Minutes:
The Committee received a verbal presentation from Chief Superintendent Jon McAdam, representing Lincolnshire Police within which he:
a) confirmed that Lincolnshire Police were in the process of a significant recruitment programme, the largest since approximately 2000. There would be an additional 20,000 police officers within the national force and a proportion of those would be allocated to Lincoln.
b) highlighted that through the Uplift Programme, there would be an additional 146 officers for Lincolnshire.
c) advised that due to a change in pension schemes and taxation, there had been number of officers that had historically been eligible for retirement upon completion of thirty years’ service – those eligible left which added to the recruitment need but this had changed moving forward.
d) outlined that each recruitment intake had doubled to thirty officers and there had been an introduction of a mid-year intake in an attempt to future proof policing with 1086 officers increasing to 1186 in the first instance.
e) advised that future intakes would be much larger at forty officers per intake, due to take place in January and March 2023.
f) reported that there had been an implication on the service nationally as there was a legal obligation to implement a framework of education.
g) explained that consideration had been given to officer retention however there was a potential for unforeseen circumstances such as career change/s and health related issues that could cause a decline in officer numbers. In addition, recruitment could not exceed the number of vacancies required.
h) highlighted that interviews were underway for future police officers to be included in January’s cohort. In addition, there were a number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s) in training.
i) added that there were a large number of individuals interested in joining the police force and the interview and recruitment process was vigorous given the nature of the role.
j) invited questions and comments from members of the Committee.
As a result of discussions between members, officers and Chief Superintendent Jon McAdam, the following points were made: -
Question: What work was being done to promote woman’s safety within the city?
Response: Violence towards woman and girls was a key priority within the partnership and went beyond a single agency response.Lincolnshire was a safe place to work, live and visit and it was important to ensure that there was a sense of feeling safe within the community.A further Superintendent was in place to focus on violence against women and girls and work would include the Lincolnshire County Council and City of Lincoln Council.In addition, the Police tracked Street Safe Data weekly to enable a response to individuals that felt isolated.
In an emergency situation, the advice given would be to contact the Police using 999. In addition, any concerns could be raised with PCSO’s and police officers within the community. Work was ongoing with detectives to investigate serious identified offenders. In addition, a preventative approach was important and included work within the night-time economy such as the distribution of lids for drinks and drug testing within some establishments.
A collaborative approach continued with additional partnership agencies such as the Police and Crime Commissioner and Rape Crisis to identify and provide the correct support for individuals affected. The continuation of a preventative approach included regular patrol routes and a responsive identification of series of note.
In past instances within the Carholme area, woman felt that particular crimes were not noteworthy and there was a fear that concerns would not be taken seriously. With ongoing partnership with the University and the media, investigation took place and additional victims were identified. The police responded publicly and as a result, women felt they were shown empathy and care.
Question: Was there work carried out with men and boys to promote woman’s safety?
Response: Work with men and boys included the Mini Police Scheme, educational programmes, and personal development within schools to educate, prevent and support.
· The issue of spiking had been nationally identified and in response with partners using positive intervention work, forensic examination and blood toxicology assessments continued to identify the intended use of the drug.
· The relocation to South Park of the Neighbourhood Policing Team for morning briefings was a result of a review into how the city was being policed to ensure that resource profile could respond in a robust manner.
· The commitment from the police to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour was ongoing.
· Consideration of staff support, wellbeing and development was essential to ensure that the city was given the best service.
· Neighbourhood policing resources had not been moved to South Park beyond the booking on/off process. The final planned moves were due to take place on 24 November 2022.
Question: Would the police stations in the North, South and Birchwood areas remain open? Were they part of plans for South Park?
Response: There were no proposals to close any of the outstations. Plans were to consider where staff were booked on, briefed, and deployed to. This was to ensure that officers were deployed to where they were needed.
The police response function included officers that responded to emergency calls for service. In addition, there was Criminal Investigation Department (CID) resources to consider serious and complex crime. Furthermore, resources also included neighbouring police, intelligence resource, crime scene investigators, dog handlers and armed police officers, to name a few. Assets were accessed from South Park with the exception of sensitive resources that were centrally based across the city.
The move was to streamline intelligence briefing to collaborate cohesively to communicate, focus and problem solve. The move was not to reduce Community Beat Managers or PCSO’s but to maximise resources.
Question: What relationship had Lincolnshire Police looked to create with the military within the city? In addition, what outreach work was carried out for individuals who used English as a second language to encourage members of those communities to actively come forward to join the police?
Response: Pride was given to the diversity of the workforce and as such, ongoing support with policies and process would be given to individuals who moved from the military into policing. This would ensure that individuals could have time away from work to train to bring skills into the police which created cross pollination. Commitment to this effect was demonstrated through the signing of the Military Covenant.
