To sign and confirm as a correct record the minutes of the meeting held on 4 October 2024.

The Panel agreed the minutes from the meeting held 4 October 2024 subject to changes, as a true and accurate record.

Members will be asked to make any declaration of interest in respect of items on this agenda.

There were no declarations of interest.

To receive questions from (and provide answers to) members of the public that are relevant to the panel’s functions.

Questions should be no longer than 100 words and sent to Democratic Support, Plymouth City Council, Floor 3, Ballard House, West Hoe Road, Plymouth, PL1 3BJ or democratic.support@plymouth.gov.uk

Questions must be received at least 5 complete working days before the meeting.

There were no questions from members of the public.

Alison Hernandez (Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner) introduced the item and highlighted the following points:

a)     After the election of a Police and Crime Commissioner, they had 12 months to produce a Police and Crime Plan;

b)    The Plan should set out the priorities for policing;

c)     The Plan was set out for five years, enabling the next Police and Crime Commissioner a 12 month period in which they could produce their own plan;

d)    The information in the Plan was evidential and included information from the Peninsula Strategic Assessment, Strategic Policing Requirements and the Government priorities as well as a focus on the challenges laid out by His Majesty’s Inspectorate for Fire and Rescue Services;

e)     A survey had been carried out regarding the Plan which had unusually highlighted the carrying of weapons and child abuse as two of the top five priorities;

f)      Road Safety had been removed as a priority as the ‘business as usual’ road safety strategy was working well;

g)     Road Safety had been replaced by theft as a priority in the Plan due to high levels of theft on the high streets and domestic burglary;
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h)    National policing promised to visit every burglary victim and that was not happening in Devon and Cornwall;

i)      Alcohol had been added as a key driver for crime;

j)      Anti-social behaviour (ASB) continued to be a challenge across Devon and Cornwall and due to this there had been high levels of partnership work with local authorities;

k)     There was a particular concern about Wildlife Crime and ASB in rural communities as it was often seen as less severe than urban areas, and this was not the case;

l)      Performance measures in the performance report had indicated there had been an increase of young people who were victims of crime;

m)   There had been a focus on tackling drink and drug driving;

n)    Drug challenges in coastal towns had become more visible within communities;

o)    The plan was to establish an economic model whereby the income gained from tackling drug dealers would be used to create funding to help with drug related treatments;

p)    Violent crime had been increasing as a rate higher than any other crimes in the community;

q)    Radical ideas and partnership working with local authorities were needed to intervene in violent crime;

r)     The Commissioner was the national lead and Co-Chair for Serious and Organised Crime for Police and Crime Commissioners;

s)     A major challenge was lack of intelligence and structure when tackling serious and organised crime, particularly in rural areas and there was a focus on building confidence in rural communities and ensure they were reporting crimes;

t)     Performance management measures would be put in place to help support police force performance;

u)    The Plan was focussed on tackling crime to help the police force pursue criminals and to help reduce criminal activity.

In response to questions, it was explained:

v)     The Commissioner was responsible for the police estate and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Alison Hernandez (Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner) highlighted the following points:

a)     The File Quality Scrutiny would not be published until December 2024.

The Panel agreed to note the report.

The Panel agreed to note the report.

The Panel agreed to note the tracking log.

The Panel agreed to note the work programme.