Warwickshire PCC weekly update: 27 November

Weekly newsletter from Warwickshire's PCC

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Friday 27th November 2015

Building a safer Warwickshire

Welcome to my weekly newsletter

I'm Ron Ball, Warwickshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, and welcome to my weekly newsletter.

Here you will find out the latest news, what I've been up to during the week and how I am working to keep Warwickshire residents safe and supporting new projects and initiatives to tackle crime in the area. You can get in touch on 01926 413718 or email opcc@warwickshire.gov.uk

Thought of the week: Chancellor's surprise move on funding

The announcement made by Chancellor George Osborne on Wednesday that police budgets will be protected until 2019-20 is a sensible and pragmatic decision, recognising the dangers that I and many others had warned would have occurred if the decision had gone the other way and further major cuts were imposed to police resources. It provides forces with a much more stable platform to plan for the future.

As we await further detail from the Home Office as to how police funding will in practice be configured over the next five years, it is important to remember the challenges that have already been faced. Warwickshire Police, alongside its alliance partner West Mercia Police, has successfully delivered substantial savings, while at the same time continuing to maintain a high level of service to the public. It is particularly through the dedication and professionalism of officers, staff and volunteers throughout the alliance that public satisfaction has remained high at a time of substantial change and uncertainty.

While the financial position forces now find themselves in is a much more positive one than had been feared, this does not mean that there will not be challenges ahead. The reality is still that budgets remain smaller than have been seen for many years, while the pressures to keep the public safe from harm are greater than ever. The changing nature of crime – in particular cybercrime and CSE – and the rise of global terrorism, demonstrated so tragically in Paris and elsewhere two weeks ago, means that there is a continued need to find new and better ways of working.

We must also keep in mind that our partners across the public sector have not all enjoyed the benefit of protections for their budgets. This may have its own impact on how the police delivers its services and the level of support that our partners may be able to give in return. This will all require assessment in the coming weeks.

Final details of the settlements for individual forces will not be known until December. In the meantime, the work that has already started to look at ways of strengthening and deepening the Alliance will continue, as both PCCs and Chief Officers look to ensure that both forces continue to be in the best possible position to protect communities across Warwickshire and West Mercia. I will also be launching a public consultation as I look to set the force budget for 2016/17 - more details on this shortly.

Ron Ball
Police and Crime Commissioner for Warwickshire

Manchester APCC/NPCC Summit

Clearly, the most significant relationship any Police and Crime Commissioner has is with their Chief Constable. Commissioners get together periodically throughout the year, as do Chief Constables. Since our agendas are so similar with huge areas of overlap, it would be remiss not to have a combined opportunity to collectively share perspectives.

What was badged as a Joint Partnership Summit took place in Manchester on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. I was only able to attend on Tuesday, where the morning session addressed the changing threats faced by the police service, while the afternoon focused on how those threats can be addressed.

I chaired a session later in the afternoon looking at how community action can help police forces reduce demand for service, while at the same time improving trust in hard to reach communities and bolstering social cohesion.

Spotlight on domestic abuse

Wednesday (November 25) was White Ribbon Day, a special international event designed to raise awareness of domestic abuse and the role we can all play in ending it. It also marks the beginning of 16 days of action to end violence against women; while domestic abuse is suffered, often in silence, by people of all genders and all ages, it is women who are much more likely to be victims.

It’s a startling fact that emergency calls relating to domestic abuse represent around five percent of all of the calls for assistance here in Warwickshire. Nationally, two women are killed every week in England and Wales by a current or former partner, while one in four women will experience domestic abuse during their lifetime. The NSPCC also calculates that 25% of children in the UK have been exposed to domestic abuse.

These are sobering statistics and show the scope of the problem we must all work to solve. Very often domestic abuse is something that people see as something that has nothing to do with them or, worse still, is simply ignored. The reality is very different - I would hazard a guess that just about everyone reading this will be able to identify someone they know who has suffered domestic abuse and, as the figures above show, it is quite likely that there will be a reasonable proportion of readers who have been - or continue to be - victims themselves.

But, what is being done to tackle the problem here in Warwickshire? It is a crime which Warwickshire Police is working hard to address - indeed, in 2014 it was one of only eight forces in the country praised by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in its ‘Domestic Abuse: Everyone’s Business’ report. According to HMIC, “the public in Warwickshire can have confidence that the force is working well with partners to tackle domestic abuse and keep victims safe. Tackling domestic abuse is a priority for the force and staff demonstrate a high level of commitment and understanding throughout the organisation.”

While this is encouraging, there is always room for improvement, particularly when the issue is as prevalent as domestic abuse. As Commissioner, I have overseen the force’s improvement plan which followed the inspection and there has been a great deal of work undertaken with partners. This has included actively working alongside partner agencies and Warwickshire County Council to implement a county-wide strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.

