Transcript

Transcript

Councillor Paul yes, sir. John. I'd like to nominate the independent member Andy Davis as chair for the next year Thank you. Is there a seconder? Thank you, thank you very much are there any other nominations as There are none can we take a vote on the appointment of mr. Andy Davis to the position of chair, please Could those in favor, please raise their hand? Thank you, and that's unanimous So chair, please welcome it to the chairs position here You Thank you John and thank you panel for Re-electing me for my second term as chair for the next 12 months Just start by saying welcome Commissioner congratulations on your reelection for your third term and we'll come into the detail of Some of the things that you're proposing as we go through the meeting both today and over the future meetings to come so welcome Right the second item of business then is the appointment of a vice chair. I Would like to nominate councillor Derek pool as vice chair for coming here to have a seconder for that Thank You councillor Brown, can we take a vote on that please? Thank you all council welcome back as vice chair I Could also like to welcome you panel to the new panel member councillor Tim Jen Jenkins from the Neaton Bedworth Borough Council welcome councillor Jenkins And welcome also to a public speaker. Dr. Denise Taylor who will address the police and crime commissioner shortly Just to be aware before we start obviously The general election is due to play take place on the 4th of July and Whilst we're planning the dates for this meeting. We obviously didn't know about that So that's well into the campaign period at the moment and it means we're therefore holding this meeting during a period of heightened political Sensitivity and in recognition of the pre-election period will need to take particular care with comments made by panel Members and visitors today are therefore asked that you all To ensure that any comments or questions cannot be perceived as seeking to influence public support for any candidate or political party So we just need to bear that in mind as we go through our proceedings today if we can please Okay John any apologies for today. Thanks. Yeah. Apologies today from Councillor Jennifer actually Councillor Ray Jarvis and from Andrew Harper Okay, thank you and do we have any disclosures of pecuniary and non pecuniary interests None noted, okay. Thank you Right. Well, we'll take the minutes of the previous meeting if we can Which was held back on the 7th of March So we'll take any matters arising and accuracy as we go through and any of the points that members wish to raise As we do a page turn on that so I'll be quoting the the big numbers at the bottom of the page Just for reference. So we'll start on page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Or page 10 Just on page 10 it's the The workshop joint audit and standards committee representation so in the past we've had representatives from their Committee joining us on a fairly regular basis actually and we've got an open invitation to attend Their committee's meetings as well and it'd be good Over the coming months if we can sort out a representative from this power to more routinely attend The joint audit and standards committee meetings as well. So we'll pick that up as we get into our working group discussions Okay, next item on the agenda is public speaking Hand over to dr. Denise Taylor Okay, thank you and thank you for the opportunity to present to the panel today So and I've got two questions in my view There is overwhelming and irrefutable evidence of persistent offending by the Warwickshire hunt over many years And I cannot find any evidence of one single conviction for any of the numerous offenses The chief constable has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that her force polices criminal activities Effectively and it is clear from all that has happened since 2021 Which the panel are aware of that she has failed to do this The PCC's role is to hold the chief constable to account Given that this whole situation has attracted national media attention through two Channel 4 news bulletins My question is what specific actions will the PCC now take to ensure the chief constable is held Accountable for the lack of enforcement against the Warwickshire hunt given the overwhelming evidence of illegal activities And when will these actions be put into place? My second question is in a news article in the Kenilworth nub on the 4th of May. Mr Second stated I will be acting for all communities and residents of Warwickshire without fear or favor I'm not now looking forward to preparing a new police and crime plan part plan I will be getting out amongst our communities and residents to listen to what they have to say and to feed that into my Conversations with the chief constable and other senior officers I want communities to understand that the police are there to protect them that there are increased numbers and that they are doing everything they can to engage with and listen to residents that will be a priority for me and I think this will also help with Those who have a fear of crime Given the PCC's public commitment to acting without fear or favor for all communities in Warwickshire Can he please now confirm in this meeting that he will now act on what he has said in the media about? engaging with rural residents and communities and agree that he will arrange for a meeting to be held between himself and rural residents and community groups to ensure our voices are heard for those who are opposed to Hunting and all the attendant activities that are surround that the cub hunting season starts in August And it's important that members of the community have a voice before then This will help to avoid any future claims by the PCC in the media that there have been no complaints from community members when the opposite is true Thank you panel, thank you Can I move that the question is addressed to the Commissioner can I have a seconder for that? Thank you Councillor Paul, can you have a show of hands that the question is addressed to the Commissioner? Excellent Commissioner to you to respond I'm sorry, you've raised a number of topics. I can even my response. I hope in a logical order so You have indicated that there is a pro-hunt bias towards Warwickshire Hunt from Warwickshire Police. I refute that I don't believe there is I think I think everyone is treated fairly Any group anywhere within the county needs to conform to the law? and it is the forces job to enforce that law and to gather evidence and if there is enough evidence to put a case to the prosecution service who will then charge or decide So that's whether it's Warwickshire Hunt or anyone else in in the county One or two of the points you've raised I've already answered in this forum before which I think panel members will recognized and I just want to restate the position about operational matters. You are quite right in