Scottish Borders Council

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Newtown At Boswells

Contact: Judith Turnbull Tel No. 01835 826556  Email:  judith.turnbull@scotborders.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.

Minute pdf icon PDF 89 KB

Consider Minute of meeting helf on 30 August 2019.  (Copy attached).

Minutes:

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the meeting held on 30 August 2019.

 

DECISION

APPROVED the Minute.

3.

Matters Arising from the Minute

Minutes:

With reference to paragraph 4.12(b) of the Minute, the Chair welcomed Chief Inspector Jocelyn O’Connor who was in attendance to provide a presentation on Police Scotland’s Contact Assessment Model (CAM) project.

 

3.2       With reference to paragraph 6(b) of the Minute, the Council’s Senior Policy Advisor, had followed up the missing ‘No Swimming’ signage with Neighbourhood Services.

 

DECISION

NOTED.

 

4.

Progress Reports Updates on Service Matters pdf icon PDF 228 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Chief Superintendent McKenzie began his report by advising that the Contact Assessment Model (CAM) project would be introduced in Lothian and Scottish Borders by March 2020.   He anticipated that CAM would improve service delivery for officers to deal with issues and incidents.  Chief Superintendent McKenzie then referred to the new mobile working project, advising that the Scottish Borders officers were in the process of completing their training and devices will be seen live on the streets of the Scottish Borders in the coming weeks, with full deployment scheduled by February 2020.  The device will allow officers to be visible within the community by allowing them to complete administration and reporting tasks without returning to the police station.  An introduction to mobile working would be presented to the next meeting of the Board. Chief Superintendent McKenzie continued, that with regard to planning for Brexit, the force reserve would remain in place into 2020 and further update on this subject would be provided at the Q3 meeting.   With regard to the Community Action Team, he thanked the Council for their continuing support and advised that two additional CAT officers would be in place by December 2019.  

           

4.2       Chief Inspector Stuart Reid then presented Police Scotland’s Scrutiny Report for Q2 - April 2019 to September 2019 compared to the same reporting period the previous year.  Copies of the report had been circulated with the Agenda.   He began by advising that there had been an increase of 15.3%, 1930 in total crimes recorded during the period.

 

4.3       Protecting People (Q2 2018/19 figures shown in brackets)

There had been a decrease in missing person incidents to 332 (350).   This remained an area that Police Scotland committed resources to on a daily basis.  In relation to missing persons associated with Looked after Children, a local protocol had been implemented with the aim of securing improved outcomes for children. 

 

 4.4      There had been an increase of 57% in Racially Aggravated Conduct to 11(7).   The detection rate was 72.2%.  There had been an increase in Sexual Crimes of 48.7% to 116 (78) which was one of largest increases.  Reports of rape had also increased by seven. Chief Inspector Reid explained that although rape and sexual crime remained under reported, through work with partners, victims were gaining confidence to report these crimes.    

 

 4.5      Domestic Abuse incidents had also increased to 575 (513) with the rate of detection also increasing by 79.6% (73.3%).   At the end of Q2, seven crimes under Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Scotland Act (coercive and controlling behaviour) had also been recorded.

 

4.6       Reducing Violence (Q2 2018/19 figures shown in brackets)

            There had been a decrease in Crimes of Violence to 45 (48).  However this should be considered alongside the context of Section 1 of the Domestic Abuse Act which accounted for seven crimes.   Within this group, serious assault had reduced to 21 (22); robbery from 10 (4) and Common Assault had increased to 410 (396).  Chief Inspector Reid highlighted that violent crime continued to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Contact Assessment Model Project

Presentation by Chief Inspector Jocelyn O’Connor.

Minutes:

Chief Inspector Jocelyn O’Connor was in attendance to give a presentation on the Contact Assessment Model Project.   Chief Inspector O’Connor began by advising that there were 3 million, 999 calls each year to Police Scotland. The Contact Assessment Model (CAM) was a new way of assessing calls, based on ‘THRIVE’ (Threat, Harm, Risk, Investigation, Vulnerability, Engagement).  She explained that every call was assessed individually to identify the appropriate level of response.  This might be immediate attendance; prompt attendance (within four hours); scheduled attendance (by phone or office visit, or attendance by caller); or non-attendance (the resolution team gives advice, DCR or remote investigation).   CAM moved away from the default call grading, empowering staff to make decisions based on facts and circumstances.   Chief Inspector O’Connor went on to advise that they were presently recruiting experienced police officers to the Resolution Team.    Chief Inspector O’Connor then referred to Dumfries and Galloway were CAM had already been introduced successfully.  During the first nine weeks, 36,000 incidents had been notified, 20% of which had been dispatched within five minutes with 15% managed by the new Resolution Team.    Chief Inspector O’Connor concluded the presentation by advising that staff would receive training and support to gain confidence in the new process.   There were also appropriate safety measures in place.    Chief Superintendent McKenzie added that he anticipated that J Division would be expected to provide resources to the Resolution Team.  The Chairman thanked Chief Inspector O’Connor for her attendance and informative presentation.

 

DECISION

NOTED the presentation.

 

MEMBERS

Councillor Robson and Mrs Simpson left during consideration of the above presentation.

 

 

6.

Date of Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled to be held on Friday, 7 February 2020.

Minutes:

The next meeting was scheduled to be held on Friday, 7 February 2019 at 9.30 am.

 

CONTACT US

Scottish Borders Council

Council Headquarters Newtown St. Boswells Melrose TD6 0SA

Tel: 0300 100 1800

Email:

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