Agenda item

A verbal update to be provided by Councillor Sarah Trotter.

Councillor Sarah Trotter provided the Committee with a Police and Crime Panel update, as the Council’s representative:

‘Since I last spoke to you, our meetings have moved from Horncastle to County offices in Lincoln and on Thursday the 27 June I attended a very interesting presentation to the panel by officers from the East Midlands Special Operations Unit about the County Lines and I am delighted that one of the officers, PC Steve Ellis, Development officer, has agreed to attend today and give us a shortened presentation.

Can I request if the committee or non-members have any questions to save them to the end of both presentations, and we will endeavor to answer or will provide written responses later. Equally so if you have any non-operational questions that you would like me to raise at the next Police & Crime Panel meeting, which is scheduled for 20 September, please can you email me.

For those of you new to the Rural and Communities OSC Committee, as in my previous overview, I thought it would helpful to just briefly explain the roles and responsibilities of both the

-          Commissioner,

-          And the PCP & Chief Constable, currently the recently appointed Paul Gibson.

Our current Police Commissioner for Lincolnshire, Marc Jones is scrutinized and supported by the PCP made up of 10 Councilor’s from the County’s eight local authorities and two independent (co-opted members). 

1)    We can review the Commissioner’s decisions and have the opportunity to question him.

2)    We have the power of veto over any precept proposals, the choice of Chief Constable, and we are required to review the Police and Crime Plan before it is published. 

Marc Jones has the vital role in holding the Chief Constable to account for operational delivery on behalf of the people of Lincolnshire. 

The Chief Constable must answer to the Commissioner in terms of delivering efficient and effective local policing to the people of Lincolnshire, and the way resources and spending are managed, as well as ensuring that the force is contributing to ensuring that policing capabilities are available to address national crime threats and cross-border criminality.

On Wednesday the 21^st February, the panel met for an extraordinary meeting and were gathered  to conduct a confirmation hearing for the PCC preferred candidate, Mr Paul Gibson, for the post of Chief Constable for Lincolnshire police. A variety of questions were posed to both the Commissioner and Mr Gibson.

On Friday the 28 June I attended the Panel Meeting, in Lincoln where a variety of questions were put to the Commissioner by panel members, concerns were raised at closure of certain policing hubs, the Commissioner reported that any decisions relating to this matter would be on hold due to the election and no changes would be made to at least the Autumn and a report would be published unless of sensitive material.

Another particular concern was in relation to the policing “funding formular” a guide to the calculations used to work out how much money is allocated to police forces. The Commissioner has attempted to gain extra funding for Lincolnshire for eight years. The Police uplift nationally helped funding, however the formular itself is outdated, so hopefully post-election this can be reviewed, for the benefit of Lincolnshire, but there will always be winners and losers, nationally.  Full written replies to questions posed will be in the published minutes for September. 

Other matters discussed were the panel’s rules of procedure, the Police & Crime Plan delivery update, the key principles within the plan

Community Safety and Prevention in Partnership

Listening, responding and being accountable

Protecting and supporting victims and the vulnerable

Policing that works

The delivery against the Police & Crime Plan, victim services better than ever before, with a new website, 11 additional staff and high praise from independent assessors, record number of police officers recruited, finances on an even keel and delivered the highest ever budget for policing in 2023.  Investment in cutting edge technology to ensure Lincolnshire Police are equipped to fight 21^st century crime.  Almost £11 million of additional funding brought in from Government to be spent on keeping our communities safe.

Thank you members for your patience and I am happy to take any questions but please can I ask they be kept to the minimum to enable our guest speaker PC Steve Ellis to have sufficient time to deliver his presentation and take questions at the end, as you would imagine his time is precious and we are very lucky that he has taken time out to attend our meeting today.’

One Member queried whether there had been any indication from central Government on whether the funding for Police forces would be increased in size.

It was clarified that the funding formula for Lincolnshire Police was considerably lower than Police forces in large cities. It was noted that central Government had a priority on Neighborhood Policing.

A query was raised on whether any indication had been given to the Police and Crime Panel that the new Chief Constable would review their predecessors policy on the recruitment and deployment of PCSO’s.

The Police and Crime Commissioner was reviewing the policy on the recruitment and deployment of PCSO’s.

The County Lines Development Officer for Lincolnshire Police provided a verbal presentation to the Committee:

The Officer’s role was to deliver training and awareness sessions to partners and professionals, as well as families.

County Lines was a term used to describe gangs and organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas within the UK, using dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of “deal line”. They are likely to exploit children and vulnerable adults to move and store drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons.

The Children’s Commissioner for England believes that at least 27,000 children were county lines gang members. An additional 120,000 children – one in every 25 teens in England – may experience broader risk factors associated with exploitation.

There were many aspects as to why individuals became involved and exploited to county lines:

·       To feel apart of something/family group/organisation.

·       Fear of receiving threats of violence.

·       Protection or being shielded from other forms of violence.

·       Love.

·       Debt bondage.

·       Career opportunity and lure of making money.

'Cuckooing' was a term used to describe the practice where County lines or drug dealers/Crime Gangs take over the property of another person and use it as a place from which to run their drugs business/ crime activity. They will deal and/ or store drugs cash and weapons from the address.

The criminals may target those who are vulnerable, potentially because of substance abuse, mental health issues, financial issues, Learning Disability or loneliness, and befriend them or promise them drugs in exchange for being able to use their property. The gangs often sent vulnerable young people and adults from their own area to stay at a house and distribute the drugs, again often intimidating and threatening them to stay.

Reachable moments were outlined:

·       Children and vulnerable adults may often fluctuate between being “willing workers on a county line and, after a beating or when they have a drug debt, become aware of the risk and exploitation and want to leave”.

·       This seemed to mirror the type of exploitation involved in other types of violent and coercive control such as domestic abuse.

·       There were some ‘reachable moments’ in this cycle where interventions from statutory and/or Voluntary sector organisation could enable the individual to avoid getting further entrenched and, ideally, to exit the activity.

Lincolnshire Police followed the 4 P approach:

·       Pursue – Arrest, warrants, seizing drugs, weapons, cash etc.

·       Prevent – Preventing individuals becoming involved or continuing to be involved.

·       Protect – Protecting victims.

·       Prepare – Reduce the impact of harm.

Concern was raised on issues within prison service and the blockages. It was queried whether the impact was affecting how Lincolnshire Police operate.

The County Lines Development Officer for Lincolnshire Police dealt with County Lines alone and therefore could not provide any update on prison services. He was aware that prison services were under scrutiny.

One Member noted a recent drug related event that had taken place in Bourne, whereby an individual was murdered. Furthermore, concern was raised around the growing number of drugs being traded in Bourne in line with the reduction in PCSO’s.

It was queried whether increased community policing would assist County Lines Officers in drug containment and the selling of drugs.

The County Lines Development Officer was very passionate about community policing and the importance it had. There were challenges within community policing on numbers.

The Head of Service -  Public Protection confirmed that the team had a close working relationship with Lincolnshire Police. The team would liaise with Inspector Mark Hillson, where direct concerns on community policing could be addressed.

A query was raised whether the CCTV for South Kesteven was supportive in terms of intelligence and arrests on County Lines cases.

The County Lines Development Officer highlighted that CCTV was important for the prevention of crime as well as arrests, however, he was not familiar with the CCTV provision for South Kesteven.

Members raised concern on knife crime, it was queried whether Lincolnshire Police had seen an increase in knife crimes.

It was noted that knife crime had increased nationally and locally.