Agenda item

1.      The Commissioner introduced the report highlighting that his office had undertaken an inquiry on the issue, including a large survey and a big data exercise. The results from the big data exercise had been reported in a previous paper to the Panel but had found key indicators for who was more likely to perpetrate violence against women and girls. A roundtable meeting had been held to scrutinise the proposals and recommendations from the inquiry before the outcomes were published last year which were now being implemented. The Commissioner highlighted some of the recommendations from the inquiry that were being delivered such as officer verification checks; the launch of the StreetSafe tool; and more comprehensive safeguards. He explained the Walk and Talk events and the launch of his Victim Voice initiative, as well as school intervention programmes and victim satisfaction surveys. He summarised and felt that there had been good progress implementing some of the recommendations, but there was a need to refocus efforts on others. He added that the national Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy currently included men and boys but felt that there needed to be a separate national strategy for men and boys and separate funding streams.

2.      Mr Meade declared an interest that he was the Chairman of the Gravesham Street Pastors Charity, which had been mentioned in the report.

3.      A Member questioned what work was being undertaken to ensure the Walk and Talk events were reflective and representative of the local community, and what outreach could be done to include young people in these events. The Commissioner agreed that early Walk and Talk events had not been impactful as they had not been representative of the community, and this had been due to poor communication. He stated that the team were now using Twitter, Facebook, NextDoor and My Community Voice to promote these events and increase numbers of people attending. He added that the Walk and Talk events were also being more proactive and were directly engaging with members of the public, and being held in busier areas.

4.      The Commissioner, in response to a question from a Member, stated that the team were now working to improve the follow-up to crimes and the investigation of crimes against women and girls, as these areas would improve residents’ confidence in the police. The team worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service to receive pre-charge advice, but the charge rate for rape and sexual assaults remained low. The Commissioner stated that Violence Against Women and Girls was a priority in his Police and Crime Plan which was a standing item at the Performance and Delivery Board, and that he met regularly with the Chief Constable to discuss the implementation of the recommendations from the inquiry.

5.      A Member expressed concern that young people were not engaging with programmes for schools, and asked if the police were the right organisation to be running the Schools Intervention Programme. The Commissioner stated that this issue had been recognised amongst the force, and lockdowns during the pandemic had affected young men’s behaviour, particularly an increase in misogyny and sexualisation of women on social media. He stated that the police worked in partnership with organisations such as the St Giles Trust to deliver programmes in schools and provide targeted responses to developing trends.

6.      A Member highlighted the Kasey report and attitudes towards women amongst police officers and asked if Kent Police had undertaken any work regarding this. The Commissioner stated that Kent Police had responded to the Casey report by uplifting the central vetting and counter-corruption teams, as well as introducing an internal whistleblowing procedure. He stated that some officers in Kent Police had been disciplined or sacked following internal investigation in response to the Kasey report. Verification checks had been implemented immediately after the murder of Sarah Everard and this service had been used by members of the public.

RESOLVED to note the update.