Not a week goes by without some police related headline story in the press. This time it's Sir Dennis O'Connor and his report on Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) published today - 'Stop the Rot'. The press have jumped on to his phrase about us having retreated from the streets. I would rather describe it as us having been 'pulled away' from the streets by a vast array of competing demands and raised expectations in all sorts of other police activity. However, I think we all recognise what he is talking about and his warning about the risk of more reductions in policing due to public spending cuts is very timely. He also recognises that there has been improvement but, as he says, there needs to be more.
In Hampshire we already take ASB seriously. So much so that we have just run a 3 month long campaign which in Southampton produced some good results. Personal experience and feelings of safety count most but for the record here's the numbers,
Criminal Damage
2009 – 1596
2010 – 1386 a reduction of 13 %
Incidents of rowdy and inconsiderate behaviour
2009 – 4262
2010 – 3731 a reduction of 12%
Vehicle nuisance
2009 – 615
2010 – 576 a reduction of 6%
Sir Dennis says this is what works,
Briefings on ASB for all staff likely to deal with the issue (including neighbourhood, response and CID officers)
Tracking what is happening locally using data and intelligence
The problem-solving capacity of neighbourhood policing teams.
Well we already do this here through officers and police staff but can we do it better?
What he says doesn’t work is,
Graded response systems that prioritise calls for attendance (or non-attendance in the case of ASB); and
Lengthy partnership processes which have distinctive significant negative consequences for victims. Indeed delay can amount to inaction from the victim’s perspective.
Senior police bosses nationally have responded to the report by saying they too recognise the importance of tackling ASB and the reassurance it gives when we do. They also point out that tackling ASB isn't for police alone. I agree and Sir Dennis also draws attention to our role being about policing and enforcement but there is the need for others to be involved too on other aspects for example on youth services. I accept that some of our public think we have withdrawn from an important visible and effective community control role. But let's not ignore the fact that we also get considerable positive feedback about our commitment to neighbourhoods and look at the successes we had over the summer ASB campaign. Some suggest that people have just stopped telling us about ASB they suffer but is that true? What worked well during the summer campaign we need to keep doing and our next big push on this will be around Halloween and Bonfire Night .
Our Chief Constable continues to commit to maintaining front line policing which includes our presence in every neighbourhood. I will be working with colleagues to look to the future and what we need to do in Southampton to continue to get better at attending incidents, dealing with crime and anti social behaviour, catching criminals and protecting vulnerable people. I want to maximise what we can do on having a meaningful presence in all our neighbourhoods and still have a very good emergency response service. I need to see that what we do here also delivers the three things that Sir Dennis' report highlights as being what works and that we don’t waste time and effort doing what doesn’t work.
So, despite all the headlines (even the ones about green-haired criminals) and worries about cuts we wont be put off our stride. In one way the endless press coverage is just a sign of how important policing is to society and, therefore, how important our work is in Southampton.
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Friday, 10 September 2010
Headlines about cuts
Today's news includes a statement from our Chief Constable about the cuts we may have to make to meet expected budget reductions. He has said that he will do all he can to protect local front line policing but it seems we will have to lose staff. If the government cuts came in at the top end of what has been talked about then that could equate to approximately 1,400 fewer people working across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight but it remains to be seen what actually happens. These are uncomfortable headlines for everyone and of course for our staff, many of whom will be fearful for the future. I have one member of staff whose family includes 3 people who all work for the Constabulary.
Difficult times but my job as the local police commander in Southampton is to do all I can to carry on delivering a good service to the City. We have started a review of how we work in the City. In fact we started that before the risk of cuts became clear. I wanted us to review how we do our emergency response and local neighbourhood policing in Southampton to make it better and to make best use of our new police station in Southern Rd. That review will also have to deliver whatever is required out of the expected force wide cuts. However, in line with what the Chief has said, we will still deliver what the public in Southampton need from us; effective emergency response, visible and accessible neighbourhood policing, good protection of vulnerable people and good investigation so we keep on catching criminals (for example good news that we got the person you may have read about this week who tried to snatch a bag from an elderly lady and badly injured her in the process).
So other some good news is that during our summer campaign on anti-social behaviour we managed to get incidents down. Since April it's down by 14% (or over 1,000 incidents) compared with last year. We are now having a push until Christmas on violent crime especially domestic violence and night time, alcohol related violence. So some tough times ahead but it wont stop us working hard for people in the City.
Difficult times but my job as the local police commander in Southampton is to do all I can to carry on delivering a good service to the City. We have started a review of how we work in the City. In fact we started that before the risk of cuts became clear. I wanted us to review how we do our emergency response and local neighbourhood policing in Southampton to make it better and to make best use of our new police station in Southern Rd. That review will also have to deliver whatever is required out of the expected force wide cuts. However, in line with what the Chief has said, we will still deliver what the public in Southampton need from us; effective emergency response, visible and accessible neighbourhood policing, good protection of vulnerable people and good investigation so we keep on catching criminals (for example good news that we got the person you may have read about this week who tried to snatch a bag from an elderly lady and badly injured her in the process).
So other some good news is that during our summer campaign on anti-social behaviour we managed to get incidents down. Since April it's down by 14% (or over 1,000 incidents) compared with last year. We are now having a push until Christmas on violent crime especially domestic violence and night time, alcohol related violence. So some tough times ahead but it wont stop us working hard for people in the City.
