Agenda item

4.1    Chief Superintendent Imery advised that the new Chief Constable had commenced work with Police Scotland in January and that he was already meeting teams across the country and he planned to visit  local areas at an  early stage  and arrangements would be made for him to meet Councillor Moffat, Chairman of the Police, Fire and Rescue and Safer Communities Board.   Police Scotland would continue to evolve toward the ethos of prevention and partnership working to ensure positive outcomes.  This was a move away from the transactional targets that Police Scotland had started with.    The ethos of crime prevention and partnership working had been the approach taken within the Scottish Borders for many years. Chief Superintendent Imery advised that the budget would be challenging for all and Members would have noted reports in the press about the budget gap in Police Scotland for 2015/16.    Significant efforts were being made to close the gap by the end of March 2016 and plans were underway for next year’s budget in collaboration with the Scottish Police Authority.    The public inquiry into historical child abuse was Government-led focussing on institutions.   This abuse went back decades and the inquiry would have particular demands on those involved.       For the first time violence was showing some increase in the Scottish Borders with more  serious and common assaults compared with the same period last year. This  increase was not as big as other parts of the Division.  On a positive note the solvency rate for serious assaults was 89.7%.  The Chairman referred to meetings of Duns Community Council when parking problems at the Market Square, Duns were often discussed, and it was agreed that  Chief Inspector McLean liaise with Councillor Renton and the Duns Community Council about parking issues.

4.2    Chief Inspector A. McLean presented the Police Progress report covering the period April 2015 to December 2015 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 2014/15.   In relation to Priority 1 – Protecting People figures showed an increase in the number of Adult at Risk Referrals made to partner agencies of 11% on 2014/15 figures, 100 more referrals were made, which was positive. Priority 2 – showed a 5.1% increase in Common Assaults reported TYTD compared to the same period last year.   This equated to 28 more victims compared to last year.    In respect of reducing the number of anti-social behaviour incidents there had been a 7.7% reduction (311 fewer incidents) in the year to date compared to the same time period last year.    With regards to increasing the reporting of hate crime,there had been a significant increase in the number of recorded victims of hate crime in the year to date and it was noted that this was largely due to the spike in offences occurring in Quarter 2.    Priority 3 Tackling substance misuse –  during the period 01/06/2015 to 03/01/2016, officers in the Scottish Borders conducted a total of 249 stop and searches, of which 57 proved positive (22.9%).  Unfortunately, owing to current reporting methods, a further breakdown of stop and search activity into individual categories was impossible; therefore the number of searches conducted under the Misuse of Drugs Act could not be reported.     An enhanced version of the National Stop & Search Database commenced on 1 June 2015.  The enhanced data base brought significant changes to the process of data capture and methodology for recoding data.  No previous year to date figures were provided because it had been previously acknowledged that this data was not 100% accurate, therefore comparisons would provide misleading results or invalid conclusions.   There had been a 21.8% decrease in the number of visits to licensed premises, which equated to 342 fewer visits.    Priority 4 – Making our roads safer – there had been a 1.6% reduction (1 fewer casualty) in the year to date.   The number of people killed this year to date was 6, which was 1 fewer fatality than the same period last year.   The number of serious injuries was unchanged compared to last year.  Priority 5 – Tackling serious and organised crime – cash seizures were currently lower than the value seized at the same point last year.    Priority 6 – Tackling Acquisitive Crime – there had been a decrease in the number of housebreaking to dwellings leading to 10 fewer victims of this type of crime in the year to date when compared with the same time period in 2014/15. There had been a 2.1% reduction in theft of motor vehicles in the year to date which equated to 1 fewer victim of this type of crime.

4.3    In discussing detection rates the Chairman suggested that Police Scotland issue a press release because this was a good news story.  In response the Chief Superintendent suggested that rather than the information coming from Police Scotland that the Board be encouraged to be advocates for Police Scotland and the Chairman agreed to issue an appropriate press release.    A request was made by the Chairman for the Board to be provided with a private report on an overview of work going on behind the scenes on Serious Organised Crime and the Chief Superintendent advised she would ask Detective Superintendent Pat Campbell to action this.

DECISION

         (a)           NOTED the report.

         (b)          AGREED that

                       (i)          Chief Inspector McLean liaise with Councillor Renton and Duns Community Council in relation to parking issues at the Market Square, Duns.

(ii)        the Chairman issue an appropriate Press Release relating to detection rates.

(iii)       a private paper on work going on behind the scenes on Serious Organised Crime would be presented by Police Scotland at future meetings.