(a)

putting policing at the heart of communities was a priority for the PCC and she would be discussing this with the Chief Constable;

(b)

the PCC had paused any further police station closures;

(c)

Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) had been invaluable, but a decision had not yet been made about their future;

(d)

the high turnover of senior Police officers was due to promotion, and the PCC acknowledged the importance of communities knowing their local Police officers;

(e)

Police funding had been protected for four years by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in autumn 2015, and any possible future changes for this funding [if any] would be known with the advent of a new Prime Minister and his/her Government;

(f)

the PCC was keen to know the public’s opinion on what the Police should be investing their money [reserves] in;

(g)

CCTV was an important issue and it was acknowledged that whilst it did not prevent crime, it did help to catch criminals and protected the Police as extra help could be called upon if required.  A strategic conversation was needed to discuss this issue with other agencies, and ways of working with other agencies (such as the Fire Service) were being investigated;

(h)

there was little support for victims of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) although extra funding had recently been secured from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to provide therapeutic services and support.

(a)

this plan had been written when it was thought there would be £54 million of cuts over a four year period, whereas the situation was that the allocated budget was just under £1 million less per year;

(b)

the PCC was interested in ideas to develop a particular station;

(c)

a decision regarding the Police HQ at Middlemoor would be made by the end of September;

(d)

a number of stations were being improved due to their poor condition;

(e)

the Strategic Alliance review of estate functions was ongoing and progress was being made towards the production of a full business case.

In response to questions, Members were advised that –

(g)

the PCC was keen to explore ways that the Police, Local Authorities and other agencies could share their premises, preferably at low or no cost;

(h)

a further review in to custody centres was being undertaken due to the decision that needed to be taken in respect of the Middlemoor site;

(i)

the possibility of a single estates function covering Devon & Cornwall Police, Dorset Police and the Devon and Somerset Fire & Rescue Service was being investigated, and a suitable candidate with suitable commercial expertise would be appointed to investigate the use of existing and redundant estate.  An update on the appointment would be available later in the year.

(a)

the PCC was very impressed with the progression of the Strategic Alliance (SA) and savings had already been realised;

(b)

the PCC had been invited to a future meeting of the Dorset Police and Crime Panel and would like to have an invitation extended to the Dorset PCC and Dorset Police and Crime Panel members to attend a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel;

(c)

the PCC considered it would be a useful exercise if members of the Panel met with Police officers and staff who had been affected by the SA;

(d)

it was important for Devon & Cornwall Police to keep their identity throughout the alliance process.

The Chair expressed his concern at the brevity of the report submitted for this agenda item, reminded the PCC that members of the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel were stakeholders in this issue and stressed that he would like to see more detailed reports submitted in future. 

He also reminded the PCC that an invitation had previously been extended to the Dorset PCC and members of the Dorset Police and Crime Panel to attend a meeting but this invitation had not been accepted as yet.

The Chair welcomed the PCC’s proposal that this item is a standing agenda item at each meeting in order to update Panel members on SA developments.

The Panel noted the report.

(a)

this report was an interim report as a new performance management framework was being developed as part of the Police and Crime Plan;

(b)

the Devon and Cornwall Police area remained one of the lowest crime areas;

(c)

the 101 service had delivered significant performance improvements over the last three months;

(d)

the ‘ClickB4UCall’ initiative encouraged members of the public to contact the Police via e-mail if they did not need to speak to someone;

In response to questions, Members were advised that –

(e)

this report had been written prior to the EU Referendum and the PCC had asked the Chief Constable for a breakdown of hate crime incidents that had occurred since 23 June;

(f)

the PCC would attempt to determine how many convictions had been secured as a result of using CCTV as evidence;

(g)

statistics for cyber crime and fraud, historically recorded separately, would now be included in future reports;

(h)

‘webchat’ (live chat for general, non-urgent enquiries) was being operated as a pilot scheme;

(i)

the PCC was keen to investigate ways to help offenders and divert them to a non-criminal activity thus preventing them from re-offending;

(j)

the PCC was keen to have some easily accessible information available so members of the public could see what was happening in their local community;

(k)

the PCC would investigate the possibility of having OPCC staff dedicated to a particular geographical area.

(a)

the PCC was making a concerted effort to work closer with local fire services to enable greater efficiency and effectiveness across all blue light services;

(b)

the PCC was fully committed to volunteering, and a Citizens in Policing Co-ordinator was currently being recruited;

(c)

the MoJ’s Victim Care Grant had provided £139,000 for victims of CSE and child sexual abuse, and the OPCC had recently received 14 bids with a total value in excess of £550,000, and final decisions regarding allocation of the grant would be made shortly;

(d)

work to establish a Centralised Virtual Remand Court across Devon and Cornwall was well underway with an anticipated go-live date of 3 October 2016, the aim of which was to hold a single dedicated court sitting in a Magistrates Court in Devon & Cornwall hearing all remand hearings by video, thus negating the requirement to transport people between various locations.