Your council
Agenda item
Guest speakers Chair of the Independent Advisory Group
Guest speakers Chair of the Independent Advisory Group, Lisa Leonce, PC Karen West, Essex Police
Minutes:
Natalie introduced this evening’s guest speakers to the members of the group, Lisa Leonce the Chair of the Independent Advisory Group and PC Karen West from the Essex Police. IAG stands for - Independent Advisory Group.
Lisa explained that IAG's are a way for communities to work with the police to help improve the services they provide. IAG’s advise on policing issues that may cause concern to local people and communities. IAG members are volunteers from local communities, from various backgrounds, different expertise, and different age groups. Lisa explained that they help and inform the Police on incidents that happen within the community and discuss how incidents could be handled differently in the future, and how these incidents can make people within the community feel. Members are independent local volunteers, who meet regularly to discuss issues of policing and law enforcement. The Epping and Brentwood IAG have 4 meetings a year, they are usually evening time around 6.30pm and no longer than 2 hours.
The UK has a mix of regional and specialist police forces. In England and Wales, there are 43 territorial police forces of varying size, 39 in England + 4 in Wales. One for the entire country of Scotland - (Police Scotland). One for Northern Ireland (PSNI). All but 10 of the forces have IAG’s established in some form. Recently Essex Police Force’s IAGs were said to be one of the top three in the country.
Youth Councillors asked when was the IAG formed?
The IAG's was formed in the year of 1999 following an inquiry when a young man, Stephen Lawrence, was brutally murdered in Eltham, and the public felt the racial attack was not dealt with properly. The IAG group gives people of the community a chance to share their opinion on how the Police respond to incidents. Although the police have worked with members of the public prior to this - for example neighbour watch. The report which created IAG's is concerned about engaging members of the community who were not previously engaged.
Youth Councillors asked how many IAG’s are there and do they all have young people represented on them?
Some IAG’s have set up a separate Youth IAG. For example, there is a Strategic Youth Independent Advisory Group which covers Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton and the Isle of Wight for young people aged between 14-25years.
Other IAG’s have chosen to have young people appropriately represented on them by community workers for example. There is no right or wrong way to do this, and it is different for each district and police force. The key is doing what has proven to be the most viable option for them.
Here in our Epping & Brentwood IAG we have decided to have youth representation on the full IAG as we have found historically this provides a more consistent approach to issues, prevents a high turnover of attendees and ensures that young people are able to communicate and be involved in the full discussion as opposed to a separate IAG and I know there are others who have done the same.
Lisa stated that the IAG want young people’s help to achieve their goal of representing our community, being a critical friendly voice, to improve community engagement, building trust, increasing confidence and address areas of disproportionality and local policing issues. Ideally, we have representation of all protected characteristics; gender, abilities, sexuality, race, etc.
The IAG need to hear and have young people’s voices, not only to listen and learn from, but to also feedback and help educate others on processes and procedures. How to report incidents, get support and help.
Youth Councillors asked how can you apply? Lisa said, via the Essex police website. There is an IAG page with a short video and more information about the IAG and the online application form. The link is …
Youth Councillors asked, how old do you need to be to join, as there is no information about the minimum age on the website. Lisa reported the web page is managed by Essex Police. Lisa will bring this to their attention and will suggest updating the information. If you are 12 years and above, you can apply to join the IAG via the website link below. Applications are then considered to represent a wide range of community members. The link is …
The minimum age is determined locally, therefore it is 12 years for the Epping Forest & Brentwood IAG. However, a consent form is obtained from someone with parental responsibility for prospective members under 18 years old.
Youth Councillors asked, can Youth Council Member re-apply? Lisa reported, Youth Councillors can re-apply, as it is important the IAG always have the voice and engagement of young people in the community. This will give everyone the
opportunity, whilst balancing representation. The IAG wants to ensure as many as possible different groups within the community are represented.
Lisa and Karen gave special thanks to both Martin and Sonny, for serving as Youth Council Members on the Epping Forest and Brentwood IAG. It was noted that Martin and Sonny’s 2-year service ends in July 2022.