Agenda and minutes

Consider Minute of Meeting held on 10 June 2022. (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of the Minute of the Meeting held on 10 June 2022 2022. 

DECISION

APPROVED the Minute

(i) Update on Service and Operational Matters.

(ii) Performance Report. (Copy attached.)

(iii) Local Policing Plan Survey

Your Police 2022-2023 - Police Scotland - Citizen Space

Superintendent Vincent Fisher

2.1       There had been circulated copies of a report by Police Scotland with the agenda.  The Chair explained that whilst there was a level of crime present in the Scottish Borders, the region on a whole was a safe place to live.  Domestic violence continued to be an area of concern for the Board, and the Chair expressed that whilst domestic violence rates appeared to be increasing, that rise could be attributed to much higher levels of reporting than there had been historically.  The Chair placed on record her thanks to the Fire Service for their quick response to the fire at the swimming pool in Peebles, and welcomed Chief Inspector Vincent Fisher to present the Police Scotland report. 

2.2       Chief Inspector Vincent Fisher explained that Detective Inspector Ben Leathes was present at the meeting, highlighted that he had extensive experience, and was actively working on managing domestic abuse incidents.  A link to the Local Police Plan survey had been circulated with the agenda, and the Chief Inspector thanked those who had taken part in that survey.  The events calendar in the Scottish Borders had been busy with the return of common ridings and other related events.  Whilst there had been increases and decreases in crime rates, the Chief Inspector stressed that those rates did not necessarily reflect a rise or fall in the number of crimes which had occurred.  

2.3       Chief Inspector Fisher invited Detective Inspector Leathes to provide insight into work ongoing related to domestic abuse.  DI Leathes explained that he was responsible for the management of domestic abuse incidents, and explained the pathway that investigations followed.  From the initial reporting of the incident, Police Scotland would attend and seek to determine whether a crime had occurred.  There would be a risk assessment by a police risk assessor, which would allow historical or past abuse to be correctly explored and risk assessed.  The risk assessment officer would then make an assessment of the safety plan and consider referrals.  If the incident involved sexual offences, officers would form contact with the victim and over a number of weeks seek to progress the investigation.  Risk assessment officers would determine if the incident had met the required threshold of severity to merit a referral to the MARAC process, a co-ordination group which worked across the Scottish Borders to investigate high end cases of abuse, such as where there had been multiple and repeated incidents.  The Partnership would examine all of the available information on the victim, the family of the victim, and the perpetrator, and a safety net which would provide support to them would be planned.  A process was in place for instances where the perpetrator had been determined high risk, which would involve high level research and cross county investigations.  DI Leathes explained that the Domestic Abuse Disclosure Scheme, which was proactive in nature, and through which any party could raise concerns about a relationship, was also active.  A request could be made via the Force website, which would  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

(i) Update on Service and Operation Matters

(ii) Performance Report. (Copy attached.)

(iii) Local Plan Performance Report. (Copy attached.)

(iv) Prevention & Protection Activities, Quarter 1. (Copy attached.)

LSO Hilary Sangster

3.1         There had been circulated copies of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service performance report 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2022. Area Commander Hilary Sangster was joined by Group Commander Keith Langley, and Group Commander David Girrity.  The Strategic Plan was proceeding for approval, and would initiate the local fire plan. 

3.2         Group Commander Keith Langley presented the report and provided context to the key figures contained within.  Mr Langley explained that the region was served by 13 on call stations and two whole time stations.  The majority of the regions firefighters within the Borders worked within the on call duty system, who worked to protect their local and surrounding communities.  A local recruitment team had been created, and had focused efforts on areas which were most in need.  Recruitment and retention of on call firefighters remained a huge challenge, but was being managed in an effective manner on a local basis. 

3.3         Group Commander Keith Langley presented the report and provided context to the key figures contained within. SFRS had responded to 413 incidents in the Scottish Borders during the reporting period. This included 18 accidental dwelling fires, 49 accidental fires and 82 special service incidents. This was an increase of 48 incidents compared to the same period last year although it had to be borne in mind the pandemic and lockdowns had affected reporting figures. False alarms accounted for 56% emergency calls. The change to UFAS response, planned for April 2023, was expected to drive down the number of false alarm that crews attended and create time and opportunity for more training and community safety initiatives.  SFRS measured how well its priorities were met using 6 key indicators: all deliberate primary fires; all fire casualties; all deliberate fires excluding dwellings; special service: road traffic collisions; special service casualties - all; and false alarms. The report indicated that all deliberate primary fires and road traffic collisions were rated as red on the Red, Amber, Green rating scale.  Fire casualties and special service casualties were rated as green.  False alarms had been rated as yellow. Group Commander Langley highlighted that whilst those statistics appeared to be negative, the overall situation when compared to nationwide statistics ranged from good to average.  Regarding dwelling fires, which had increased to 18 compared to 15 to the same period last year, work was ongoing to educate the public regarding fire safety within the home.  Cooking appliances had accounted for 7 of the dwelling fires.  11 of the 18 premises had a working fire alarm, and a single point of detection alarm was offered to those who did not have one.  Scottish Fire and Rescue Service had attended 14 Road Traffic Collisions (RTC) in the reporting period, which was up from 7 in the corresponding reporting period in the previous year.  The volume of traffic had increased compared to the corresponding period in the previous year as a result of lessened restrictions resulting from Covid-19.   Regarding unwanted fire alarms, Group Commander Langley  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Consider Report by Safer Communities and Community Justice Manager. (Copy attached).

4.1       There had been circulated copies of a Report by the Safer Communities and Community Justice Manager.  The Group Manager – Safer Communities & Homelessness, Mr Graham Jones, highlighted that the Safer Communities Team was relocating from Scottish Borders Council Headquarters to Langlee.  The relocation was expected to allow for more integration of the team.  The process of procurement for new CCTV systems continued to be progressed, with costings received, and a preferred supplier identified.   A number of the SCT team had been involved in assisting Ukrainian refugees. 

4.2       Mr Jones presented the report and provided some insight into the key highlights.  In quarter 1 2022/23 there had been a decrease in group 1-5 crime of 7.7% compared to 2021/22 for the same period.  That represented 77 fewer victims, and was a positive start to the year.  There had been a 21.8% decrease in the number of antisocial behaviour incidents in quarter 1 2022/23 compared to 2021/22.   There had been a 38.2% decrease in the number of people monitored for antisocial behaviour in quarter 1 of 2022/23.  The number of early interventions undertaken by Anti-Social Behaviour partners increased by 9.3% compared to 2021/22, which was positive news for the service.   The new mediation service was in place and performance reporting had commenced from quarter 1 of 2022/233.  Early signs were positive, and data gathering for the service would be used to establish a performance baseline from which targets could be set for 2023/24 onwards.   All ASB officers had been trained and accredited in mediation, system development for a new database to support the work of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit was making progress, and the ASB website had been updated.   Mr Jones stressed that it was important not to look at the data in isolation, as a number of aspects were interdependent

DECISION

AGREED to note the update.

The next meeting will be held on 9 December 2022.

The next meeting was scheduled for 9 December 2022.  The Chair expressed their hope that more attendees would be present in the Chamber at future meetings.