Agenda item

The report was introduced by the Head of Safer, Stronger, Supportive Communities to provide Members with an overview of performance and activity by the Safer Peterborough Partnership (SPP) and its constituent responsible and cooperating authorities in relation to Priority 1 and 3 of the 2014 – 2017 Safer Peterborough Partnership Plan.

The Committee was asked to note the content of the report and apply the appropriate scrutiny to its content.

Observations and questions were raised around the following areas:

·         Members Queried why the figures for hate crime had risen. The Head of Safer, Stronger, and Supportive Communities responded that this could be due to the victims of hate crime having more confidence to report it than before.

·         Members commented that more work was required in order to gain trust from people with learning difficulties. The Police and Crime Commissioners Outreach Worker advised the Committee that she had been going in to schools to deliver sessions on hate crime.

·         Members were concerned that there had been various incidents which had occurred which had led people from ethnic minorities to have no confidence in the police. The Head of Safer, Stronger and Supportive Communities responded that there was a voluntary scheme in place which fed back the community voice to the police.

·         Members queried how the police were going to interact with young people now that all of the budget cuts had been made. The Head of Youth Offending Service and leaving care responded that there were a number of projects supported by the police which were run for young people of mixed ethnicity, including activities such as boxing and football. The Police and Crime Commissioner’s Outreach Worker commented that they were in to the third week of the volunteer police cadets. Twenty five percent of the police cadets were made up of vulnerable young people. This project was being fully supported by the constabulary and aimed to break down barriers with young people.

·         Members queried what the selection criteria was for the police cadets. Members were informed that there was no specific selection criteria in place at present. It worked on a first come, first served basis.

·         Members commented that it would be useful for Peterborough to introduce voluntary community wardens.

·         Members commented that it would be good for Councillors to work alongside the Police as they were often unaware of issues within their wards. The Head of Safer, Stronger, Supportive Communities informed Members that there was a new model commencing where daily briefs with partners would occur and the objective was to identify priorities and feed back to the Community.

·         Members queried whether support was offered to both the victim and perpetrators families following a case of Child Sexual Exploitation. The Head of Youth Offending Service and Leaving Care responded that support was offered to the families of both.

ACTON AGREED

The Committee agreed for the Head of Community and Safety Services to circulate examples of where the Youth Offending Service has successfully brought young offenders back in to the community.