Agenda Item No.
COUNTY COUNCIL
15 May 2012
15
This is the May 2012 report from county councillor members of the Police
Authority. The county councillor members of the Police Authority are Clare
Berry, Nigel Brook, Keith Emsall, Robert Gordon, David Lloyd (Chairman),
Sally Newton, Derek Scudder, Richard Smith and Ron Tindall.
The main issues likely to be of interest to other councillors are:
1. Launch of the Strategic Policing Plan
The Authority launched its plan at a well-attended event on 3rd April. Over 100
representatives including the Lord Lieutenant, High Sherriff, Chairman of the
Council and MPs heard the outline of the plan as well as a presentation on the
busy summer of policing over the coming months. The plan sets out the
Authority’s commitment to maintain performance whilst reducing the overall
budget of the Constabulary by £40m.
The main features of the plan include:
 No increase in overall crime levels including ASB incidents and burglary
 Maintaining the already high detection figures
 Disrupting at least 90% of organised crime groups and dismantling six of
them
 Maintaining the number of police officer and staff posts dedicated to
neighbourhood policing
 With partners, maintaining the current number of Police and Community
Support Officers (PCSOs)
 Increasing the number of special constables working alongside
neighbourhood policing teams
 Maintaining the call handling and emergency attendance levels
 Increasing the number of crimes attended by officers to 62%
 Keeping the public safe during the Olympics, Diamond Jubilee and other
special events during the summer
 Delivering a further £9.3m savings in 2012-13 including savings from the
Strategic Collaboration with Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire of
£2.7m
This plan will remain in place until the newly elected Police and Crime
Commissioner publishes their own Policing and Crime Plan. This is unlikely to
be until 2013 following their election at the end of November.
The Police Authority will be running a Hertfordshire wide seminar for interested
parties about the introduction of a Commissioner on Wednesday 16 May. To
date, over 50 officers from councils and other interested bodies have reserved
places at the conference.
106759894
1
2. End year performance results
The year-end performance results highlight a very positive year for crime
reduction and detection.
All Crime levels were down 6.3% for the year amounting to 4212 fewer crimes
committed. Home Burglary, Robbery, Vehicle crime, Serious violent crime and
Shoplifting are all below last year’s levels.
The overall level of reported Anti-Social Behaviour incidents is well below last
year’s levels and the force continues to work with partner organisations in this
area.
Hertfordshire is also one of the leading forces in the country for crime detection
with a figure of 34.7% for the year end.
Home Burglaries reduced by 18.9% last year a reduction of 772 burglaries.
Burglary figures were lower in every borough and district. Burglaries from
garages, sheds and business premises have also decreased by 584 offences.
The number of Distraction Burglaries fell by 36% compared to last year with 81
crimes being committed compared to 127 for 2010-11.
Vehicle crime was 9.6% lower than last year a reduction of 714 offences.
Serious violent crime fell by 6.8%.
The number of reported anti-social behaviour incidents fell by over 19% a
reduction of over 11,000 incidents.
Both of the current targets of answering 90% of 999 calls in 10 seconds and
80% of non-emergency calls in 30 seconds were met. The 90% target for
attending emergency incidents within 15 minutes was also exceeded.
There was a 17% decrease in the numbers of people killed or seriously injured
in road traffic accidents of these the number of young people increased from
29 to 31 – 14% of the total figure.
These encouraging figures have been achieved in a year where the force has
continued to meet the planned budget reductions within this comprehensive
spending review period.
3. Strategic Collaboration
Following the three force collaboration of Professional Standards two further
units have now gone live following the approval of the Police Authority.
Scientific Services went live on 2nd April. The unit will provide a range of
scientific and forensic services across the three counties including scenes of
crime work, fingerprinting and lab study work. The forearms unit went live on
16th April further increasing the resilience of this specialist resource.
A large scale project is now underway to consider how best Organisational
Support services can be delivered with a view to making savings of at least
106759894
2
£8m per annum across the three forces. Currently a range of options are
under consideration including the use of a market provider.
4. National Police Air Support
In the latter part of 2011 the Police Authority gave their outline support for
arrangements to introduce a co-ordinated National Police Air Support service.
This proposal would mean that the delivery of air support would move from the
current collaboration between Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Thames Valley
to a national arrangement involving all Police Authorities. The original plans
envisaged the removal of the helicopter based at RAF Henlow with support
being provided from a range of other bases.
Since the original approval was made there have been a number of
developments. Although the Minister for Policing has indicated his intention to
mandate all Police Authorities to join the national collaboration, Hertfordshire is
continuing to make representations to ensure that the provided service meets
our requirements. Until such assurances are received the Police Authority is
reserving its position. It is expected to have further information in the next few
weeks.
David Lloyd
Chairman
Hertfordshire Police Authority
106759894
3