saying that the chief constable Is in operational command of Warwickshire Police and my role is to hold to account Which I have been doing I've spoken to the chief constable a number of times about breaches of fox hunting legislation and indeed anti-social behavior on our roads So all reports are taken seriously by the for force and where evidence allows Prosecutions will follow this bit of national law is complicated Complicated is complex and there's quite a high bar For evidence to be able to persuade the crown prosecution service to to move forward with a charge But I would what I would like to say there are currently matters proceeding through the courts at the moment Brought about by Warwickshire Police agreed by the Crown Prosecution Service and that Warwickshire Hunt have been charged So it's not quite right to say there'd be no there have been no charges I think you said that I think you've said there may have been no positive outcomes in your view But that's up to the judiciary and the judiciary's nothing to do with me. They are totally independent However from your questions, I do think there is some learning To to be Done by by the force and I hope that that learning will inform Both the code of conduct and boost public confidence I just want to address your point about engaging with rural communities I've had many many meetings with rural communities both farmers individual communities parishes hamlets I've also had been out with our rural crime team and met other groups and I always do my best to engage with rural residents and groups I Actually set up the rural crime team as part of my in my first term and continued to fund that And there are many different types of rural crime as I'm sure you'll be aware and they have they have had some good results Just about complaints, of course, I'm well aware there have been complaints What I actually said was on the doorstep and I've knocked thousands of doors as will some others in this room Since last August not one person mentioned anything to do with hunting to me That's what I said, which is absolutely true. I'm aware. There is a social media. I'm also aware that there are Emails coming into our office, but I did specifically say mentioned on the doorstep In Light of the current situation with the pre-election period I think We'll just keep it to the question and the response if that's okay I think there's an open invitation for public speaking and once we're out of this period so for future panel meetings I think that will be an opportunity to reopen up discussion and debate In Can we write to you with a response to that something will need a legal response to them? Yeah, absolutely Will do yeah Okay, thank you John, can you there's a second question been submitted can you just read them out? Thank you chair, yes the second question received from miss Rachel tipping who has He was requested that it be read out on her behalf I'm getting in touch with the panel as a very upset and concerned Warwick resident to raise the issue of the way The Warwickshire hunt operate and the nature of the relationship they have with Warwickshire place. I Note that the secret deal between Warwickshire police and the Warwickshire hunt has now been replaced with a proposal to introduce a public code of behavior to Set out in a transparent way the expectations for anyone taking part in trail hunting activities in the county Please can the police and crime commissioner explain how this differs from previous police action protocols Regarding the Warwickshire hunt and what? Assurances do the public have that they will be tough police action for blatant breaches of the hunting legislation Please can the panel also outline how they intend to keep pressing the police and crime commissioner on this matter To ensure that the Warwickshire hunt is held to account for the crimes. They are committing I am deeply concerned that Warwickshire police are seemingly turning a blind eye to what is happening and Facilitating this barbaric sport through the weak action, which seems to be supported by the police and crime commissioner I have contacted Warwickshire police about this matter, but they have remained silent on all accounts I feel deeply saddened and powerless that a public body trusted with upholding the laws of the UK in my local town is Ensuring cruelty to animals persists in the Warwickshire countryside Fox hunting in a terrible way. This crime is dealt with in Warwickshire It's a matter that is important to the local community and an issue that work should residents will not forget Thank you, John can I move that the question the two questions are addressed to the Commissioner Sorry, yes Can I move the first question is Commissioner Commissioner you need to just use your microphone again. Sorry at the risk of repeating myself to this panel I think these these questions continue to come up. So I do continue to make the points I wish to So I do reject the assertion that I or anyone else has been involved in a concerted effort to protect Warwickshire hunt as I've said publicly there is no pro-hunt bias I've always said that any group anywhere in the county needs to conform to the law whether it's the Warwickshire hunt or anyone else and Breaking the law should be investigated and if necessary charged I've answered two previous questions to the panel on this subject and have always sought to give the fullest answers I can So I fail to see how I have sought to ignore this issue As stated previously, I cannot get involved with operational matters But I can and do reflect on public opinion that comes to me to the force Ultimately, my role is to hold the chief constable to account and to ensure an effective and efficient police service for all of Warwickshire's residents I Have discussed a situation regarding the reporting of breaches of the fox hunting legislations with the chief constable on many occasions Who assures me that all reported information is assessed to see whether there is a sufficient evidence to bring about a prosecution I'm told there are often difficulties with evidence submitted either. It cannot be verified original and an unedited Unedited video footage is supplied or those reporting incidents are unwilling to give statements or to go to court to support those statements The law is complex and the barter evidence is high This can create difficulties in securing agreement for prosecution as I said before I think it's also worth pointing out There are very low numbers nationally people being charged under this legislation Having said that I think Warwickshire Police takes these matters seriously And there's there is currently a prosecution for breaching hunting legislation going through the courts, which I cannot Comment comment on I Think at this stage I would also like to announce something to the panel which I have said to the public I Have I think there's a greater need for transparency and The force must do more to give confidence to