Agenda item

(Copy attached.)

MEMBER

         Councillor Aitchison joined the meeting during discussion of the following item.

4.1    Police

         Divisional Commander (DC) Chief Supt. Ivor Marshall thanked Members for their welcome and explained he had been in his new post for 3 weeks and he was trying to get up to speed with Lothian and Scottish Borders Division.   He was committed to local policing and delighted to have been appointed.  He referred to the importance of partnership working where positive constructive collaborate arrangements were in place and he paid tribute to Chief Supt Imery in regard to this.   He considered the Boards priorities were correct and he assured Members that efforts in relation to serious organised crime were not diminished but he could not refer to those because of the confidentiality surrounding this matter   There had been good progress in relation to reducing rural housebreakings.  The new Chief Constable had undertaken to refresh and change performance framework. Previously targets were chased which missed the point of what policing was all about and important broader conversations would take place about prevention and intervention to reduce crimes.   He referred to budget challenges and advised that various meetings would be taking place to ensure Police Scotland kept on track towards a budget settlement.  

4.2    Discussions took place relating to race hate crime figures which had increased and it was noted that Police Scotland had worked with George Higgs to make it easier for people to report race hate crimes.  Reporting of hate crimes had increased because people now felt confident to report issues to the police.  Detection rates for hate crime in the Borders continue to be high.

4.3    Chief Inspector A. McLean presented the Police Progress report covering the period April 2015 to March 2016 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, 113 more referrals had been made, which was positive.    In relation to

Priority 1 – Protecting People performance was slightly worse compared to last year but 1.8% better than target. 

Priority 2 – showed a 7.7% increase in Common Assaults reported in 2015/16 compared to the same period last year.   This equated to 55 more victims compared with same period last year.   In respect of reducing the number of anti-social behaviour incidents there had been a 7.9% reduction (402 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 31/03/2016, officers in the Scottish Borders conducted a total of 322  stop and searches, of which 77 proved positive (23.9%).   

Priority 4 - Making our Roads Safer, there had been an 11.5% increase (8 more casualties) in 2015/16 when compare to 2014/15.  The number of people killed this year was 8, which was 1 more fatality than last year.  The number of serious injuries had also increased 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, this was because specific criteria which had  to be present to seize cash under POCA, simply not being there for officers to make seizures.  It was encouraging to see a 6.7% increase in the number of detections for drug supply, with 64 offences detected in 2015/16.    

Priority 6-Tackling Acquisitive Crime.   There had been a decrease in the number of housebreaking to dwellings leading to 29 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 12.9% reduction in theft of motor vehicles in the year to date which equated to 8 fewer victims of this type of crime.

         Concern was raised in relation to speeding on borders roads in particular the A7 and the A698, and the Chairman advised that any issues should be reported to Police Scotland.   Chief Inspector McLean advised that a safety campaign in regard to “making roads safer” would be in place in the next few months.   Road checks in relation to drink driving had taken place at various times during the day and night, the results of which were disappointing because of the high number of people who had been caught drinking and driving.

         It was noted that partner agencies shared information relating to anti-social behaviour and a request was made that Inspector Hodges circulate a flow chart on how this worked.  In discussing the lack of information regarding licensing of air rifles Members were advised that anyone with queries should in the first instance contact Police Scotland’s licensing department.   It was noted that the Court system had improved because rather than  Police Officers  having to attend Court until their case was called, Offices now received a phone call from the Court Service to alert them as to the time when a particular case would be heard.   In regard to the number of complaints per year a request was made for information on how many complaints were upheld and partially upheld and Chief Superintendent Marshall undertook to provide these statistics.

DECISION

(a)           NOTED the report.

(b)          AGREED that

(i)         Police Scotland would investigate the possibility of providing statistics to a future meeting in regard to the number of police complaints which were upheld and partially upheld;

(ii)        Inspector Hodges would provide a flow chart on the process partners used to share information on anti-social behaviour matters.