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 CCTV being met by a developer, could potentially arrange for its installation.

The Borough Commander agreed to provide data on theft of motor vehicles in the borough, including the percentage of keyless car thefts, and provide more information on patterns of reports on StreetSafe.

The Committee thanked the Borough Commander for his attendance.