Agenda item

1.    The Commissioner introduced the report and explained that the Review itself was first commissioned in February 2022 with the objective of improving the Force's neighbourhood policing while, at the same time, accruing savings. This would have an impact on over 30 roles, with about 500 people affected - including officers, staff as well as managers. There was extensive engagement within the Force in order to understand people's challenges, and research was carried out to analyse the neighbourhood models of other police forces. The Commissioner explained that he wanted to make sure that the offer to the public was as good as, if not better, than the previous arrangement.

2.    The Commissioner referred to the model in the update report, which indicated the number of police officers and staff in this new structure. This included: ‘Beat Officers’ who had geographical personal ownership of Wards; the Child Centred Policing team and; Neighbourhood Taskforces. The rural policing team saw a very small uplift of 1 PS and 6.5 PCSOs. The work of the PCSOs focused particularly on engagement and crime prevention, which had been well received by the rural community.

3.    In terms of implementation, the model was mostly on track, with 84% of Beat Officers, 80% of the Child Centred Policing team and 100% of the Neighbourhood Taskforce's in place. All but one of the Rural uplift posts were also delivered. It was anticipated that the model itself would be completed by September 2024, and recruitment of PCSOs was ongoing in order to support that.

4.    The Commissionerwas pleased to have received both written and anecdotal positive feedback from members of the community about the impact the individual officers were having in their communities. He also paid tribute to the Special Constabulary, as they had been very proactive in supporting the Neighbourhood Policing Model.

5.    The Chairman commented that he had received very good feedback from the local residents of his Division. He asked how the Neighbourhood Taskforces fitted into the geographical and managerial structure.

a.    The Commissioner replied that the Taskforces were based in each Kent District, and each District Chief Inspector would be responsible for the deployment of their own Taskforce. The approach was to focus on each issue and to engage with local residents and business in order to address it. This method had been piloted previously and had a positive impact.

6.    In answer to a question about how to make sure that the model was not centralised and responded to local need, the Commissioner explained that the work of Beat Officers was focused on local problem solving and that they should not be moved around from teams outside of their district. They were not part of central Partnerships teams, which was where more centrally-based command and control would take place. The schools’ teams and the Rural team were more centrally based because they were better able to coordinate their activity, nonetheless the emphasis was on local problem solving with local analysis - a demand-led model.

7.    In response to a question about how he viewed the role of the Kent’s Special Constabulary, the Commissioner said that one of the positive things about volunteering in Kent was that it was seen as complementary and not a replacement, and that they added significant value to the service delivered.

a.    Kent’s Special Constables were very highly regarded and were encouraged to develop professionally. They were offered courses, such as public order and advance driving courses, and were all equipped with Taser - which not many police forces were willing to do.

b.    The Commissioner said that he was determined to help increase the number of Special Constables in Kent. He had a meeting with the Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire, the College of Policing and the NSPCC around making the national approach around the Special Constabulary more consistent in terms of rank structure, tasks and responsibilities.

8.    In reply to a question about the importance of ensuring local officer presence in this policing model, the Commissioner explained that the extraction of Beat Officers would only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

9.    A Member of the Panel asked how the Commissioner was going to hold the Chief Constable to account to ensure that the Neighbourhood Policing model worked across all of the Force's priorities, especially in areas such as violence against women and children, and county lines.

a.    The Commissioner explained that he had been reassured by the Strategic Partnerships command that, while district-controlled Beat Officers would deal with local issues, they would also still implement the Force’s priorities - including tackling violence against women and girls.

10.In response to a question about how representative the Neighbourhood Policing model was in terms of the communities that the police officers and staff were serving, the Commissioner said that he would gather this information and provide it to the Panel.

11. A Panel Member wondered whether the three-day training provided to officers and staff in the newly created posts of the Neighbourhood Policing model would be sufficient.  

a.    The Commissioner replied that all officers received a basic three-day training to be equipped with problem-solving skills. Other training was available. For example, a number of the PCSOs had gained a formal Level 3 qualification in problem solving. There were also

regular training sessions with partner organisations on other issues as well as regular refresher sessions.

12. In response to a question about whether the £1.5m funding for the Anti-social Behaviour Hotspot Response programme had been effective at tackling crime in town centres, the Commissioner said that there were 25 hotspot areas within the county which had been identified on that basis.

13. In order to assess the effects of this programme, 75,000 surveys had been delivered to those living in the hotspot areas to gather their feedback. Early responses could be available in October 2024.

RESOLVED: To note the report and agree to a further update at the December 2024 meeting.