Venue: Council Chamber, Runnymede Civic Centre, Addlestone

Contact: Mr Andrew Finch 

Items
No. Item

126.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 130 KB

To confirm and sign, as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 31 March 2022 (Appendix ‘A’).

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 31 March 2022 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

127.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from cllrs S. Lewis and N. Prescot.

128.

Declarations of Interest

Members are invited to declare any disclosable pecuniary interests or other registrable and non-registrable interests in items on the agenda.

 

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made.

129.

Runnymede Policing Update pdf icon PDF 181 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Borough Commander begun his presentation by providing the following updates on actions from the previous meeting:

·       The police had been closely with the Council’s Licensing Team to cascade advice against frauds and scams to off-licenses, and where appropriate issuing advice direct.  An article in an upcoming Runnymede Talks publication would also cover the issue.

·       Capacity issues prevented the police from commenting on all closed local Facebook groups, however it remained possible for the Runnymede Beat’s posts to be shared within those groups.

·       Solved outcome rates for serious sexual assaults within the borough was 4.7%.

·       Councillors agreed that serious sexual assault offences within the Borough would be included within the stats of the next meeting on a trial basis.

 

The Borough Commander reminded the Committee of the policing priorities for Runnymede, which had been produced upon his arrival in April 2021 following discussions with residents.

·     Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour

·     Violence against women and girls

·     Disrupting County Lines

·     Preventing Burglaries

·     Road Safety

 

Following a series of public meetings and analysis of crime trends, the Borough Commander was considering replacing Disrupting County Lines with Fraud and Scams as a priority for the coming year.

 

For total crime across the borough, Runnymede had seen a 6.4% increase against an increase of 4.8% county-wide, whilst solved outcomes was 12.8% compared to 11% across the county.

 

In response to Member concerns about overall trends on the increase, it was noted that some of the data was being compared to Covid times, and fluctuations meant that the past 28 days had seen an overall decrease.

 

The increase in serious sexual assaults could also be in part attributed to lockdown, and whilst any reports remained concerning it was at least considered a positive that victims were reporting it.

 

Committee noted that whilst not yet fully staffed, a new team under Operation Vanguard had been introduced to proactively patrol roads to reduce the ‘Fatal 5’, the leading contributors to road traffic collisions:

·       Inappropriate speed

·       Not wearing a seatbelt

·       Driving under the influence of drink or drugs

·       Distracted driving, such as using a mobile phone behind the wheel

·       Careless driving

 

The team would be proactive, and have spotters on the road looking for offences and making a colleague aware further down the road to activate a stop.  The Borough Commander felt that careless driving was the most common driving offence.

 

It was admitted that there was perceived blurred lines around enforcing parking offices, with the Council responsible for enforcing parking on double yellow lines.  The Borough Commander invited Councillors to notify him if in doubt and an assessment would be made balanced up against availability of resources.

 

Furthermore, abandoned vehicles would be dealt with by the Council unless causing an obstruction or stolen, whilst driveway or pavement obstructions would be dealt with by the police. 

 

Whilst there had been a reduction in fraud, the figure did not include attempted fraud, which it was felt was under-reported.  The Borough Commander made Councillors aware of True Call Installation, which was applied to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 129.