Agenda item

1. The Chairman explained that these minutes were primarily to note and to inform members of the Panel unable to attend the Commissioner’s Governance Board meetings, to which there was a standing invitation to all Panel members.  The Chairman said that members could ask questions or seek clarification but if there were  any substantive matters, these should be the subject of a fuller report at a later Panel meeting POST MEETING NOTE:  the dates of the Commissioner’s Governance Board meetings were re-circulated to all members on 8 October 2013.

2. Members asked questions and received responses from the Commissioner on the following areas:           

3. Agenda page 13 – the Commissioner explained that the Force was working with mental health practitioners in developing a pilot scheme where they would go out on patrol with officers.  This was the subject of ongoing discussion.

4. In response to a question about “drunk tanks” which had recently been reported in the media the Commissioner felt that these were not practical, consideration would need to be given to mental health issues for example.

5. The Commissioner confirmed that she was satisfied with the Force’sRecovery Plan on crime recording.  A weekly meeting was held with the Chief Constable on this issue and it would also form part of the agenda for the next Governance Board meeting.

6. It was agreed that in view of the importance of this topic the Police and Crime Panel might include an agenda item on the Force’s Recovery Plan on their forward work programme. 

7. In response to a question around the police officer recruitment which had taken place over the previous fortnight the Commissioner confirmed that deployment of officers and staffwas a matter for the Chief Constable, however Mrs Barnes was satisfied with the recruitment process used to recruit these individuals.  The recruitment was for front line policing staff.   

8. With regard to violent crime and the night time economy, the Commissioner explained that deployment of resources was a matter for the Chief Constable; the Commissioner was planning on visiting other town centres with the Police Force on their late shift as she had done in Canterbury recently.  The Commissioner was hugely impressed with the calibre of the officers and their approach to dealing with those frequenting Canterbury City Centre at night.  

9. The Commissioner explained that a predictive policing day, during which areas where crime was predicted to take place were focused on by the Police Force, had taken place and another day was planned.  She said that the Metropolitan Police Service were exploring the use of predictive policing.  It was considered by Panel members that there needed to be further explanation of the process behind predictive policing to the public.

10. In response to question about the withdrawal of CCTV the Commissioner explained that CCTV was considered to be an extremely useful tool in providing evidence of crime. 

11. The Commissioner confirmed that she was satisfied that the figures relating to hate crime were accurate; there was ongoing training to ensure that hate crime was recorded accurately. 

RESOLVED that Members note the minutes of the Commissioner’s Governance Board held on 15 August 2013.