Agenda item

1.         The Commissioner explained that this update was around work which had been taking place for a long time, it pre-dated the Government’s Serious Violence Strategy to tackle gun crime, knife crime and homicide.  Kent faced a number of challenges including proximity to London and the continent.  The Violence Reduction Challenge was set up to take a look at how it was possible to work better together as partners to tackle violent crime.  The Commissioner outlined some of the main points from his report to the Panel. 

2.         Cllr Palmer asked about the effect of a reduction in Youth Services, and how local councils could support the Commissioner and the Police.  The Commissioner agreed that policing was not the only response to violent crime; it had to be a partnership of all agencies to prevent it happening in the first place.  The Commissioner referenced adverse childhood experiences, that children witnessing violence were more likely to become perpetrators of violence.  Referring to stop and search the Commissioner explained that typically in around 17-18% something was found or an arrest took place, adding that they were conducted based on intelligence.  The Chairman referred to the report of the Select Committee on knife crime which would set out areas on which the County Council could focus. 

3.         Ms Hamilton referred to young people and how they could be supported to prevent them being pulled back into gangs once they had been through the criminal justice system.  She also raised the links with British Transport Police (BTP) and whether these were improving to prevent county line networks from travelling.  The Commissioner confirmed that he would raise the points from Ms Hamilton about local police with the Chief Constable, BTP was a key partner in tackling crime and ASB.  Joint operations were carried out and with regards to rural areas, there was a need for a consistent approach and he acknowledged that rural areas did feel more isolated.  Regarding gangs, the Commissioner referred to a number of different projects and the importance of the partnership between the police and local authorities and the tremendous work of the prison service which was key. 

4.         Cllr Mochrie-Cox asked for an assurance that intelligence led referred to qualitative research led evidence.  The Commissioner agreed with this point, he would not want policing to be statistic led, but he did wish to build a problem profile, informing about individuals and communities that the Force needed to work with, this included trauma informed work and it was hoped that the Violence Reduction Unit would take this work further.  

5.         The Vice-Chairman referred to the stop and search scrutiny panel, he considered it may be worth the Commissioner sitting down with the groups in the community doing the day to day activity, for example groups working with communities during black history month. 

6.         In response to a question from Cllr Clark the Commissioner confirmed that stop and search had not fallen, if anything it had increased.  It was an important tool and there was a move to it being more intelligence led.  There was a need to ensure that stop and search was being used to target criminal activity. 

7.         In response to a question from Elaine Bolton about future funding the Commissioner confirmed that he was committed to sharing data and outcomes, there had been a lot of lobbying to the Home Office to continue funding.  There would be an announcement in December setting out the future funding for policing. 

RESOLVED that the Panel note the Commissioners update on Violence Reduction, the Panel requested a further report in due course.