To confirm and sign, as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 6 October 2022 (Appendix A).

The Minutes of the meeting held on 6 October 2022 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Saise-Marshall.

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

No declarations of interest were received.

The Borough Commander begun by addressing the amended motion passed by full Council in October 2022 entitled Tackling discrimination against women, girls,

men and boy: Considering acts of misogyny and misandry a hate crime.

Many instances of discrimination centred around hate crime, and all reports of such nature go through a robust investigating procedure, with an Inspector periodically reviewing progress.

Assessment of wider problems to prevent hate crimes occurring also took place, with data utilised to study hot spot locations, and a partnership response provided where appropriate.  In the case of repeat offenders, work would be undertaken to try and understand the root cause.

To attempt to make sure the police were accessible to younger people, the Borough Commander advised that the police spoke to all year 6 ages groups across the borough to address matters such as public safety and community safety matters.

The Borough Commander felt that lots of hate crimes remained unreported, and asked Members to encourage residents to report them. 

The Borough Commander confirmed to a Member that steps had been taken by the police against individuals who had targeted elected representatives on social media, and encouraged Members to report any behaviour that crossed the criminal threshold.

In response to the crux of the motion about what steps could be taken at a local level, the Borough Commander felt that some elements involved national discourse, and legislation was currently going through parliament to help tackle street discrimination, but encouraged Members to get the message to residents that the kind of behaviour that drives hate crimes was not acceptable.

A Member noted that the process to improve road safety was often instigated due to a serious collision, but asked about a similar threshold being achieved for a more regular series of less serious collisions.  The Borough Commander stated that changes to roads was made through the Road Safety Partnership, which the police fed into.  Where appropriate the gap would attempt to be plugged by community speed watches or mobile speed enforcement.

The Committee chair encouraged Members to look at www.police.uk for a more granular detail of crime stats in the area.

A Member had encouraged local resident groups to produce a map of Ring doorbells in the local area.  The Borough Commander confirmed it would be helpful if this was replicated across the borough for time sensitive queries, but admitted there would always be the need for door-to-door enquiries.

In response to a possible desire for a PSPO in a particular area, the Borough Commander felt that PSPOs were a very useful tool for a particular type of antisocial behaviour, that was aimed at filling a gap in legislation or changing behaviours, however their powers were limited when it came to youth antisocial behaviour due to the inability to fine perpetrators or parents.

In response to speeding up the process for dealing with untaxed and abandoned vehicles, the Borough Commander advised that the police only deal with untaxed vehicles when in motion, and clarity would be sought  ...  view the full minutes text for item 484.