Agenda item

Divisional Commander (DC) Chief Supt. Gill Imery.  (Copy attached.)

3.1     There had been circulated copies of the Police Progress report covering the period October to December 2014.  The report detailed the figures for the six Priority areas to date and compared them to the figures for the same period in 2013/14.  Chief Inspector McLean highlighted key areas of the report and noted that there had been a reduction of 5.8% in the detection rate for Groups 1 – 5 crimes.  He went on to detail the figures in the context of the report and noted that Adults at Risk referrals made to partner agencies had increased by 21.3%, from 989 to 1,200 compared to the same period in 2013/14.  The number of Domestic Abuse initial checks that had been conducted within 24 hours had increased by 0.9%.  Chief Inspector McLean also advised Members that the number of common assaults compared to the previous year had decreased by 17.6% and that this trend was mirrored across crimes of violence as a whole in the Scottish Borders, equating to 118 fewer victims in the area compared to the previous year.  The report noted that there had been an increase of 2.9 % in the number of Antisocial Behaviour incidents.  Chief Inspector McLean reported that there had been a welcome decrease of 26.3% in the reporting of hate crime compared to the same period in 2013/14.  The report detailed the trends in relation to the type of prejudice and noted that incidents for Race crime had reduced from 38 to 29, Homophobic had decreased from 12 to 9, and there had been 1 report of Transgender crime and a reduction of 1 in respect of Disability.  There had been a decrease of 1 incident of Religious Hatred compared to the same reporting period last year.  In relation to Stop and Searches for drugs, the report noted an increase of 6.5% in the proportion of positive searches.  It was noted that visits to Licensed Premises had reduced by 32% this year to date and this was mainly attributed to the focus of activity in this area in the previous year.  It was encouraging that the figures in relation to making our roads safer had decreased.  There had been a reduction in the number of people seriously injured from 61 to 55 and the number of people killed in road traffic incidents had decreased by 4.6%.   The report noted that no children had been killed or seriously injured and this was extremely encouraging.  Members noted that there had been an increase in the number of people detected for drug supply over the same period in 2014/15.  The report identified an increase of £1,210,354 in the amount of Assets referred for Restraint.  Both housebreakings to dwelling houses and thefts of motor vehicles had decreased by 2.8% (5 fewer victims) and 28.4% (19 fewer victims) respectively. 

3.2.      Discussion took place in relation to the hate crime category and a request was made for this to be broken down for age to provide statistics against older people and Chief Inspector McLean undertook to look at this together with a request for more publicity in relation to policing events.    It was noted the Fire and Rescue report showed a considerable increase in road traffic but this was not reflected in the figures in the Police report.  It was explained that this was because there was a change in protocol in that all three services (including the Ambulance service) were now called at the same time to road traffic incidents.    Members discussed SB Alert which was a free service supplied by Scottish Borders Council, Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and NHS Borders to enable up-to-date information to be shared relating to emergencies and crime prevention advice to individuals and organisations within communities across the Scottish Borders and it was agreed that a flyer giving information on the service be emailed to all members of the Board.

DECISION

(a)     NOTED the report.

(b)    AGREED that:

(i)     Chief Inspector McLean would investigate the request to provide  statistics in relation to older people in the  age hate crime category and giving more  publicity regarding  policing events; and

(ii)    a copy of the flyer relating to SB Alert be issued to Members.