Agenda item

5.1    Police Scotland

         Chief Superintendent Marshall thanked the Chairman for his remarks. He then went on to give an overview of the National and Divisional Police Scotland staff structure and how it linked to the local police structure. He mentioned that the police staff resources available locally could be provided to the Committee on a confidential basis as part of  a private briefing. The Chief Superintendent indicated that this would be his last meeting as he was moving to the post of President of the Association of Chief Superintendents.  He referred to the ongoing work on the National 2026 policing project – a 10 year strategy to achieve a sustainable operating model within the forecasted budget envelope. This strategy would result in a programme of transformation projects. He indicated that Assistant Chief Constable John Hawkins was leading on a transformation project on a ‘local approach to local policing’ which would recognise that policing in rural areas such as the Scottish Borders was different from the Central Belt of Scotland and that this project would look at resourcing challenges.  Work was also ongoing to develop a new performance framework which would focus on outcomes rather than processes. On current police issues he highlighted the importance of counter-terrorism and the importance of the Prevent initiative; the concerns about the drug ‘Fentanyll’ and how rapid people can get addicted to it and the resultant impact particularly in premature deaths;  the significant increased  incidence of local anti-social behaviour incidents particularly by young people and the need for a partnership approach to this issue with a focus on early intervention and prevention; the slight increases in housebreaking and theft of motor vehicles which are crimes the police take very seriously and these are now often linked; the success of local drugs raids linked to serious organised crime with Operation Jigsaw seeing certain individuals targeted on a day of action earlier in the week; and the local initiatives being based to improve driver safety of young and old drivers.

 5.2   In discussion the issue of the local distribution of drugs was highlighted and it was indicated that Police Scotland builds up intelligence of this issue linked to organised crime groups and to assist this process it was important that anyone with any information on drugs matters should report this to the police. Also given the geographical location of the Borders a lot of cross border work was carried out by the police. In relation to the local availability of police resources it was indicated a different resourcing model was being applied by Police Scotland than the previous regional structure which meant that specialist resources were now based nationally and could be applied across Scotland as the need arose such as the search helicopter.  On local police resources the transformation project on local policing previously mentioned could make a positive difference.  It was indicated that there would be merit in raising concerns about local police staffing nationally as this might strengthen the case for the deployment of more staff resources to local policing.  Following discussion on the anti-social behaviour Graham Jones agreed to organise a local conference to discuss this issue. It was also agreed that a member of the Scottish Police Authority should be invited to attend meetings of the Committee.     

5.3    Chief Inspector A. McLean presented the Police Progress report covering the period January 2017 to July 2017 which had been circulated. The report detailed the figures for the six Priority areas to date and compared them to the figures for the same period in 2016/17.

5.4    Priority 1 – Protecting People, the performance was on target as a result of close scrutiny by supervisors and daily tasking and coordinating process.  In terms of the increase of the number of Adult at Risk Referrals made to partner agencies, the first quarter of 2017/18 was showing a 20.6% decrease on 2016/17 figures.  All officers were now fully conversant with the iVPD system which had made submission of referrals much easier.  A re-assessment of the criteria for referrals meant that referrals were now only submitted when required, so the number had levelled out and was showing a decline.

5.5    Priority 2 – Reducing Violence, Disorder and Antisocial Behaviour, showed a 3% decrease in Common Assaults reported in the first quarter of 2017/18 when compared to 2016/17.  This equated to 6 fewer victims. There was an ongoing focused approach to address violence disorder and antisocial behaviour throughout J Division monitored on a weekly basis through Gold Performance structure and a robust plan for Friday and Saturday evenings.  In terms of antisocial behaviour incidents, there had been a 28.1% increase (347 more incidents) in the first quarter of 2017/18 when compared to the same time period in 2016/17.  Whilst the percentage increase appeared high a large number of these calls were a very low anti-social behaviour level.  Significant improvements to Police call handling and the 101 system had undoubtedly increased public confidence in contacting the Police.  There had been a rise in alcohol related youth ASB at larger scale events such as common ridings and rugby 7s.  There had been a decrease in the number of recorded victims of Hate Crime in the first quarter of 2017/18 compared to the same time period in 2016/17.  Race related hate crime continued to be the most frequent type of hate crime recorded and there had been 4 reported racial crimes and 3 reported racial incidents, however there were no repeat victims.

