30 July 2020
Thursday 30th July at 10am
Skype meeting, Cheshire Constabulary Headquarters, CW7 2UA
Attendees
Andrew Bailey
Lindsay Dixon
Jayne Gilmore
Peter Peters
Eve Roberts
Jonathan Egan
Peter Minghella
Dave Levins
Angela Doe
Julie Jackson
Support – Brittany Bazley
Apologies
Julie Westgate
Louise Cherrington
Win Lawlor
Shelah Semoff
Shantel Sutherland
Dawn Taylor
Alison Weston
Ian Gallagher
Richard Rees
Martin Cleworth
Michelle Ollier
Danielle Knox
1. Welcome, introductions, and apologies
Andrew Bailey introduced the meeting and attendees and apologies are noted above.
2. Minutes and actions from the previous meeting 30th April
Previous Minutes and actions were agreed.
Previous minutes from 30th April 2020
3. Confidentiality Agreement
Andrew read out the terms of confidentiality agreement to all attendees.
4. Update on CCG themes
Lindsay Dixon gave an overview of the CCG groups there is now 8 community groups so all LPUs have one, it has been difficult to have these with Covid restrictions but groups have still been meeting by different means.
- Chester – haven’t provided an update however Lindsay is aware that they have had an initial meeting and will continue to meet.
- Crewe – had a good first meeting regarding communications with the diverse communities in Crewe, they discovered an area of improvement in regards to keeping in touch with victims. The next meeting is set up for September.
- Ellesmere Port- are concentrating on working with schools and youth groups and are trying to get some younger members to join the group. They are going to be speaking to Local High schools to get a representative from the youth forum. They have discussed celebrating the diversity’s in Ellesmere port and implementing a listening project so guest speakers from different communities either in person or pre-recorded can talk about their own experiences. The next meeting is in September.
- Macclesfield - have done something different and have put a newsletter together to keep the CCG informed and have received some good feedback on this, the next meeting is TBC.
- Northwich – had a skype meeting at the end of June and had a good discussion around local responses and what the community has done in supporting the most vulnerable during Covid.
- Runcorn – held a social distanced meeting on 9th July 2020 good meeting two response officers shared their stop and search experiences which have a very high find rate, and positive police action. Next meeting is in September. The PAM chair attended this CCG meeting and will continue too.
- Warrington – met virtually and lots of Discussion around BLM and protest’s and talked a lot about schools and community groups.
- Widnes – have changed team and are yet to set up their next meeting.
5. Performance data
- Stop and Search – Supt Martin Cleworth /Eva Roberts. Eve went through the report, May 2020 had the highest number of stop search 843 in the last 12 months the highest number was 333 which was recorded in May 2019. The general trend for stop searches has improved by 90% in the past 12 months. The general trend can be found on page 4 point A. April May and June stop and search increases, this has been driven by Martin Cleworth who has tried to drive this. Most of the searches occurred in Warrington. Crewe and Runcorn also had a high number of stop searches. 77% of EiP searches self-defined as white.
- Use of Force (including age related and MH locations) –Supt Julie Westgate / Jayne Gilmore. Jayne Gilmore gave an overview of the report that has been complied on the annual data requirement that is sent to the home office. There is no update on the IT development this is based on the ADR Extract to work from. Quarter one has been looked at which is April to June 2020. During the quarter there was over 2000 OEL entries for use of force, this is a decrease but not a big one. On incident location the most common was in a street highway. Impact factors Alcohol was the top one and then followed by size gender build but there is multiple factors that can be included on the report. Reason for Force – there is an issue with this in the recording system where only one can be recorded but there should be an option for multiple this is due to be amended by IT but affect arrest is the most used. This ties in with the compliant cuffing element this would naturally follow that the reason for the arrest was affect arrest. Tactical communication will be removed going forward and wont feature on any reports. Work is still ongoing around the dogs and firearms teams regarding their use of force. Taser was only discharged on eight occasions, with the main tactic used beginning the red dot, which is an effective way to defuse the situation. Most commonly perceived ethnicity was white.
100 officers and staff physically injured in 68 reported use of force incidents. These could be repeat officers reporting that they have been injured by multiple subject or multiple officers being injured within the same incidents. 3% of subjects have been injured during use of force. Outcomes from use of force most used is affect arrest at 80% - Hate Crime – Supt Richard Rees/ Insp Lindsay Dixon. Lindsay gave an overview of Hate crime, overall hate crime during Covid was low. Since the NTE has been re-introduced things have started to increase and are working towards the hate crime levels that were in place before Covid. Northwich seem to have had the most reported incidents, there is no patterns or repeats that can account for the increases. In regards to religion this seems to have decreased also. Disability hate crime has increased in Macclesfield, when these were looked into there was seven repeat victims. Sexual orientation, Macclesfield have had a big increase and 11 repeat victims.
Hate Crime 12 Month Sumary - ending June 2020
Use of force data - April 2020 to June 2020
6. Policy/Procedure/Action Plan review
Single on line home update Single online home is all updated and are meeting the National police chief’s council (NPCC) and HMICFRS data.
The previous meetings don’t have initials or names, all parties to advise if they don’t want their details to be publicized on the intranet as this will be in the public domain.
7. Community Triggers Review
- Stop Search - Stop and search data in terms of complaints there has been nine in the last quarter. In terms of completion 6 have been finalized on apologies and the rest are still live.
- Use of Force - Five compliant in regards to use of force, These are currently live cases and haven’t been referred to the IOPC as they don’t meet the criteria. PSD
8. Ride along scheme feedback (Stop and Search)
This has been unable to go ahead due to Covid-19, these will be re-introduced when safe to do so.
9. IAG update
- The IAG have been working to increase the diversity of the committee and as a result we have 3 new members joining - currently being vetted
- The IAG are reviewing which meetings individuals attend (in addition to the IAG) to ensure we have optimal coverage, this includes representation at the LPU CCG meetings
- The next IAG is later today (30th July) and one topic on the agenda is Professional Standards and the link to the IOPC
- The IAG Chair has joined 2 Gold groups and as an IAG we hope to be invited to more where we are able to offer support
- Meetings have taken place using Skype for Business although this is seen as sub-optimal when the IAG members are unable to benefit from videoconference facilities
- The IAG frequency has increased to every 2-months as holding virtual meetings has made meetings more efficient IAG representative
10. AOB
Date of next meetings: October 29th 2020 - 10am and January 28th 2020 - 10am