The working relationship with the military was very close, in particular with the Royal Air Force. There was a reliance on local resilience forums to work through issues locally such as flooding and the Covid pandemic response. From a safety aspect, it was important to recognise the joint working arrangement of which service had responsibility for different areas.
Consideration to improve accessibility to minority groups was ongoing. Previous recruitment programmes around the East coast had been bespoke to ensure communities received the appropriate representation which resulted in considerable success. There were a number of Eastern European police officers and PCSO’s within the force and a large number from minority backgrounds. Work with the local mosque and communication plans with the synagogue and faith leaders was ongoing. Internally, the Supporting Minorities in Lincoln through Education (SMILE) network celebrated faith and religion.
Comment: Military connection was well established with employee recognition within the armed forces to ensure statutory services engaged in employee reserves and veterans.
Question: How had the wider cuts to public services impacted the police? Were all issues that
were dealt with by the police, a police matter?
Response: Cuts to public service continued to create a challenge and there was a reliance on funding streams from central Government. In addition, funding streams included charitable organisations and were reviewed as much as possible. The partnership that Lincolnshire had across the partnership arena was strong and robust challenge ensured there was high level of accountability. There was an obligation under Article 2: Right to Life, of the Human Rights Act 1998 which resulted in many issues that required the need of multiple services rather than a specific single identified service.
Reviews regarding the impact were ongoing to ensure that collaborative working continued to overcome challenges. When consideration was given to the services users, the main priority was to ensure attendance of a service, regardless of which service.
Community issues were tackled with weekly prioritisation meetings which were led by the public, on the issues they wanted to be dealt with. Consideration was given to the different types of harm which included sexual, physical, and hidden harm and of where the risk of harm stemmed from. Community issues such as littering and dog fouling were quality of life issues which resulted in the exploration of partnership to identify a resolution.
Trust with local communities was founded from a consistent approach of fairness, transparency, and openness. It was important to ensure that the public were aware that the police were accountable and recognition of a dedicated force policing every day of the year to keep citizens safe.
Question: As a great community asset, how many PCSO’s were there within the city and what number were undergoing training prior to future deployment?
Response: At present, there were twelve PSCO’s within the city. That number would increase to fifteen in the near future in addition to other support services.
Question: What percentage of applicants successfully completed PSCO training and did the training differ to Officer training? In addition, were there a stipulation on the number of woman officers recruited?
Response: The interview process was vigorous which resulted in a confidence in the applicants forwarded to the assessment centre. The process included scenario based and written assessments, conflict resolution and training on presentation of information to Court. Approximately, 80% of the total applicants completed training and joined the police force. It was difficult to quantify the number of officers that proceeded through the years within the force as the number of transferable skills were significant and therefore, career change occurred.
PSCO training was different to Officer training and took half the time to complete. There were transferable aspects between training however the most significant difference came in the form of powers of restraint and arrest.
Representation from all areas was consistently reviewed. Historically, the force had previously comprised of a large number of white British males however this had changed significantly in recent years. Lincolnshire Police had an approximate split of 50% of male and female officers and recruitment was not carried out to a set quota but to aptitude. In addition, there had been a large change in leadership roles and Chief Officers.
Question: PCSO’s had success in the formation of community cohesion and evidence gathering. How much prioritisation was given to neighbourhood policing?
Response: Neighbourhood policing continued to be a priority for the force and prevention was an essential aspect. There were 85 PCSO’s across the county and it was important to ensure that the staff we had were put to best use. PCSO’s provided a vital, seven day a week service and through investment in community policing, there had been a further two community beat managers appointed to place police powers alongside PCSO’s.
Working in partnership was essential for enforcement work, warrants and support work with young people which derived from neighbourhood policing. Investment in the neighbourhood policing team resulted in an enforcement arm within the city as an additional resource. Operation Argentina previously focussed on homelessness and anti-social behaviour and was facilitated by the removal of resource from elsewhere.
It was essential to consider the protection of vulnerable individuals from drug misuse and exploitation. Collaboration was essential from a wholesale policing response perspective.
Question: What were your view on clinics for the potential safe use of drugs?
Response: It was important to consider drug use from a rehabilitation and intervention perspective as often, the motivating factor for drug use was dependency. In addition, it was important to consider the criminality of drug use. Methods of intervention included the National Referral Mechanism, safeguarding and the forces partnership network.
Question: Having considered the Lincoln City profile and groupings of similar towns and cities, Lincoln was rated highly for anti-social behaviour and shop lifting. In addition, there was a spike in violent crimes over the summer months. What made Lincoln more inclined towards violent crime?
Response: Other towns and cities deemed most similar to Lincoln were not when population density was considered as the population of the city was significantly smaller in comparison. Therefore when crime occurred, it seemed to affect more people when compared to other areas.