I’ve also ensured that working to end domestic abuse sits at the heart of my Police and Crime Plan. During this year I’ve made nearly £200,000 available to support a wide range of programmes designed to tackle domestic abuse from all angles. This includes funding four additional Independent Domestic Advisers, who provide specialist support to high risk domestic abuse victims and their children.

Other funded projects include the Domestic Abuse Counselling Service, which works with the perpetrators of domestic abuse, supporting them to change their offending behaviour, and a commitment of £12,000 to Warwickshire Probation Trust for a specialist administrator who provides information to the courts on an offender’s history of domestic abuse. This ensures that accurate information is available to the court at the point of sentencing, meaning that victims can get the justice they deserve.

The overall message is that there is help and support out there, with all agencies working hard to reduce the problem of domestic abuse further. There is no need to suffer in silence.

Anyone worried about domestic abuse can call the Warwickshire Against Domestic Abuse freephone helpline on 0800 408 1552 or visit www.talk2someone.org.uk for online advice. In an emergency, always call 999.

NPAS: a blueprint for other aspects of policing?

A topic close to my heart has been the development of the National Police Air Service. As invaluable as it is, the provision of air support to police forces can't claim to be immune to the financial pressures being felt across policing as a whole. Structuring the service nationally and rationalising it has already achieved significant savings (from £71 million in 2010 to £54 million this year) and plans are in hand to take a further 14% out of that budget.

As the representative for the forces in the Midlands, I went to Wakefield (where NPAS has its headquarters) on Thursday to work with the subgroup developing the final major piece in the jigsaw - the funding model.

I'm a great supporter of local policing and have previously stood my ground on calls for widescale mergers between forces. There are, however, functions that can be delivered much more effectively nationally - and this is one. The work we have carried out with NPAS should hopefully provide a useful blueprint for other areas of policing in future; the provision of dog and mounted police units could be one example. The Home Secretary has signalled a desire to explore such options, so I'm sure this is something that we will be revisited in the coming months.

In the news this week

This week saw a number of headlines concerning the sacking of a police sergeant in north Warwickshire for gross misconduct after concerns were raised around how he engaged with women whilst on duty. You can read the full circumstances here.

The decision by the force not to name the sergeant created concern in the media and I was asked to give my opinion by several reporters, which I was more than happy to do and will repeat here.

First off, it is important to stress that poor and disreputable conduct by any individual serving with Warwickshire Police will not be tolerated by the force. There is a robust process relating to internal discipline. When allegations are made they are investigated thoroughly and appropriate action is taken. Where criminal wrongdoing is established, charges will be sought to put people before the courts.

Fortunately, the vast majority of police officers and police staff fully uphold the values and standards of behaviour that you and I would expect of them. As with any part of life, however, there will always be a small handful of 'bad apples' who will seek to exploit their position of trust and it is vital that processes to root these people out are robust.

Equally importantly is the principle of being open and transparent in how disciplinary hearings are held. Since May, new legislation has required serious misconduct hearings to be held in public - something I fully agree with. From the new year, these hearings will be chaired by independent legally qualified people, to provide further assurances that the process is not designed to protect the police from embarrassment and is fair to all concerned.

The expectation is that, when found guilty of serious misconduct, officers and staff will be named publicly as a default position. However, there will always be a small handful of occasions when it is not possible to do this and for very valid reasons. This could be due to ongoing investigations or the risk of prejudice to court cases; the need to protect the identities of victims or witnesses and even on occasions for reasons of national security. Part of my job is to scrutinise the force's decision making around this and ensure that it is correct. I will intervene if I think that decisions are wrong - and I have done so in the past. However, in all of the recent cases, I am 100% satisfied that the correct processes are being followed.

A final bit of context: this misconduct hearing was one of only three held since the new arrangements came into force in May. Only one other was not able to be heard in public and this was simply due to the fact that it would have prejudiced active court proceedings. As soon as it was possible to name the officer - at the point charges were made - the force did so.

You can rest assured that this is an issue that I will continue to monitor on your behalf, however. It is vital that everyone has confidence in the disciplinary process.

Some other news stories this week that may be of interest:

Nuneaton News: Speed checks to increase as part of winter plan in Bedworth and Bulkington

Redditch Standard: Lighten up and stretch your legs say West Mercia and Warwickshire Police

Nuneaton News: Warwickshire school children to witness hard-hitting theatre show

Diary look ahead: Monday 30th November to Friday 4th December

Here are my key diary appointments for the coming week.

Monday 30th November
1.00pm - Finance meeting, Hindlip

6.00pm - Addressing the Rotary Club on role of the PCC, Stratford-upon-Avon

Tuesday 1st December
10.00am - Weekly meeting with the Chief Constable, Leamington

Wednesday 2nd December
11.00 am - Attending Association of Police and Crime Commissioners event, London

7.00pm - Attending Stratford District Conference

Thursday 3rd December
10.30am - Attending Neighbourhood Watch conference, Birmingham

Friday 4th December
10.00am - Meeting with Stratford on Avon District Council

2.00pm - Meeting with Warwick District Council

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