Agenda item

(i)            Update on Service and Operational Matters.

(ii)           Performance Report.  (Copy attached.)

Chief Superintendent John McKenzie

1.1         Chief Superintendent McKenzie announced that he was retiring after the Meeting. Superintendent Stephen Hazlett would be joining the division from COP26 planning.  The new Divisional Commander Catriona Paton was installed in November.

1.2         Chief Superintendent McKenzie presented the Quarter 2 Police Scotland Report.  Operations for COP26 took place over a three-week period towards the end of October 2021 and two weeks into November 2021.  This went well from, a policing perspective which Borders officers contributed to.  COP26 entailed two years of preparation for Police Scotland which ensured that normal service provision could continue.  Less than 100 people were arrested.  Lessons learnt included the value of mobile technicians to service vehicles.

1.3         A major incident was declared for the flood event in Hawick in October 2021.  The policing perspective was that a positive police response took place with 70 officers from four divisions attending to assist evacuation.  Police Scotland were undertaking a review to identify points of learning.

1.4         Chief Superintendent McKenzie advised that a year-to-year comparison was not useful due to the 2020 pandemic period.  Domestic abuse had been a priority for Borders operations and it had been noticed that there had been an increase in reporting of domestic abuse alongside an increase in detections.  There was nearly a 25% decrease in antisocial behaviour however, there were still areas of antisocial behaviour that required further attention.  Drugs supply, production and cultivation crime was down 15% however, this did not reflect the amount of drugs that had been recovered where one incident resulted in 1.2kg of cocaine being recovered.  Stephen Irvine, an officer in the Borders, had won national wildlife crime enforcement officer of the year in relation to rural crime activity and wildlife enforcement work.  Missing persons remained a challenge for policing where there had been a significant decrease in missing persons reports which had been attributed to work undertaken with NHS partners of Police Scotland.  The Herbert Protocol for adults living with dementia, the missing persons with autism protocol and missing looked after children were in effect.  Domestic abuse continued to increase with a 16.42% increase compared to the 5-year average of reported incidents.  The increase was attributed to a greater confidence in reporting incidents as domestic abuse had been considered an underreported crime.  Chief Superintendent McKenzie advised that there would be proactive policing on domestic abuse perpetrators throughout the year.  Hate crime figures were concerning with an increase in of 36 incidences in quarter two compared to the five-year average.  Chief Superintendent McKenzie stated that 15% of reported hate crimes referred to Police officers as victims.  Sexual crime had increased which might be attributed to confidence in reporting.  The Borders policing team had been undertaking operations to tackle organised crime with national support.  There was a 67% increase in violent crime which was linked to a number of areas including a 342% increase, or 17.8 crimes of threats and extortion known as “sextortion” which includes the threat of sharing sexual information, images or clips to extort money from people.  Antisocial Behaviour had reduced with concern remaining in Hawick, Peebles and Kelso where youth disorder had been a priority.  With regard to acquisitive crime, rural thefts were identified as a challenge and had been linked to organised crime.  Superintendent Hazlett advised that success in this activity would be reported in the next quarterly report.

1.5         In response to questions from Members, Mr Ayling and Chief Superintendent McKenzie advised that Police Scotland and NHS worked positively in cases involving vulnerable missing people.  Rural theft cases were treated as intelligence-led as the size of the area for Police Scotland to patrol in the Borders was challenging.  Chief Superintendent McKenzie emphasised that preventative measures should be undertaken to reduce rural crime.

2.6       The Chairman on behalf of the Board thanked Chief Superintendent McKenzie recorded their appreciation of his service to the Borders and wished him well in his retirement.

DECISION

AGREED to note the Report.