the public as a whole so that is why I have committed to an independent review of The policing of Warwickshire Hunt both on with reference to the Hunting Act and indeed anti-social behavior on our roads The terms of reference and who will undertake this Review is being finalized and I would propose to announce both of those shortly after the general election The force is also currently working on a new public code of conduct for the next season. I Haven't seen the results of that yet, so I can't give any further information However, I do hope that any learning uncovered by the review will help him help to inform the code and its operation Thank You Commissioner, sorry can I see this Thank you I mean obviously this is an issue that is coming up time and time again at panel meetings. We are Continue to remain very concerned about it as that is cropping up very interested in the point about the code of behavior that's coming through and Also in the independent review in the terms of reference It'll be announced shortly and one of the actions that we as a panel will be doing is to write to you To ask for more transparency about how the independent reviews been set up some clarity around those terms of reference who's going to do it what it's going to look at and what the Outcomes and when they're likely to be will come through so you will public publicly be receiving a letter from the panel For more details on all of those and we will be pursuing those with you as well as the independent review progresses Okay Any comments from panel members Nope okay, let's move on Next item is item 4 which is the report of the police and crime commissioner commissioner Confusing at this meeting There are two of my reports presented to you one is the last quarter of the previous financial Year, and the other one is the annual report for the whole year So I don't know whether there are a number of common themes and bits of information in both reports chairman But so I'm happy if you want to combine that with the next one I hope you've all had a chance to read the tool to report a lot of work has gone into this from my office We've tried to allow Sort of LA or a line. I think the word is To the police and crime plan as the panel has always told me for eight years they really want to see us reporting back With regards to how we're doing against the police and crime plan so there's a there's a lot of a lot of that and then it goes on to Both reports go on to talk about all the other things that we're doing I think it's worth noting the appendix to the the recent report is about the national crime and policing measures Which will form part of our? New police and crime plan and indeed there are also some Other measures which are coming through nationally, which the force has to Take account of which of course we will also incorporate into the new plan So we began to we've started to work on the new plan. There will be a comprehensive wide consultation on the plan And then we will hopefully bring it that the aim is to bring it to the panel the draft The panel November meeting so we can get it published late this year or very early next year But the current plan does go up to March 2025 so we've got a bit of leeway there Things slip, but that's that's our intention. So I'm very happy to answer any questions Thank You commissioner, can we take the the most recent quarters report first and see if there's any I'm just on section 2 on that one, which is on the big page 14 Police and Crime Commissioner elections where you talk about main priorities for the next four years And I noticed rebuilding trust and confidence wasn't in there and just wondered if actually that More of a higher priority in terms of That's a fair comment, I mean I do think that all of those things will help to be build trust and confidence In the force, but it is absolutely key All our residents have the confidence and trust of the police force a to keep them safe Be if they report something something will be done about it that I talk about a lot Of course there will be a section Thank You chair, thank you for that Commissioner just on on trust and confidence I Suppose residents are reading a lot about prisons being full and There is clearly concern about People people being custody Concern about people being released early Now obviously we all read a lot in the paper I'm just wondering is there anything you can update us on specifically around Warwickshire and how your How you're seeing that evolve in terms of specifically around risks to the public, I guess Okay, that's a perfectly fair question There has been significant concern in the criminal justice world about the lack of prison places and Warwickshire police and our custody blocks are available for any overspill. There might be from prisons. I Think I'm right in saying I've heard of our custody blocks have not had any detainees coming directly out of the Out of the prison. I mean as far as Warwickshire is concerned I'm sure you know that there are no prisons in Warwickshire part of on their rugby is actually in Warwickshire but it is still administered by the East Midlands Region because it's just in So our prisoners don't necessarily go there by that I mean convicted Warwickshire prisoners they tend to go to But it's called operations safeguard is what the police are doing to help protect The public by keeping as many of those who should be detained detained I'm told and I read like you do nationally There is a new prison coming online up north fairly soon with 1200 places that would significantly ease the pressure because I'm sure you're aware Prison prison authorities moved detainees around around the estate whether where there are gaps where there are places Yeah, I'm concerned about the earlier release of prisoners There are a number of exceptions Which wouldn't be available? applicable for only release and I'm not aware of any problems to date of any early releases in That's good to hear thank you Thank you, Andy any other questions Sorry cancel it It's a big page number 17 at 5.3 I was looking at the work that's being done in relation to perpetrators of domestic abuse and I know that your officers looking at the latest research and it said it says this will now allow a proper gap analysis to be conducted and I just be interested. I'm sure the panel were very interested to see Sort of the outcome of that as and when it's available Just to monitor how that's going it will my just finished and I hope to just come in skin Deputy police commissioner chairs One of the board boards I think And the tissue bear must be driving that but plainly domestic abuse and violence against women and girls is a very very high priority Not only for us and the police also for the County Council social services. So I Don't know when the gap analysis will be completed. I'm afraid but we can find out report back to you I Just got a very specific one which was about holding to account under section 6.1 which