5.6    Priority 3 - Tackling substance misuse.  During the period 1 April – 30 June 2017, Officers in the Scottish Borders had conducted a total of 87 stop and searches of which 47 proved positive (54%).  There was an increase of 102% in the number of visits to licensed premises, which equated to 99 more visits.  Figures were significantly higher than last year; more licensed premises were being visited as a form of early intervention to try to deter patrons from becoming involved in violent crime and ASB.

5.7    Priority 4 - Making our Roads Safer, there had been a 46.4% decrease (13 fewer casualties) in the first quarter of 2017/18 when compared to 2016/17.  The number of people killed was 2, which was 5 fewer fatalities than for the first quarter last year.  The number of serious injuries had also decreased compared to last year in the same period; however accidents involving motorcyclists make up a significant proportion of the casualties (11).

5.8    Priority 5 - Tackling serious and organised crime.  Cash seizures were slightly higher than the value seized in the first quarter of 2016/17. There had been a small decrease in the number of detections for drug supply in the first quarter of 2017/18 when compared to the same time period in 2016/17.   

5.9    Priority 6 -Tackling Acquisitive Crime.   There had been an increase of 36.7% in the number of housebreaking to dwellings in the first quarter of 2017/18, with 18 more victims reported.  This tied into the 78.6% increase in theft of motor vehicles which equated to 11 more victims of this type of crime.  A high volume of housebreaking involved the theft of keys to steal high performance cars.  In terms of overall crime i.e., Crime Groups 1-5 there had been a 5.6% decrease in detection rates in 2016/17 compared to the same period last year and it was indicated that this detection rate for the Scottish Borders was still higher than the divisional detection rate. In relation to the number of complaints made against the police in the Scottish Borders for the year to date 2017/18 were much lower than Division as a whole and amounted to 23 in total.

5.10  During discussions regarding the statistics provided, Chief Superintendent Marshall reassured Members that Police Scotland in the Scottish Borders were highly performing compared with the rest of Scotland.   In regard to the behaviour of drivers, Chief Superintendent Marshall advised that the analysis of data indicated that most of the time accidents could be attributed to driver inattention and/or not driving according to conditions; accidents were very seldom due to mechanical errors.   Therefore it was important to educate and encourage people to drive better and the drivewise initiative for 17-25 yrs and over 65yrs had proved beneficial with 150 -160 participants signing up for the course.  The free advanced driver test reduced the cost of insurance and helped make participants more careful drivers.   

5.11  In referring to the refreshment of the Local Police plan, Chief Superintendent Marshall indicated that the draft local Police plan had been circulated to members of the Committee and he would be grateful for any comments by the consultation closing date which was on Friday 15 September 2017. The final draft Plan would be considered by full Scottish Borders Council for approval.  In terms of the draft Local Police Plan for the Scottish Borders, there appeared to be a lack of analysis of crime and anti-social behaviour trends etc. and there was a need for a follow through of this analysis into the justification of the police priorities.  There was also a need for information that clearly sets out the links between national and local police priorities. He indicated that he himself wanted to see changes in the Plan and that the written comments made by Douglas Scott would be given due consideration. In relation to linkages between the local Police Plan and Fire and Rescue Plans he advised that discussions would take place with the SFRS.   

         DECISION:-

         NOTED:-

(a)           the report;

(b)          that Graham Jones, Safer Communities and Community Justice Manager organise a local conference on Anti-Social Behaviour matters;

(c)          that a member of the Scottish Police Authority be invited to attend meetings of the Committee; and

(d)          The final draft local Police Plan to be submitted to a meeting of the Council following consideration by Police Scotland of the comments made in the consultation process.