During lockdown, the cities night-time economy closed indefinitely and therefore, during the summer, there had recently been a return to normality after two years of restrictions. Crime had moved out of the city centre during lockdown. Over a three-year perspective, there had been a lower rate of crime than pre pandemic levels.
Comment: The population of the city was 100,000. The travel to work population was 250,000 and the retail catchment area population was over 300,000. Therefore, there were a significant number of individuals that travelled into the city which caused a focus on crime when measured per head of population.
The City of Lincoln Council had a robust CCTV network and therefore operationally, crime was identified very quickly.
Question: The police often assisted with ambulance wait times, dealt with mental health issues, and accompanied individuals to hospital. In real terms, which area of policing had suffered as a result?
Response: Response policing, due to substance or alcohol misuse continued to add a challenge. It was important to take powers of restraint to detain an individual against their will seriously however, partnership networks worked well in those circumstances.
There had recently been mental health funding awarded to Lincoln County Hospital and the partnership would continue to work together. Response policing was the most affected area.
Question: Could the Committee be updated on the work carried out to lower drug use in estates?
Response: Work was ongoing to consider a supportive and rehabilitative perspective. In addition, arrests and interventions continued. Drug use within estates and the identification of the issue continued to from part of the forces work.
Note: - Councillor Naomi Tweddle left proceedings at this stage.
Question: The presence of used syringes and needles within the Broadgate Park area continued to be an issue. Was there scope for resolution through a holistic approach across multiple services and what work could be done collaboratively to deal with the issue?
Response: Regular review took place both across the country and internationally to consider new opportunities to resolve drug related article disposal. Collaborative work had previously proved successful and continued to be so, in the disposal of items once identified. Integrated services included the Rough Sleepers Team and services from across the city continued to work together with the added benefit that services were in close proximity.
There were some punitive outcomes available to deal with habitual drug users in the form of community behavioural orders and anti-social behaviour orders. It was important to identify the help need for drug users with the problems they faced and there needed to be a recognition of a responsible approach to hazardous material disposal.
Comment: Any reports of needle presence within the city were considered a priority and dealt with quickly by car park and street cleansing. Intervention activity would occur for a set level of time.
· Members commended the Council’s response times in deployment of staff to cleanse areas once reported.
Question: Previously, Carholme benefitted from two PSCO’s. Within the recruitment of PCSO’s, which areas would benefit from deployment around the city?
Response: There were previously two PCSO’s in the Carholme area and therefore, one new PCSO would be deployed there. The forces commitment to Carholme remained and issues previously occurred regarding retirement and carer change which resulted in a delay in recruitment.
Question: Had there been any consideration given to the boundaries of policing areas as they did not align with electoral areas. If so, how long would that take?
Response: The senior leadership team required time to consult on policing boundaries. Careful consideration would be needed to understand the technicalities and implications for all systems and the private control system. It would be looked at in the New Year and would take a number of months.
Question: Was it possible to have a commitment from local police officers to attend quarterly community meetings?
Response: The Neighbouring Police Team Inspectors would facilitate attendance if appropriate and that would come in the form of PCSO’s, Police Constables, Sergeants through to Inspectors. If manageable, attendance would be ensured however a balance between attendance and policing issues would need to be considered. If there was an appropriate need and capacity was available, there would be a suitable officer in attendance.
Comment: Members felt that the service did not tackle dual diagnosis for individuals that chose to self-medicate through the use of drugs and/or alcohol. It was noted that Lincoln Partnership Foundation Trust (LPFT) and mental health organisations would benefit from collaborative working.
Question: The publication of crime statistics did not include figures regarding online fraud. Was there any investment in this area?
Response: Recognition had been given to the loss of livelihoods through online fraud and there was a national response. The City of London policed fraud through the process of Action Fraud. Therefore, there was now a singular process to consider associated methods of fraud. Previously, fraudsters used to be able to move across different areas however with the use of sophisticated online services, that became very difficult. Services would be evolved and adapted to a change in dynamic and method. There was investment and joint strategic needs assessments for Lincolnshire which fed into the national picture.
Question: What else could the Council do to aide police work?
Response: Challenge would remain with resource availability. Joint working relationships with the fire service, ambulance, council, LPFT and health services were robust and effective. There was recognition that historically, the police force appeared more visable to the public. However, the service had been adapted to meet the needs of changing communities. There was importance on independent advisory group and community cohesion as community information and intelligence was invaluable. The police tested change that provided additionality to rural and business crime. There was a strong commitment to policing in Lincolnshire and work to continue with the Council.
Note: - Chief Superintendent Jon McAdam confirmed that he would welcome and respond to comments and questions from members further to the meeting.
The Chair gave thanks on behalf of all members to Chief Superintendent Jon McAdam for his attendance and valuable contributions to discussions. In addition, the work of the force and the information provided to members.