Agenda item

The Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Joy Allen presented her Performance Report for Quarter Four, which covered the period January to March 2024 (for copy see file of minutes).

Councillor R Potts noted the information relating to the Force Control Room performance was very encouraging and moving in the right direction, noting the example of 999 calls that had previously been taking 14.4 seconds to answer, the third worst performance in the country, now down to 10 seconds which was much improved.  He noted that 101 call abandonment had also reduced massively, and he hoped for continued improvement in that regard also.  Councillor R Potts noted neighbourhood crime had increased and noted increases in robbery, theft and arson, with a total of increase of around 13 percent.  He noted that while those missing from home had increased by around 240 percent compared to the baseline, the numbers appeared to have levelled out and while that was positive, he still had concerns in relation to missing children.  He noted that since the IICSA report, measure now seemed to be working.  Councillor R Potts asked therefore how the year-on-year increase in crime could be reduced, and for commitment in terms of justice for those referred to in the IICSAS report.

The PCC thanked Councillor R Potts for his comments and questions and noted that the quarter four report had seen a number of improvements to various areas of performance, and she hoped that the positive trends would continue.  In terms of areas of neighbourhood crime that had seen increases, such as burglary and vehicle crime, they were areas where prevention could make and impact, with the Police and public able to help each other.  She noted when she had been a Neighbourhood Watch Organiser and that investment in those types of preventative measures was important. 

She added that CCTV was also very important and highlighted the work with Town and Parish Councils in terms of addressing crime at the local level.  She explained that raising awareness in respect of crime prevention measures and messages was very important, such as Faraday pouches to prevent keyless entry card information being collected by criminals. 

The PCC reminded the Panel that there had been targeted funding in relation to hotspot areas, and that many people were involved in spreading messages as regards prevention and safety, including Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), Police Cadets, the Fire and Rescue Service and Neighbourhood Wardens.  She explained that she, along with her team at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC), held the Chief Constable to account in relation to performance, and while there were some good positive trends, it was important to keep those going.  She noted the levels of neighbourhood crime nationally compared to those in County Durham and Darlington and reminded the Panel of the financial challenges and the reduced number of Police Officers when compared to 2010 numbers.

The Chair referred to a table within the report that set out staffing statistics and asked as regards an asterisk alongside ‘Police Staff’.  She also asked as regards further information in respect of ‘Park Safe’ as she had not heard as regards this scheme previously.  The PCC noted the asterisk was to denote Force Staff, which had previously not included back-office staff, just frontline services.

Councillor G Lee noted page 71 of the agenda pack referred to road casualty data and that the data did not appear to total correctly.  The Accountability and Scrutiny Officer, OPCC, Abbi Buchanan noted there was an error within the report, with the Quarter 1 to Quarter 4 baseline and Quarter 1 to Quarter 4 23/24 totals only adding up to Quarter 3.  She noted that fatal incidents for 2022/23 had been 22, and for 2023/24 it had been 20, a reduction of 9.1 percent, and for serious injuries it was a similar trend year-on-year from 216 in 2022/23 to 212 in 2023/24, a 1.9 percent reduction.  She noted for killed or seriously injured (KSI) it was the totals of the previous two statistics, being 238 for 2023/24 and 232 for 2024/25, a 2.5 percent reduction.  She concluded by noting for slight it was 550 for 2022/23 and 470 for 2023/24 a 14.5 percent reduction, and the totals were 788 and 702 respectively, a reduction of 10.9 percent.  The Head of Business, OPCC Sweety Sahani noted that an update would be circulated to the Panel accordingly. 

Councillor G Lee noted the Countryside Alliance noted crime in rural areas had increased by 22 percent, with around 20 organised crime gangs operating in rural areas.  He asked whether it was possible to have information breaking down the statistics in relation to urban and rural areas. 

He noted the excellent work of the PSCO in his area, as well as the work of Farm Watch and the National Farmers Union (NFU) and explained that looking at statistics in terms of rural crime could help identify any need for specialised teams for rural crime. It was suggested that this could be included in the Panel’s future work programme.

The PCC noted the NFU had produced figures which showed it was quite a bit lower in County Durham.   She added that Safer Streets Round 5 had an allocation of £230,000 to help tackle rural crime, with initial work being in the Durham Dales, now rolled out to the wider Force area.  She noted that it helped provide technology that could support rural volunteers.  She noted as regards regional work that was ongoing, in terms of organised crime and increased use of technology including drones and automatic number plate recognition.

Councillor D Nicholls noted that all Members of the Panel understood that how quickly the public could get in touch with the Police was key, and the improvements reported were therefore very good.  He asked as regards 101 call answering times, and noted whether they were a factor in terms of the abandonment rate.  He noted that around one-third of the calls into the 101 service were not crime related, however, there would still be a number of calls that related to the Police, just not at an emergency or 999 level of urgency.  He asked if the issue related to technology and whether it was at the correct capacity to cope with the number of calls received.  He noted the positive work that had been undertaken in respect of the Constabulary website and online functionality, such as the use of live-chat and online forms and asked as regards what work had been done in terms of accessibility.

The PCC noted that when she has spoken to the Panel at the precept meeting in February, she had explained that the issue of the public being able to get in contact had been a priority, with the live chat now being accessible 24 hours a day.  She added there had also been investment in switchboard technology, however, she noted a churn of staff having an impact, with recruitment having taken place to refill positions.  She noted the soft relaunch of the website had taken place, with the new single online home and explained that there would now be the ability to drill down into information and understand demand upon services and abandonment issues.  The PCC explained that there was a three second delay at the BT side that had not been taken into account when looking at call answering times, now being picked up.  She added that new software, Salesforce, was helping to improve customer relationship management, providing a more interactive experience for the public, and helping to keep better records of all calls and queries.  She explained that she would get further information as regards 101 calls for a future performance report.  She noted that accessibility issues were important, and referred to text to speech technology that was available to use.

Councillor D Nicholls noted that the previous iteration of the Police website had included direct contact details for local Police teams, with the ability to input a postcode and get those contact details, however, this appeared to have gone from the new website.  The PCC noted she would check as regards this after the meeting and come back with an answer, adding there would be some issues to resolve as part of the update to the website.

Resolved:

That the report be noted.