is on page 20 at the bottom of that, which is the Finding the minutes of the holding to account meetings on the OP CC website is quite a process I was trying to think of a polite way of saying it's quite they're quite difficult to find and I noticed actually there's still some gaps in terms of more recent holding to account meetings and just wondering if they could be made either more visible or Easier to navigate around the website This is very much in office business as to how we present information Firstly I'm sorry that I'm sorry that you're finding it hard to find the paperwork We are looking at how we can improve the website and probably give it a refresh as well over the next year The hopefully all the minutes are there if there are specific minutes you haven't found them Let me know but I will just make sure that we check that they are there That said we've changed our approach to holding to account this final Financial year since the election so we're not routinely publishing all the same minutes that we previously did But you should imminently see an update of holding to account activities arrive on the website So it might look slightly different, but there will be information available for you to see if it's helpful I might send you a link over when we publish it so that you can have a look and we'll take any feedback as well If there's any member of the panel who is Concerned about this sort of thing and a direct email to us and we will certainly do everything we can to supply the information You need thanks. I think I found them where I didn't think I was going to find That made me was just more made in the website. Yes I Do hate the way changing stats on the work, but the number that we count Right in a different way than the last time so the numbers aren't the same Will there be a sort of correlation between how you reported the numbers and that over? All those numbers change in a way that it looks better, but it isn't better And those numbers will stay the way you record those numbers and report those numbers will come in the same way going forward It might be helpful to refer you to the appendix in the report here with the national policing crime measures But they are nationally set Measures which as you say make it easier to understand that the trends and and analyze from there The information out on our website. We try to use The same measures again and again and we'll look at doing that in the police and crime plan as well so that there isn't confusion crime recording is really complex as I'm sure you've Understood from from your time looking at it, but we do try to make it as simple as possible Thank you Thank You councillor Humphreys and then just on 7.1 from me the police of crime plan Consultation you talked about the plan the timescale for the plan earlier I've just got a question really about if you could give a few more details about that consultation Didn't go into a lot of detail in your report I was just wondering if give giving some of the discussions we've had already today and the way that public interest and engagement is absolutely critical if you can say anything more about how you're planning to consult with the public across war it should across all communities in developing the next plan Okay, when you've often you've often had once once haven't you with Neil Tipton who is going to conduct the consultation on our behalf? There are various statutory things. We have to consult on the police and crime plan is one of them Play me if we're gonna gain we're gonna get something out of it. It needs to be a comprehensive Consultation to as many different diverse and Geographically spread communities as we can we want particular response back from business from the third sector from communities from Minorities as wider possible feedback as we as we as we can Neil will be drawing up a a draft consultation plan if there's time will try and bring it to the to the Panel, if not, I'm sure we can arrange for you to have a copy which you can perhaps circulate round But plainly by when is our next meeting John is it in in November? September hopefully we can give you Something then and we should be mid mid consultation by then So that might be quite a good time to give it to the plan to the panel But yeah, it's going to be of no use to me if it isn't comprehensive It doesn't come up with some conclusions if it doesn't have some Full representation what Warwickshire as a community thinks about policing Just thought it might be helpful to suggest a wider conversation about that at the working group if you reconvene the working group I Okay, any other questions on the shorter report if not, we'll move on to the annual commissioners annual report Which I think we've touched on one or two areas already Anything else about the annual report over and above what you've said already Before we ask any questions. Well, it's obviously been a been a busy year It's been the build-up to the police of crime Commissioner elections and up to the end of one term So we've been doing our best to Produce as many of the wished outcomes that we look for in the plan, which is written four years ago as we could so I Think this gives once again. This gives you a pretty broad picture of what myself and my office does and I Obviously accept there's lots more work to do And you know, we're going to be getting on that and that will be coming in the new plan Commissioner pace 47 Big page big numbers Community speed watch I'm getting asked regularly in my village Why the police will only do? One road which is Main Street in the village Now you've been to my village several times The worst place is from the a45 through to the fast way, which is white road and school Street The police will not give permission for community speed watch to go there And I'm getting stopped day after day after day by residents Young women with their children going to the nursery and cars zooming through there So I'd like to know if you could find out why they won't issue a order Well, I would have hoped firstly as a long-standing You know representative the community you would be listened to and would get a reasonable answer, but maybe that's not the case This this particular topic is something I talk about quite a bit This is all about risk assessments of where it is safe to put members of our public who are volunteers on the side of the road you know if you like monitoring the speed of traffic and Like all risk assessments they kind of err on the side of caution which must be the right thing Safety of individuals I Personally think that in any village or town or open countryside there should be a number of alternatives and speed watch teams could go to And I'm very happy to take that up But it's about risk assessment and that isn't just so we can any we only have to do one location It's about where is actually safe for our volunteers to stand on the side of the road But I will raise it Yeah Thank You chair if we