Agenda and minutes

At the meeting on 20 July 2017, Members deferred the election of the Chairman for 2017/18 to the September meeting.

Councillor Campbell proposed, Councillor M. Saunders seconded and Members agreed that Councillor Curran be the Chairman of the Community Safety Partnership Working Party.

Councillor Curran in the Chair.

There were no apologies received at the meeting.

There were no declarations of interest made at the meeting.

To approve the Minutes of the Community Safety Partnership Working Party meeting held on 20 July 2017, copy attached.

Councillor Campbell proposed, Councillor M. Saunders seconded and Members agreed the minutes to be a correct record of the meeting that was held on 20 July 2017.

Councillor Curran, Chairman of the working party invited Chief Inspector Sharon Adley to make her presentation. CI Adley advised the meeting that a report on crime statistics might not necessarily give a clear picture for Members.

This was because a recent change in the way Kent records crime would make a comparative analysis difficult to understand. Such an analysis would be better done into next year. CI Adley then offered to provide the working party with a narrative of the key issues affecting the district.

During her presentation, Chief Inspector Adley made the following points:

• Local communities were concerned by anti-social behaviour issues affecting specific areas within Ramsgate in particular large groups of youths congregating in some areas, causing a public nuisance;
• The Police were using a number of tools that included dispersal orders, home visits, acceptable behaviour orders, community protection warnings and high visibility patrolling by the Community Policing Team to tackle the problem;
• Police have attended meetings with Ramsgate Town Council and local residents to get a better understanding of the nature of the problem and the PCSO runs regular surgeries in the Ramsgate Library;
• They have also been in touch with some food outlets in tackling this issue. There have been reports about youths congregating in the Morrison car park in Margate causing a nuisance and in the High Street;
• Police have continued to use dispersal orders, home visits and similar tools to the ones used in Ramsgate;

• General Crime: - There has been a rise in victim based crime across the district;
• New changes to how crime is recorded has also contributed to what appears to be a rise in crime, Chief Inspector Adley explained that many single incidents can now result in multiple crimes being recorded.
• The district experienced the usual summer spike in call demand and there were some crime spikes experienced namely vehicle crime and burglary. There were also reported incidents of crime that involved damage to beach huts and allotments;

The largest increases in violent crime are in categories which involve no injury, such as common assault and public order offences. Whilst we take these matters seriously, it is important to put this rise into context.

Chief Inspector Adley then handed over to Inspector Mark Pearson who then made the following points during the presentation of his update report on the Margate Task Force (MTF):

• Intelligence information generated by the collaborating agency working as part of the MTF has been used to identify vulnerable individuals who thereafter received help from appropriate agencies;
• The MTF has provided a number of training sessions across Kent on behalf of the Safeguarding Children’s Board;
• About 3,000 Safe and Well visits in the last two years have been conducted by the MTF and have helped vulnerable adults;
• MTF is running two family support panels per week for young people at risk of group violence and drugs. Two years ago it was one such panel per month;
• St Giles Trust is running 1-1 sessions for vulnerable young  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.