Agenda item

1.    The Commissioner presented his report and said that it was a priority to prevent crime before it took place and to support local neighbourhoods irrespective of the levels of crime that they experienced. There was a dedicated prevention command within Kent Police which dealt with the reduction and prevention of

antisocial behaviour, early intervention with children and young people, and serious violence.

2.    Much prevention work was carried out by local Community Safety Units which worked in partnership with local councils, housing associations and other agencies in order to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. Preventing crime by collaborating with local authorities, architects and developers to create safer environments was also important.

3.    The Commissioner discussed briefly the paper provided to his recent Performance and Delivery Board by the Chief Constable.

4.    He said that he allocated over £1.3 million on an annual basis to support local authorities and other organisations to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. A large portion of that funding was given to local district councils and borough councils for their Community Safety Partnerships. He said that he would be pleased to support Community Safety Partnerships next year with funding from the Crime Reduction Grant.

5.    The Commissioner said that his Office was still waiting for the Government’s announcement on the financial settlement for next year. Unfortunately, as this was an annual settlement, he could only provide funding allocation certainty on an annual basis.

6.    He paid tribute to Canterbury in particular for the way in which local councillors and the council collaborated with Kent Police to tackle crime in the area. For example, funding was used to provide additional Street Ambassadors who offered extra safety reassurance and visibility during the summer months.

7.    The work of Kent’s Violence Reduction Unit was bucking the trend nationally in terms of recorded knife crime and fewer admissions into A&E for knife injuries.

8.    Work with the Criminal Justice Board, which the PCC chaired, also helped prevent future crimes. One of the areas which did not receive enough attention was rehabilitation. Prisoners Building Homes was a programme which started in the west of England. The programme entailed prisoners building modular homes and learning skills to help them upon release . The programme had led to a significant reduction in reoffending and had recently won a Civil Service Award.

9.    Expressing concern, a Member asked a question about levels of shoplifting.

a.    The PCC said that the previous year there had been a 9 % increase in recorded shoplifting with just over 17,000 offences. This increase mirrored the national trend. He cautioned that this was an area where policing needed to do better in developing more effective relationships with businesses in order to address the issue.

10.In answer to a question about Crime Reduction Grant funding, the PCC said that almost every year he had allocated exactly the same amount of money.If the full funding was not spent, this did not necessarily result in funding cuts the following year.

11.In answer to a question about national crime recording standards, the Commissioner confirmed that these were set by the Home Office.

RESOLVED: To note the report.