can move on to page 61 I Note that we're looking at the Monitoring and we talked about the five five overarching principles and transparency is the first one I wondered if I could get an explanation of what red amber and green actually mean in this the tables on page 62 Well, that's a question. I asked my office this morning Because I've read that as well. So Red would mean that we had achieved nothing any of the outcomes we were looking for in the In the police and crime plan green means that they have been achieved and for example, I'll give you an example on recruiting police officers We wanted to recruit over 1100. We have Bit more we just had a new intake this week as we stand that is green that has been Delivered but part of that Would have been we also had an you know an ambition to to increase the number of pcsos Now they've stayed rather flat. We're actually now we're under establishment a bit that will be corrected in September. So Strictly speaking that particular item is not green and the reason for that is because we've as you know, We prioritize the recruiting and the training and development of police officers rather than pcsos Having said that I think there are 16 joining us in September and that should put us over establishment plainly. We can't afford to go over establishment So, I hope that gives you an idea so within those five categories there are a number of subdivisions Which some agree Some haven't quite been done and actually the plan goes up to a next March. So we've still got some time to I'd like to see all of those green Okay, if I can follow up there chair it's good to see that we've delivered visible and effective policing because it's green We've achieved it It's kind of an ongoing thing there must be some sort of Guesstimate or markers or some form of data collection to support that Without seeing that it's very hard to determine fight crime reduce offending amber Is that a work in progress or is that? My point is the tables kind of wouldn't clear it gives a nice message, but it doesn't actually tell us much at all Okay, this is an annual assessment. I mean the previous chair of the panel to To Andy Davis was particularly keen that we reported on progress with The police and crime plan at every meeting now. We've tried to do that. Obviously the Report we've just finished Specifically looks at every single, you know, the major items in the police and crime plan It's quite difficult sometimes to have statistics to evaluate I'll give you an example in my view if there's a lot of domestic abuse going on the fact that more Victims of domestic abuse are reporting in other words as the figures go up It's actually a good thing because before they might not have been reporting So it is a it's it's quite a complex way to to work out What is actually a fair way of evaluating progress in the police and crime plan? But you know, we have Dave Patterson who attends the working group and my view is to get this out in more detail Ask more detailed question in the performance working group Would be my my advice It sounds like you know behind this there's kind of a narrative it's kind of subjective and I would really like to know that's To be fair because at the moment it looks like the world is rosy and it's far more subtle than that But don't forget we're not marking our own home. Where we are independent of the police force. We're marking their performance So I hope it isn't seen as a sort of Cozy little arrangement where we just you here's them and you get on with it. We're very happy with what you do This is part of our holding to account which we've discussed earlier this meeting As to how the force are doing against the objectives we have set in the police and crime plan You mentioned that there were subcategories under each of those yeah, and do they also have a color coding and are any of those red Thank you Yeah, I mean we are just I'll get polished fill in a bit of detail But I have a meeting every couple of months with our perform our performance team And we look at the whole gambit and there are dozens and dozens of indicators if you like to work out whether we're on track Or that is a good make good method for me to pick up what isn't going as quickly as it should Then that helps me to raise the topic with the force Thank you the answer to probably both of your questions is yes, you'll be pleased to hear that there is a spreadsheet There's some analysis that goes on behind and and much of that is reported to the working group and that it is discussed at Probably all but certainly most of those meetings sure councillor Brown would welcome more people to attend the working group if you were so interested Yes, it's there the measures that they report sort of all all all three colors So some things are green some things are amber some things are red the summary report You've got here just gives you sort of five answers, but I'm just skimming down. There's there's a at least 150 lines So there's a lot more answers that sit underneath that and and we have divided things up by theme by topic by staff member by Activity and there's also a sheet of key performance indicators. So what's the data telling us and how does that link to different priorities? So there's an awful lot behind that as you'd imagine at this point in the term of office We're thinking about what the end of this plan is going to be whether this methodology has been successful Whether it's delivered the panel what they were asking for three years ago or not And what we might want to put into a new police and crime plan and how we might want to refine that and improve it Forever it's that balance between sort of drowning in bureaucracy But doing but doing something that's so meaningful that actually you can see the impact that the activity of has made the other comment I'd make is Most of what we do much of what we do is not directly done by us So it's services we Commission or where the Commissioner uses his role to Encourage partners and try to sort of leave our activity through others. Not just the force. I mean more broadly than that So some things we cannot directly control the PCC cannot directly recruit PCSOs in in his previous example So a lot of it's about sort of negotiating and influencing So and whilst we might want everything to be green at the end in reality It might not all end up green and that and that is how it would be Can I just ask about sorry about never flipping about a bit but on pages 42 and 43 talking about obviously transforming or it should police which has been an ongoing program through empower the people place and technology and There's a mention of the program coming to an end. I just wonder how that program Or how you're suggesting any evaluation of that could be carried out And if so, when and how? Okay, so you want to comment on the complete empower Program that people place and take yeah The people part of it I would say is now in place it's done adjustments to