Agenda item

7.1    Police Scotland

         Chief Superintendent Marshall thanked the Board for all the support the police had received; he referred to excellent partnership working during a difficult period.  He then went on to give an overview of the ongoing work on the national 2026 policing project – a 10 year strategy to achieve a sustainable operating model, during which there would be a programme of transformation.  In referring to the refreshment of local Police plans, he advised that to enable full integration discussions would take place with the SFRS.    Operation Jigsaw had seen certain individuals targeted on a day of action earlier in the week.

7.2    Inspector J. Scott presented the Police Progress report covering the period April 2016 to December 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 2015/16.

7.3    Priority 1 – Protecting People, the performance was better when compared to last year and also better than target.

7.4    Priority 2 – Reducing Violence, Disorder and Antisocial Behaviour, showed a 3.3% increase in Common Assaults reported in the year to date when compared to 2015/16.  This equated to 19 more victims.  This was an improving picture from the first quarter of 2016/17. There had been a 3.6% increase (134 more incidents) in the year to date when compared to the same time period in 2015/16.   There had been problems with youths in particular in Hawick and Galashiels in December and initiatives were in place to address these issues and a multi-agency approach was being pursued. There had been an 18.2% decrease in the number of recorded victims of Hate Crime in the year to date when compared to the same time period in 2015/16.

7.5    Priority 3 - Tackling substance misuse.  Officers in the Scottish Borders had conducted a total of 242 stop and searches of which 91 proved positive (37.6%).  There was a 45.6% decrease in the number of visits to licensed premises, which equated to 561 fewer visits.

7.6    Priority 4 - Making our Roads Safer, there had been a 6.3% increase (4 more casualties) in the year to date when compared to 2015/16.  The number of people killed this year to date was 10, which equated to 3 more fatalities than at the same time last year.   The number of serious injuries had also increased compared to last year in the same time period

7.7    Priority 5 - Tackling serious and organised crime.  Cash seizures were lower than the value seized in 2015/16. There had been a 17.5% decrease in the number of detections for drug supply in the year to date compared to the same time period in 2015/16.   

7.8    Priority 6 -Tackling Acquisitive Crime.   There had been a decrease (16) in the number of housebreaking to dwellings in the year to date.

7.9    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.   The gathering of young people in the Transport Exchange at Galashiels was not perceived as anti-social behaviour and there was a disproportionate fear of crime because of the press and television.  In regard to the behaviour of drivers, Chief Superintendent Marshall advised analysis 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 driver better.   In respect of bullying within Schools, Inspector Scott advised that Police Scotland worked hand in hand with school staff.  It was noted that following on from the publication of the Bailey Gwynne school death report that Superintendent Andy Clark had met with Education officers in the Scottish Borders Council.  At this meeting he  reinforced what matters schools could deal with and those which had to be referred to Police Scotland; the information would be cascaded to all schools.  

7.10  Members felt strongly that Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority must take action to deal with the funding gap in future years that was identified in Audit Scotland’s 2015/16 Audit of Scottish Policing Activity published in December 2016 and it was agreed that this comment be included in the response to the Scottish Policy Authority as discussed in paragraph 4.  

         DECISION:-

         (a)           NOTED the report; and

         (b)          AGREED the response to the Scottish Police  Authority as discussed in paragraph 4 above, should include the following comments:-   Members felt strongly that Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority must take action to deal with the funding gap in future years that was identified in Audit Scotland’s 2015/16 Audit of Scottish Policing Activity published in December 2016.