Friday, 3 September 2010
When we get asked the questions!
This week we received the report of a recent inspection done at Bitterne police station. This wasn't the usual inspection though. This was a visit done by a group of young people there to question us about how young people are dealt with, the complaints and comments procedure, staff training and recruitment, how the service is promoted, and the perception of the police. Their feedback to us was very positive and was amongst the most clear and useful I have seen; good ideas, practical recommendations. I was particularly pleased that for several of the youth inspectors their visit had a very positive impact on their attitude towards their local police. We will look at how we can respond to the ideas but if that visit led to just a few more young people feeling more confident in us then that's great.
Last night it was my turn to be questioned and this was by a group of councillors who were scrutinising the work of the City Safety Partnership. There was lots of good news and positive results in terms of crime reduction and less anti-social behaviour to talk about. We have just finished the Safer Southampton week http://www.southampton.gov.uk/living/safersouthampton/default.aspx) which was well covered every day last week by the Echo. This paper also carried an article this week which suggested that despite lots of work confidence and reassurance hadn't improved in the city. How you measure confidence is problematic and what affects people's confidence isn't simple either. We know personal experience or accounts or rumours that people hear from family and friends are all powerful and have an impact. What is clearly true is that people feel more confident if they know their local police, they feel treated fairly by us and we are doing a good job at tackling anti-social behaviour and crime in their area (which includes us being seen in that area!) so that's what I will continue to focus on. We also know people are satisfied with our service when we are polite, we respond quickly and we keep people informed.
What about what you read in the media? Does that affect confidence? The Echo's Friday headline was about complaints against the police and if you read it in full you will have noticed that in 2008-2009 Southampton Central police station recorded more complaints against police than other stations in Hampshire. What you won't have read though is that overall the City was not at the top in comparison to other areas of Hampshire. Is it a suprise that our central police station has more complaints than other stations? Maybe not when you consider that we police the busiest city centre area in the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We deal with large numbers of people coming into contact with us because they are drunk and we house one of the biggest custody centres. But I take all complaints seriously. None are ignored, but we deal with people in very difficult circumstances and whilst it's right we are held to account for what we do, we see many complaints which have no grounds.
Fortunately, nowadays if we get something wrong we can normally resolve it quickly and to the satisfaction of the complainant who may just want an explanation or apology. Complaints are inevitable due to the nature of our work and of course I might prefer it if Southampton Central area hadn't been top of the pile for 2008-09 (more recently we've certainly had less complaints of some types eg. incivility). But it's vital we are open to listen to people who are dissatisfied with what we have done and I'd be really worried about what was going on if we got no complaints. The media is another way we are held to account so I might not like reading headlines critical of the service I lead in the City but as long as the reporting is accurate and balanced and as long as public complaints are made in good faith then I would not want to be without these ways, and the many others, in which we are held to account including those perceptive young people who visited Bitterne.
Last night it was my turn to be questioned and this was by a group of councillors who were scrutinising the work of the City Safety Partnership. There was lots of good news and positive results in terms of crime reduction and less anti-social behaviour to talk about. We have just finished the Safer Southampton week http://www.southampton.gov.uk/living/safersouthampton/default.aspx) which was well covered every day last week by the Echo. This paper also carried an article this week which suggested that despite lots of work confidence and reassurance hadn't improved in the city. How you measure confidence is problematic and what affects people's confidence isn't simple either. We know personal experience or accounts or rumours that people hear from family and friends are all powerful and have an impact. What is clearly true is that people feel more confident if they know their local police, they feel treated fairly by us and we are doing a good job at tackling anti-social behaviour and crime in their area (which includes us being seen in that area!) so that's what I will continue to focus on. We also know people are satisfied with our service when we are polite, we respond quickly and we keep people informed.
What about what you read in the media? Does that affect confidence? The Echo's Friday headline was about complaints against the police and if you read it in full you will have noticed that in 2008-2009 Southampton Central police station recorded more complaints against police than other stations in Hampshire. What you won't have read though is that overall the City was not at the top in comparison to other areas of Hampshire. Is it a suprise that our central police station has more complaints than other stations? Maybe not when you consider that we police the busiest city centre area in the whole of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We deal with large numbers of people coming into contact with us because they are drunk and we house one of the biggest custody centres. But I take all complaints seriously. None are ignored, but we deal with people in very difficult circumstances and whilst it's right we are held to account for what we do, we see many complaints which have no grounds.
Fortunately, nowadays if we get something wrong we can normally resolve it quickly and to the satisfaction of the complainant who may just want an explanation or apology. Complaints are inevitable due to the nature of our work and of course I might prefer it if Southampton Central area hadn't been top of the pile for 2008-09 (more recently we've certainly had less complaints of some types eg. incivility). But it's vital we are open to listen to people who are dissatisfied with what we have done and I'd be really worried about what was going on if we got no complaints. The media is another way we are held to account so I might not like reading headlines critical of the service I lead in the City but as long as the reporting is accurate and balanced and as long as public complaints are made in good faith then I would not want to be without these ways, and the many others, in which we are held to account including those perceptive young people who visited Bitterne.
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