the teams and to the various For example, the triple geography of Warwickshire is now absolutely embedded as a chief inspector in charge of the northeast and the south And the teams that are now Together working together. There's been quite a lot of transfer. There's obviously had to be quite a lot of training But I think we're now in a position where we can say that the people Part of empower is done is stable and that is resilient and I wouldn't want to see it change too much more The place is plenty to do with our estates Going to take longer to do at the moment. There is a there's a good program Refurbishing renovating modernizing all of our buildings Most of our estates are freeholds. So we feel it's right to look after those buildings Whereas if you're a tenant not always the responsibility of the occupier etc. So a lot going on There's quite a lot going on at Leekwood and there's going to be we hope a new plan going in for car parking Which is a pressure one of the problems of centralizing Your resources into one location. It doesn't put pressure on parking there is we're looking at use of some of the currently empty buildings that are Deteriorating we're looking at some of those and we are also looking at If if the leader of Warwick District Council was here would remind me that we need to be looking at the carbon emissions and our sustainability program as well, so Lots going on there. We're looking at more Charging points for electric vehicles. We've got a small pilot of electric vehicles within our fleet We're going to see how that works and where electric vehicles could be used within the fleet I'm thinking probably better for safer neighborhood time operations rather than patrol and pursuit But we'll see how that works out. We've replaced two large boilers in our two biggest buildings, which is considerably cut carbon emissions from from the whole force but difficult to Visualize or see how that might happen, but boilers are huge emitters of carbon especially old ones and We're plainly looking at than any changes that might come into coming to the future for the whole estate So we've got some big quite big town center buildings We're looking at do we need to be there? Some of them are a bit old so those for Another use and then relocate all that sort of thing I think any organization looks at for the whole time, but my just on finally on place I think it is really important that we retain town center presence And to do that we need buildings with substantial car parking and obviously there aren't many towns in Warwickshire Where an organization like ours could afford to purchase town center properties with a man with a huge amount of parking And rugby is a good example Councillor Paul, I would not want to see us move out of the center of rugby, but you know, we're talking to our council about what the future could be so lots of collaboration on On estate absolutely with the fire and rescue service, I think it's right that we try and look at Collaborating with them particular office space for our sabre neighborhood team. Some are attained firemen, etc. So there are firefighters So there are lots of opportunities there and I chair the workshop blue light collaboration board on that So technology is has been an extraordinary journey Warwickshire when when I took over and when we were in the alliance with West Mercia, we were a long way the worst equipped Of all the police forces on information and technology. I'm pretty sure now we are we are the leading force in the country We've invested Somewhere in a region of 30 million into IT We now have a very strong infrastructure. We've invested heavily in Telephones iPads Laptops for the force to be able to use and work more efficiently because they can do quite a lot now You know out in in the countryside they can for example take statements from witnesses and get them to sign it on site those Police officers in their past careers will remember you have to be assigned back to the station all the rest of it That is completely cut out. So I think it is bringing in some some good efficiencies Which will benefit the force because we can then those officers have more time to do other things which we want them to do There are some there are some terrific innovative Apps the force have created themselves whereby Will be Easier for for our officers to access things like Athena we talked about Athena here in the past there's also Bringing there's quite a lot of robotics coming into some of the IT in transactional. I was yesterday I went to see the our vetting department. There's quite a lot of AI going on there to reduce the Tron political transactional routine inputting of data can now all be done by a robot so we are looking forward and I think it's going to make It make the holy organization more efficient at the end of the day with me holding the purse strings I want to be able to have as much money as I can spend as Possible. So that's that's a short run through empower, but I think we're moving towards its And as a big aspirational transformational program That's obviously delivering stuff. Now. How are you planning to evaluate how successful has been? So has it delivered what it was set out to do what worked what didn't what could have been done better? How are you engaging with the force in terms of that overarching evaluation for the program rather than the individual components of it? well, we have Constantly evaluated the program as all three parts of empower as it's been going through We have asked questions as why is something taking a bit longer or it was done quickly Is it to be done properly all those sorts of things you would expect and I'm I'm confident now that The force is because of the three of those changes that have been made. I think it is in a resilient position But as with any organization, it has to keep adapting and changing and to different circumstances And all of those things will continue under a different name Suspect is the truth of that We have had a report on empower Which we've looked at and I'm obviously going to be looking forward to the HMIC FRS report on the force Which starts in January 2025? As to what their independent view is on the from policing perspective is on the whole empower program. I Know when we visited the legal in HQ, there was some really impressive Stories to tell about some of the impact it was having already across the whole service So be that but you know people place or technology it sounded really good I think the question really about evaluation is did it really do it in the most efficient and effective way? For public resources in Warwickshire and actually could we have got more out of it or actually was it? Really Warwickshire force rebuilt itself About three years ago having come out of the alliance with West Mercia for those of you who are new panel or recent panel members 98 but when I started this job 98 percent of the money I collected went into the pool to run