Agenda item

The Panel noted a report of the Police and Crime Commissioner which provided details of the force performance with supporting commentary for the twelve months to the end of September 2013, compared with the twelve months to the end of September 2012.  The report also provided details of work undertaken with a range of partners to take forward actions on the Commissioner’s priorities (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Panel raised the following issues:

·        Councillor Dixon welcomed and supported the recent comments made by the PCC and Chief Constable regarding drugs.  He referred to parking problems in Newton Aycliffe  and suggested dialogue with the County Council regarding joint funding arrangements to tackle the problem.  The PCC replied that he was happy to enter joint funding arrangements wherever it was possible.

·        Councillor Hopgood referred to local Councillors being stakeholders and referred to a recent surgery held in her Ward which she was unaware of.  She also mentioned that work regarding Student v City issues was being done already and this may be useful for the PCC to be aware of.

·        Councillor Haszeldine congratulated the work of the PCC and force in raising awareness of domestic violence, which he believed had led to an increase in the reporting of such incidents.  He referred to the increase in reported incidents of shoplifting, which he considered to be partly due to current welfare reforms.  However, he queried the figures for Anti-Social Behaviour, believing that such incidents were not being reported because the public did not believe they would get a response.  The PCC replied that he would urge people to report all incidents to the police, as this would give him a stronger position when reasoning for officers.  Referring to shoplifting, the PCC provided the Panel with details of a pre-charge disposal approach being taken by the Integrated Offender Management Unit.

·        Councillor Boyes referred to work being undertaken around substance misuse and road safety and informed the PCC that both these areas had been considered by the County Council’s Safer and Stronger Scrutiny Committee, which would welcome the opportunity to feed in to the process being carried out by the PCC.

·        Councillor Jones referred to Community Panels, which were based on constituencies.  As a result, 4 rural Wards in Darlington fell within the Sedgefield constituency, and Councillor Jones asked that these be aligned to Darlington.  The PCC replied that he would consider this and provide Councillor Jones with feedback.