(Director of Communities) To receive a presentation from Essex Police’s District Commander, Lewis Basford, on current policing and crime issues in the District.
Minutes:
Members received a presentation on current policing and crime issues in the District from Chief Inspector L Basford of Essex Police.
The District Commander for the Brentwood and Epping Forest area outlined the current level of policing. This comprised ten police constables and seven support constables for the whole district, who covered community issues and were split into two shifts – early and late. There was a local policing team at Loughton that operated on a 24-hour basis, 7-day coverage and handled 999 emergency calls and 101 calls. This team investigated local investigations and lower graded crimes, such as common assaults. The CID criminal investigation team operated on a 24 / 7 basis. There were specialist teams that covered serious crimes, such as violent burglaries, trafficking and serious assaults; domestic violence; road / traffic police; armed response police (for the County); and an Operational Support Group (marked and unmarked). The Police fed intelligence to these teams and the Community Safety Group, but these were not under the direct control of the Police.
Domestic violence, which included violent crime, was responsible for 34 per cent of all crime, which was why there was a dedicated team that looked at this specific issue. Domestic violence had seen an increase of 20 – 25 per cent with 404 more crimes reported during April – September this year than for the same period in 2016. More people were coming forward to report crimes but violent crime was increasing. There were 206 more crimes where officers sustained injuries. Officers wore body cameras, which had resulted in better prosecution rates. Certain individuals seemed to give no forethought to the consequences of their actions and violent crime was increasing. He cited that last weekend, twelve police officers were assaulted, one quite seriously. However, there were 170 less reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) recorded than for the previous year. The Chief Inspector questioned if members of the public were under-reporting on ASB or were their genuinely less incidents, if so this was good as most forces had seen an increase. The Government’s Home Office had changed the crime recording standards in April this year for burglary, and split it to cover ‘burglary residential’ and ‘burglary business / commercial’. Looking forward, he hoped to be able to give clearer figures next year.
On recent ASB incidences that had happened in the District, he explained that at Hillhouse, there had been an element of under-reporting, hence by the time the Police became involved later on, there was more of a problem that had to be dealt with. On Halloween night 40 to 50 youths had congregated in Epping, so extra officers were deployed, sixteen to the High Street and four to other areas – Buckhurst Hill / Chigwell, Theydon Bois and Waltham Abbey. In Epping a number of individuals were arrested for ASB when they targeted the public and police officers. Every one of these individuals had now been identified with the help of the community safety team CCTV footage. The Chigwell based road team from a traffic and crime viewpoint recently issued 400 penalty points in one 8-hour period for driving infractions, which included use of mobile phones, non-use of seatbelt and other road safety breaches.
In light of the current trend of national threats by terrorism, there were on-going training exercises to tackle this hazard. The Police had listened to the public’s reports of ASB by individuals using motorcycles / mopeds and were researching tactics to combat this problem. The work of the Council’s community safety team and their partnership with the Police had helped in the conviction of an individual for human trafficking offences, who was now serving six years in prison.
The Police were looking to raise public awareness of issues from crime prevention to hare coursing, and cited two public events attended, the Farmers’ Market in Loughton and at the supermarket in Ongar. The Police had also visited thousands of residents over a weekend to encourage crime prevention by giving advice on how to secure their houses against burglary. The Police also co-ordinated the volunteer Police Cadets and there were also 500 special volunteers across Essex helping out on these events.
Chief Inspector Basford then took questions from members.
Councillor D Sunger said he had received complaints from residents who often had to wait 45 minutes to get through to an operator when they had dialled 101. Ch Insp Basford replied that over a 24-hour period the wait was around 4 – 5 minutes, but conceded that in the evenings and certain days, e.g. Halloween, then the 101 line would be very busy.
Councillor A Mitchell asked if the Police responded to burglaries to which he replied, all burglaries, but the response time depended on the circumstances, and if a burglary was in progress, then 15 minutes (the emergency national standard).
Councillor R Baldwin asked what the Police were doing to ensure that speed cameras were operational and were digital cameras used? He acknowledged that a third were not active and would probably be reviewed every year. He would do a separate reply on this.
Councillor J H Whitehouse asked how many officers were based at Loughton and that she had received a resident complaint about the Police’s lack of interest when reporting a low-level ASB incident. He replied that there were seven constables and seven PCSOs, which were specifically for community policing, and that they should handle all ASB reports. The public could call into the community hub, staffed by two day officers, and which the Council also worked with, as it was a two-way process of sharing intelligence. Alternatively email:
EppingCommunityPolicingTeam@essex.pnn.police.uk
Councillor K Chana asked if it was worth reporting crimes. Ch Insp replied that the Police were stretched but he worked with the resources that he had. He said that if crimes were not reported unless they knew then he could not factor in resources and move forward. Residents could email him with their concerns and he would try to address emails as honestly as possible.
Councillor A Beales asked if the Police did much work with schools and youth groups to encourage children that it was ok to report incidents to the Police. He replied that the Police and Fire collaboration was well set-up to deal with school issues. He said he thought there should be police officers working with schools, but he did not have the resources. The Police were taking small steps and using support groups, such as the volunteer police cadets and youth councillors. He was looking at what other forces did nationally and would take this on board for the Epping Forest District.
Councillor Knight asked if full size electric bikes were legal motors that needed to be taxed and have an MOT, to which he replied yes.
Councillor H Whitbread praised the Police for their performance on Halloween night which had experienced walking home from the station and their presence had given her reassurance. She asked about the work being done on residential patrols and what role did special constables (SCs) play. He replied that SCs were usually aged from 18 to early 20s. Residential patrols were a response based action and that they monitored how / where to deploy foot patrols.
Councillor R Brookes had been contacted by someone who parked near a station and the vehicle interfered with and left threatening notes on the windscreen. He said he would take details of this from her after the meeting. She also asked what was being done about intelligence on drug taking reports at the Roding Valley car park. He replied that they collated these reports and then assessed the action required through the Hub. There were actually more drug driving offences than drink driving.
Councillor J Lea commented on a recent fireworks incident in a local Waltham Abbey shop and queried if there was enough CCTV to enable catching the instigators. Community Safety Manager, C Wiggins, replied that Waltham Abbey Town Council managed the CCTV and to speak to the Town Clerk. If the shop was being targeted then she advised speaking to her afterwards.
Councillor S Kane asked what the Council could do to help the Police more in combating the increase in ASB with individuals who lacked a fear of being caught, and could the Council help on low level enforcement issues. He replied that better sharing of information between the Police and the Council could help tackle ASB. Also some police forces were receiving local authority help on enforcement matters.
Councillor H Kane asked for advice when youngsters on bikes swerved into the paths of oncoming vehicles and caused accidents. He replied the driver would not be at fault and that dash cameras were a vital source of information for self-protection and to show incidences of bad driving and ASB. There was also a dedicated website that footage of these incidences could be reported to.
The Chairman thanked Chief Inspector Basford for speaking to the members.