West Mercia and Warwickshire Please I went to meetings. We talked about ASB in Oxford Street or Ross on why? it was a it was a completely different animal and The point when we were served notice by West Mercia to terminate this Strategic alliance which they were entitled to do so we had to sit down and say right we're on our own How are we going to make Warwickshire police effective within Warwickshire rather than as part of a much bigger force? so the empower Project was bored out of that Necessity to build Warwickshire as a standalone force. I think they correctly selected the three things that were important to enable us to do that and When I have talked for the last four or five years about the transition how effective it is And I would regard myself as an independent Opinion former on this topic because You know, it's very much How did the residents see this? Do they think that you know, that's really what I'm coming from so when I go to the Village meetings which I mentioned earlier on I often getting questions. I often get questions about the transformation to a standalone force and I ask people's views Thank you, I think actually that comes out really strong in the report in terms of that longer-term journey since the strategic alliance and how the force has been Really has been moved on in quite a huge way really and so well done to the to you and to the office Any other questions on the report? If not, just one one final question from me on section 10, which is on page 72, which is looking ahead Just noticed in the first paragraph. He said I thank all of those who voted for me. I just wondered if you could say anything my way of assurance to all communities in Warwickshire And wherever they are My duty is to listen to all of the residents of Warwickshire Whatever political hue they might be or or lack of it. So I think that's probably just a polite comment On looking ahead rather than a major statement Anything else on the report If not, thank you commissioner. We need to formally respond to you. I think on the annual report So we will do that in due course, which would be very shortly John's efficiency So that's good. So thank you for pulling that together. So we move on to the next item, which is our community safety partnerships report from Richard Long Just to introduce it this is very similar to the report you've had before But I think you asked for it again So I think it's been reduced in reproduced in a slightly updated format Thank you, can you thank Richard as well for the work that goes into producing the reports is really helpful just to get an understanding of the CSP because I know things change constantly including budgets and priorities and What they're actually doing on the ground. So is there any questions for the commissioner? No, okay, can I just say that you know, there is a There's a national conversation about community safety partnerships. I hope it's evident that I'm a strong supporter of our CSPs I try to give them the finance that they ask for and they normally do when they ask for it. They normally get it. I Don't think we're Particularly recommending anything at this point in time to change But I would encourage we've got most of the chairs of the community safety partnerships here try and encourage those Organization that our members to attend and I go to a few meetings I've got one from of my office goes to all of them, but I very rarely see housing associations there I very rarely see the health service the mental health trust This is your opportunity to bring in everybody to talk about community safety in your areas We'll do everything we can to help you do that But I don't think we're recommending anything at this stage Okay, let's move on to the next item which is the appointment of the planning and performance working group So there's a short report there which gives the terms of reference meeting dates membership and outlines the previous members of the group Volunteers willing to join the the group for the coming year Thank You councillor Brown Thank You councillor Senate And I think I join as well as a member So we've got three recommendations for this report which is confirm the continuation of planning and working group I think actually we've Found it's worked a lot better over the past 12 months in terms of having much more useful and engaging Dialogue with members of the office, which has been really helpful We've really valued the contribution that you're the staff from the office has brought and the level of detail that they bring I'm so we really want to continue with that arrangement if we can it's been really helpful for panel members in terms of helping us understand Some of the complexity of what's going on So that's been really helpful and we've got the terms of reference there which we'd like to recommend as well and then just a small amendment to number three, which is Recommendation to authorize the panel support member to confirm arrangements for the working groups there rather than group And appointments there to follow on the liaison with panel members And the reason for including groups there is we would like to reconstitute the budget working group as well As soon as we can So that would be a good step forward if we can get that going To ask my question on the on the budget working group, obviously, we're aware that there wasn't hasn't been one for a bit from our point of view is for the Terms of reference of that group. Will it to be to concentrate on? monitoring the budget as we do going going through the year or would it be specifically to Concentrate on the preparation and the implementation of the annual budget would be helpful from our point of view if they could let us know Yes, we can We can agree those as you say it has been a couple of years since we've had the budget working group going I don't think it's been overly helpful for either of us really in terms of Over real understanding of Both of those issues but particularly around the annual budget has been quite difficult I think for panel members to understand the complexity of it, which is why we're really keen to Have some form of working group established as soon as possible. No council at all as Indicated it'd be quite keen to to join that budget working group as well. So yeah, we'll look for some additional members To join that group and then we can look at the terms of reference for that and just finalize those Any questions on the planning and performance working group? Constitution If not, there is a report of the planning a performance working group councillor Brown Yes, just very briefly you'll be really to know I'm not going to read the report in its entirety to say It's it's been a really good and Interesting group to work with because we're looking at genuine evidence everything that we are considering in terms of performance is evidence-based and and Accepting that you're wrong. Philip is Strategic your strategy successes are judged on the