vacant posts. Whilst it was important to have visible policing on the street there was also a lot of other types of crime which need to be addressed such as cyber-crime, domestic abuse etc.  PCSOs were members of police staff who were contracted to work from a particular police station and it was difficult to move them from one area to another.  Torquay had 8.5 out of 9.5 PCSOs and Brixham had 6.5 out of 7.2 PCSOs.  The police did have access to a wider team of police officers who responded to emergencies;

·                anti-social behaviour around the streets off of Paignton seafront, which formed part of the tourism area and contained a high number of houses of multiple occupation which was not always being fully reported – members were encouraged to report incidents and link in with the Council Advocates who worked closely with the sector Inspectors to bring forward intelligence which in turn helped to allocate appropriate resources to tackle incidents;

·                issues around domestic violence and preventative and investigative work – the Police continued to engage in preventative and intelligence led work with partners and Superintendent Davison was now Chair of the Youth Offending Team Management Board.  Where major crimes occurred the police could call on other resources such as the Force Major Incident Teams and Public Protection Unit;

·                work with action fraud to help local residents who had been victims of fraud and how much money had been taken from our residents – Superintendent Davison agreed to provide a written response to this point; and

·                what more could be done by the Police and Council to encourage residents to report incidents – Superintendent Davison agreed to follow this up with Tara Harris, Assistant Director of Community and Customer Services.

Resolved:

That the Overview and Scrutiny Board explores the opportunity with the Police to carry out a joint communications exercise with the Police and Council to encourage residents to report incidents of antisocial behaviour (unanimous).