Venue: Council Chamber, Runnymede Civic Centre, Addlestone

Contact: Mr Andrew Finch 

Items
No. Item

252.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 134 KB

To confirm and sign, as a correct record, the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 7 July 2022 (Appendix A).

 

Minutes:

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7 July 2022 were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

253.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received.

254.

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 received.

255.

Runnymede Policing Update pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee Chair welcomed the Borough Commander to the meeting, who opened by reminding Members of the Police & Crime plan as set by the Police & Crime Commissioner, along with the borough priorities, which the Borough Commander sets alongside Councillors, residents and other key stakeholders.

 

The borough priorities had recently been updated to add supporting vulnerable victims of fraud, which had replaced the county lines priority, which did still remain actively policed but remained largely static.

 

Referring to the 100% increase in adult abuse, the Borough Commander advised that the incidents would generally be neglect in a care setting, however there was likely to be some crossover with general vulnerable people calls, so the data was being worked through to make sure it was accurate.  It was added that cuckooing was likely to fall into the category of adult abuse.

 

The date range of the data on overall crime started from 1 September 2020, which meant that there was some impact from the after-effects of lockdown, whilst the cost-of-living crisis also contributed some theft offences.

 

The Committee chair advised that the antisocial behaviour data reflected only the police aspect.  The Borough Commander asked Members to encourage residents to report all kinds of antisocial behaviour to police.

 

Police based response priorities on a threat, harm and risk matrix. All reports form part of a larger picture that enables the police to plan patrols accordingly.

 

The Borough Commander agreed to provide more information on rural crime, and break down reports of antisocial behaviour by town across the borough.

 

Partnership work with Police, Royal Holloway University and the Council remained ongoing, and was particularly prevalent given the new intake of students.

 

Monthly meetings were taking place to discuss antisocial behaviour reports, and a freshers’ week operation had recently taken place, supporting the university with their zero tolerance policy towards drugs and discuss with students public safety, including drink spiking awareness.

 

The Borough Commander presented the locations in the borough that had been identified through the StreetSafe app, which related to any public space where the person reporting had felt unsafe.

 

Both a longer and shorter term approach had been identified, with dedicated patrols to the location to engage and assure the public, whilst longer-term they were under discussion within the Joint Action Group, and measures such as cutting back hedgerows had been undertaken.  Because it was an anonymous tool, police were planning to go door-to-door where there was a cluster of reports to try to establish further activity.

 

The Borough Commander confirmed to a Member that whilst one of the borough’s priorities was preventing violence against women and girls, the app also applied to males with the intention of improving safety in public places.

 

It was confirmed that the police’s Designing Out Crime Officer does get consulted on large-scale planning applications, and had recently been asked to look at the Longcross North Planning Application.  The Safer Runnymede Manager added that he was also consulted on planning applications, and subject to the cost of the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 255.

256.

Safer Runnymede CCTV Annual Report pdf icon PDF 54 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Safer Runnymede Manager advised Committee that Safer Runnymede had had a productive year and CCTV continued to be a powerful tool when used to combat crime and anti-social behaviour, particularly when integrated with other crime reduction methods such as retail 'radio-link’ systems and close working partnerships with colleagues from Surrey Police.

 

Over four thousand CCTV interventions had taken place across the borough. The Safer Runnymede Manager clarified that whilst the production of evidence appeared to have reduced, that was because requests for evidence by the police were generally made through the NICE, cloud based portal. 

 

No public complaints had been received for the use of CCTV for the third year in a row.  The metrics of incidents dealt with was incredibly varied, and included missing persons, fire alarms and hate crimes.

 

The Safer Runnymede Manager felt that CCTV continued to be an extremely valuable tool with a tradition of performance excellence and a culture of professionalism.  A contract to deliver CCTV to another authority was close to completion, which would provide a much-needed revenue stream.

 

The Committee Chair emphasised that he also felt CCTV was extremely valuable and worthwhile on behalf of residents, with many results and outcomes.

 

In response to a Member’s question on using CCTV to bring in revenue on parking enforcement, the Safer Runnymede Manager confirmed it was technically possible but utilising it for punitive measures could go against the ethos of the social value it provides. 

 

The Committee Chair added that ANPR would be used in Runnymede’s five largest car parks.

 

A Member asked about consultation when there were changes to an area that was covered by CCTV, such as a park.  The Safer Runnymede Manager confirmed that regular consultations took place to explore the possibility of adjusting a CCTV’s footprint to reflect the need, adding that in recent times there had been much more collaboration between Community Services and Community Development on forward thinking and horizon scanning.

 

Responding to a Member’s concerns about an ongoing issue with lorries blocking in blue badge holders at a car park in the Borough, the Safer Runnymede manager encouraged Members to seek Safer Runnymede’s assistance in obtaining number plates in order to support neighbourhoods and vulnerable people.

 

The Committee Chair thanked the Safer Runnymede Manager and his staff for their ongoing work.

257.

Community Safety Annual Report pdf icon PDF 47 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee Chair opened the item by announcing that the Police Commissioner had submitted a number of bids to government’s Safer Streets Fund to be spent in specific areas for specific issues, and had recently learnt that £195,000 had been granted to spend in and around Surrey Towers.  This was expected to come to a future Committee as an agenda item.

 

The Safer Runnymede Manager added that two new CCTV assets to dissuade antisocial behaviour would be installed next week as part of the fund.

 

The Community Safety Officer presented the annual report highlighting the work of the Community Safety Partnership.

 

The Community Safety Partnership was comprised of statutory partners, which were the Borough and County Councils, Police, Fire Service and Health & Prevention.

 

There were several key areas of work with the Community Safety Partnership, including Prevent, which sought to stop individuals being drawn into extremism, as well as raising awareness of domestic abuse and support services for victims.

 

Others areas included the prevention of serious and organised crime, child exploitation, domestic burglary and antisocial behaviour.

 

The Domestic Abuse Outreach service continued to be provided by YourSanctuary who received 584 referrals for the Runnymede area during 2020/21, whilst 230 survivors accessed one-to-one support, 12 survivors attended the Freedom Programme and 31 survivors accessed the Specialist Male Service.

 

The Community Safety Officer remarked that the disparity between antisocial behaviour recorded by the police and council was largely down to the police recording Covid breaches as antisocial behaviour.

 

In response to a Member’s question about extending Junior Citizen to secondary schools, the Community Safety Officer confirmed that the scheme was in its final year in its current format but Surrey County Council were aiming to provide a more educational package for the PHSE curriculum, written by education specialists to ensure that lesson plans were correct.

 

Alternative schemes were under consideration for secondary school pupils, however funding would need to be obtained to launch these.

 

The Committee Chair thanked the Community Safety Officer for her attendance.