operational outputs really aren't they? So it's that kind of operational output that we're looking at very closely We are trying to set that within the context of Our most similar group as well so that we're statistical neighbors We're looking at that and and seeing how our performance measures up against that and on page 93. You'll see that we are Focusing on four areas and we'll be seeking clear evidence against those four areas, you know That's a huge Great big amorphous sea of information to swim through isn't it? If you just say we're looking at those four areas, so we're breaking it down and in our next meeting We're looking at domestic abuse and domestic violence as some as the the key topic there so we'll be looking at those four areas with that as a focus Particularly two three and four of those four areas It's evidence collection around those three in the main those three areas. Although the first one about About contact 101 How speedily a domestic violence incident is picked up that might be worth looking at But the other three I think probably as much as we can manage at the moment Yes, I think that's Sorry just a pretty obvious comment there are big links between the effectiveness of what's happening with those serious incidents and the backlog that there is in the justice system to actually get something through and something concrete at the other end of it as an improvement, but You know Thank you Yeah, I mean if there's something if there's a domestic parts going on they need to ring 999 straight away Not 101, but yeah, I know what you're meaning. There's there are There are intelligence somebody wants to talk about the fear of domestic violence I understand that but if you said they really want to speak to somebody quickly always ring 999 the Just just as a to whet your appetite, please do look at 101. I think it's been considerably improved The right care right person is being introduced which is being really helpful I was told the other day that 50 50 percent of the calls that come in on 999 and nothing to do with crime Right care right person is to try and filter out those so the experts to do with either mental health or whatever issue it is Just on MSG's Size grooming to me some of the size groups there are There are quite a lot of established groups within policing and Warwickshire is obviously and one of them it goes with people like Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and Similar sized Areas and groups and populations and that sort of thing. So there is some On that the other thing of advice I would give but we've actually had a briefing this morning from the analysts at Warwickshire County Council Which my office pays for? They come out with some terrific Figures into you know from police data but they come to their own conclusions and they are available to all local authorities or councilor members and members of the public for that matter, so if you want to look at a particular way there's ASB or Detection rates or whatever it is that you want to look at da or DV That would be a good good way to start and I'm sure it can all be procured through our office All the information Thank You Commissioner and then just to add to the point Councillor Brown was making as well It's just a reminder that we when we wrote to you after the preset meeting this year We put some indicator measures in there as well, which we said we'd monitor So we will be coming back to those as well and that included the ten new offices that were funding through the precepts as well So just the impact of those Interestingly, we're running above those at the moment. So I've got to make sure we hold to at least the ten new Anything else on the performance of planning Thank You councillor Brown. Thank you The next item is our own annual report so We've all read it obviously we've all contributed to it and this has been a summary of our work over the past year So I'm just going to focus on the last page or most of that the page 110 which is the looking forward section. I think we've covered most of the other areas in terms of activity Because they're similar in terms of some of the things you've picked up in your annual report as well Commissioner So we won't dwell on those but in terms of our looking ahead I think there's a couple of points to to pull out there firstly the panel will seek to build on the progress made over the past 12 months continuing to pride challenge and critical friend support to you and your office Obviously will help you and support you with the Development of the next police and crime plan and really keen to engage with you on that as that works up over the coming months We talked about empower and will continue to take a close interest in your oversight of the empower program in terms its effectiveness and efficiency also interested in the interest In the community safety partnerships as they evolve and they're changing priorities And also against your delivery of the those measures that we talked about in relation to the precept Increase this year in terms of how you deliver against those. I think we're going to add that one in As we develop the work of this draft and then the second the final one is really about the engagement transparency and holding to account And that follows on really from for example an example of that with our public speakers earlier on in our panel meeting today So those who are looking ahead key messages, I think through our report Is there anything else that any panel colleagues wish to add to that? Okay, well we we've drafted that so we will have a final version of that Do we need It will be redrafted and the revised draft will be taken to the meeting in September to be endorsed by the panel Item tennis issues raised by community safety partnerships Received any from any CSP colleagues Okay Okay, we move on to item 11 which is the work program so we've got that summarized any comments on that Participated you inviting the chief constable to attend a meeting and she said she's prepared to it's quite busy. She's got some very busy National role so book early to avoid this point Thank You commissioner Right, we'll move on to Next item dates of next meetings. Those have all been set We have confirmation hearing for the deputy police and crime commissioner on Monday So that's soon and then we've got the further panel meetings for the rest of the year 26 September 21st November 3rd of February and 13th of March next year So those are all set all been taking place here at Shire Hall in Warwick and all beginning at two o'clock Any urgent items not raised elsewhere Okay, well that concludes the public section of our meeting today and need to read out the following that members of the public are excluded from the meeting for the items mentioned below on the grounds that their presence would involve the Disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 part 1 of the scheduled 12 a of the local government acts 1972 Thank you.