(Local Councils) To receive a presentation from Essex Police on arrangements for local policing across the Epping Forest District. The District Commander, Chief Inspector L. Basford, will be in attendance at the meeting. Chief Inspector Basford will be accompanied by Inspector T. Mitchell of Essex Police.
Minutes:
Members received a presentation on current policing and crime issues from Chief Inspector L Basford of Essex Police, the District Commander for the Brentwood and Epping Forest District area. He outlined police activity over the next twelve months, particularly as result of the Essex Police precept increase and officer increase.
There had been a number of police station closures. The local policing team at Loughton operated on a 24-hour basis, 7-day coverage and handled 999 emergency calls and 101 calls. This team dealt with local investigations and lower graded crimes, such as common assaults. The CID criminal investigation team also based in Loughton operated on a 24/7 basis and covered more serious crimes, such as burglaries and serious assaults. The Road Policing Unit off the M11 at Chigwell, was the main base for the whole of west Essex, and extended north to Stansted Airport and south to include Thurrock. The number of resources allocated across Essex by the police operational base headquarters at Boreham meant that the police had an armed response capability (ten marked vehicles) as well as an increase in the covert (unmarked) vehicles.
Specifically in the last two weeks there had been an escalation in burglaries across the District. He encouraged more reporting as it allowed greater access to the support of the Operations Support Group that had the tactical capability to investigate these more serious crimes. The Brentwood and Epping Forest District had used the motorcycle police unit more than any other area, specifically on the roads and rural network where anti-social behaviour could be dealt with more quickly by this unit. There was also access to the National Police Air Service (NPAS) based at North Weald Airfield and the Dog Section. Over the last 24 hours two arrests had been made in Chigwell by the Dog Section.
He hoped to make improvements next year to response times to members of the public and officers replying back. He encouraged local councils to use the Essex Police Twitter feed and email address if they had any questions. This did not replace police on the street but he was using the assets he had available to maintain a higher profile. Monthly reports would be issued via social media giving a snapshot of how many incidences had occurred, types of crime, and information on the ‘secure, protect and prevent campaign. These reports would be rolled out throughout the year on different topics. Also a quarter of all burglaries could be prevented so it was important to secure your home better.
Since January 2017 the Police had been more
proactive with licensed premises. This had resulted with amendments
being made to the licenses of Luxe nightclub and
Nu Bar in Loughton, the impact of which had been huge for
residents. A community officer had recently started specifically
tasked with co-ordinating problems that arose within rural /
agricultural communities. Parking was an area that the police were
regularly contacted about but the Parking Partnership had the
ability to deal with parking issues in problematic roads and
community safety issues.
A question and answer session followed from members.
Councillor A Lion said that there had been an interesting meeting in Chigwell last Friday. On street lighting, bringing back lighting would have a big impact, particularly LED lighting. Another concern from residents was that they did not hear back from the Police for a couple of days. The Chief Inspector replied that of all the crimes reported by the public, 35 per cent were not allocated to an officer. A crime reported by phoning 101 would be allocated to an officer within a 24-hour period either by phone or in person. Essex Police was meeting 88 per cent of all crimes reported as an emergency by phoning 999 within 15 minutes – the Government’s target response time. Accidents that happened on the motorways (M11 and M25) were handled slightly differently. Also if arrests were made from 999 calls, then police officers would not necessarily get back to the person who had reported the emergency.
Councillor D Wixley was concerned that there was one thing missing from community policing in the future, which was speeding vehicles. He commented that when community speed checks had been carried out other crime issues, such as drugs, had come to light. He therefore thought that the public / communities would benefit if the police carried out speed checks, as other crimes were often picked up. The Chief Inspector said that all community police officers would be trained to tackle this. If there were specific roads in parishes affected by speeding traffic, he asked local councils to report these roads to the Police for further investigation. Councillor D Wixley said that another issue with speeding vehicles was that within a three-quarter mile stretch of a road in Loughton there were 16 junctions, which increased the danger of the road and that parking obstructed sight lines. The Chief Inspector said that road traffic issues were fed into a database dedicated to speed and crash data, which was analysed at Essex Police headquarters.
Councillor S Jackman asked about the recruitment of special constables by R Hirst the Police and Crime Commissioner. The Chief Inspector said that recruitment was progressing well. There were twelve special constables and some might end up joining Essex Police.
County Councillor V Metcalfe was pleased that the Police had achieved success through the amendment of the licences to Luxe and Nu Bar, which had made a vast improvement for Loughton residents. If there was another application for a licensed bar in that part of the town, would the Police be involved. The Chief Inspector said that the Police would be consulted. They would look at the proposed licensing application and venue, and were working together with the Council.
Councillor C C Pond also expressed his thanks on the amendments of the licences to these nightclubs and the improvement for residents, as a result. However, there were two concerns residents had on parking – the obstruction of junctions and parking on pavements. Also, mobile phone use by drivers. The Chief Inspector said that there was nothing more helpful to residents that seeing police in action as this inspired their confidence in the Police. A recent operation in Waltham Abbey and resulted in 122 people being caught for various driving offences including the use of mobile phones. He extended an invitation to members if they wished to accompany the Police to experience what happened first hand. Councillor G Chambers expressed his thanks as he had reported parking issues to the Police about three times and that there had been a good response within a good timeframe.
Councillor M Sartin asked about Essex Police’s gypsy and traveller rural engagement team and how they operated. The Chief Inspector said that the team operated seven days a week throughout the day and night and had been able to bring in some consistency on how the powers of the Section 61 legislation were used. When he came to the District, the average number of days that travellers stayed in the area was 10 days in 2016, but was now 1.2 days in 2017. The Chief Inspector said that there would be some collection of intelligence in that the Police would know the travellers’ whereabouts and they would use evidence from other areas. The team would also help out in rural areas on hare coursing and other specific rural / farming.
The Chairman thanked Chief Inspector Basford for addressing the meeting.