Agenda and minutes

Councillors are reminded of the need to declare personal and prejudicial interests, including the nature and extent of such interests, in relation to business on the agenda, before any discussion takes place on the item.  Councillors requiring clarification should seek the advice of the Monitoring Officer prior to the day of the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest.

To welcome Superintendent John Vellacott, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and Michael Miller, Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator.

The Chair welcomed Superintendent John Vellacott, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary and Michael Miller, Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator.

At the Special Meeting of this Committee on 15 February 2010, Community Safety issues had been discussed and Members had requested a further presentation on the detailed breakdown of crime statistics to ensure that elected Members were confident that the statistics were an accurate reflection of crime and that key areas were being addressed. In the absence of  Superintendent John Vellacott due to illness, Michael Miller, the Community Safety Partnership Co-ordinator had briefed the Committee on crime statistics at a Special Meeting on 7 June 2010.

Superintendent Vellacott spoke in detail on the same statistics covering the period 1999/2000 to 2009/10, set out in an accompanying paper. He provided a detailed analysis of each crime heading, also referring to the significant increase in crime numbers in 2002/03 as a result of changes in recording techniques, which were now very complex. Many crimes went unrecorded, such as those linked to the night time economy, but the overall statistics incorporated data from other sources such as hospital admissions. He explained the role of the HMIC annual audit and it was noted that the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary had consistently been graded in the top band in terms of compliance with Government crime recording requirements. He also stated that the Force area was statistically the fourth safest area in the country.

He responded to Members’ questions under the separate crime headings and explained how the Police worked with other agencies, the Courts and other Forces in dealing with crime. He referred to the different levels of criminality and set out the measures undertaken to combat the activity of prolific offenders. In the context of CCTV funding he advised that the Constabulary, in light of increasing budgetary constraints, were unable to support these costs and stated that Superintendent Jo Tennant would attend a meeting on this issue.

He advised that improved communication, both about the work of the Police and in terms of community feedback and intelligence gathering was a key aspect in the future delivery of partnership objectives. PACT meetings were particularly valuable in this respect and Members referred to useful data copied to them by local community police officers. He stated that greater use of social media would also play an increasing role.

Members expressed their satisfaction with regard to the accuracy of the statistics.

Both Superintendent Vellacott and Michael Miller explained the structure and funding of the Partnership, stating that the latter’s post was funded one third by the City Council and two thirds from the Safer Devon Partnership. Previously, the Police and County Council budgets had been committed directly to the Partnership. The Superintendent and Councillor Fullam represented the Partnership on the SDP.

The Chair stated that the Committee required a deeper understanding of the work of the Community Safety Partnership in order to take an overview of the priorities for the City being focussed on by the Partnership and to ensure that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44.