To receive a presentation from Sergeant Oliphant, Hertfordshire Constabulary.
Decision:
Sergeant Steve Oliphant, Hertfordshire Constabulary thanked the Vice-Chairman for the invitation to address the Committee.
The Vice-Chairman thanked the Hertfordshire Constabulary for their work in the Hitchin area and Sergeant Oliphant particularly, for his presentation.
Minutes:
Sergeant Steve Oliphant, Hertfordshire Constabulary thanked the Vice-Chairman for the invitation to address the Committee.
Sergeant Oliphant advised that the statistics and other information covered the Hitchin area.
Statistics
All Crime
· There had been an increase in reports of 22.5 percent (409 reports).
Anti-Social Behaviour
· There had been an increase in reports of 0.02 percent.
Burglary Dwelling
· 114 reports.
Burglary Non-Dwelling
· 77 Reports
Work Undertaken
· It had been a busy year for the Police;
· The main focus of the year had been to reduce burglaries, both dwelling and non-dwelling;
· There had been an increase in Burglary Dwelling in Oughton Ward, an operation was set up and an offender was caught;
· They had also focussed on criminal damage to motor vehicles;
· There had been an increase in wing mirror damage in Bearton Ward, an operation was set up and two young offenders were caught and were being processed though the court system;
· Over Christmas and New Year there had been an increase in the theft of motor vehicles, particularly motor scooters, an operation was set up and the main offender was identified and charged with 16 offences;
· Two people had been arrested and two further people were being monitored in connection with the Zen graffiti tag seen in Hitchin.
Licensing
The Police worked closely with NHDC Licensing and Community Safety Officers to take positive action regarding any breaches of licensing conditions or problems arising at licensed premises, with the aim that everybody could enjoy the nightlife in Hitchin.
Communication
· Communication with and support of the public was important;
· Hertfordshire Constabulary chose not to engage directly with people or groups through individual sites on Facebook;
· The OWL system was very useful and people were encouraged to sign up to it.
Members were pleased that the Zen graffiti offenders had been identified and commented that the work by NHDC to remove the graffiti was ongoing.
They commented that the work being undertaken by the Police to encourage use of the OWL network had been very positively received.
Sergeant Oliphant advised that the OWL network was an important communication tool, which Officers looked at and fed into on a regular basis and that it supported the Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
The Safer Streets campaign was about visiting homes, providing advice on security and encouraging sign up to the OWL system.
Councillor Lovewell informed Members that Herts County Council would shortly be starting an initiative in conjunction with District Councils regarding the crime of fly-tipping.
Fly-tipping was blight on the countryside and cost tax payers a lot of money to clear up.
Recently there had been a number of high profile successful prosecutions for fly-tipping and NHDC worked closely with the Police regarding this crime.
A Member reminded the Committee that graffiti had been a major problem some 10 – 15 years ago and since that time a great deal of work had been undertaken in respect of anti-social behaviour. This spate of graffiti was a resurgence that was being dealt with.
A Member reported that there was a traffic issue at Sun Street where there was a no right turn sign, which was regularly ignored and asked that the Police look into this.
Members commented that the OWL network was very useful and provided helpful information.
Members noted that crime had increased and queried what could be done to address this and asked whether anything could be done regarding the issue of speeding in Hitchin.
Sergeant Oliphant advised that the increase in crime numbers did not overly concern him, although it was the Police’s job to try to reduce the amount of crime and help to keep neighbourhoods and residents safe.
Tackling crime could only happen in partnership with residents and everyone involved had to take on this responsibility.
He was concerned about and understood the impact that crime had on people.
The OWL system was a great help to the Police and to local residents and he encouraged people to sign up to the system and to provide any information, whether they thought it relevant or not, which would support them to target and therefore reduce crime.
The biggest threat was criminals who travelled into the County to undertake their crime.
In respect of speeding, a number of County Councillors had provided funding from their Locality Budgets to provide speed information signs with smiley faces and these had had a positive impact.
His team would do whatever they could to reduce speeding, however there were limited resources and officers had to be placed to deal with the biggest risks.
Sergeant Oliphant acknowledged the risks associated with speeding, however the statistics did not demonstrate that this was an increasing problem and there were not in fact that many serious collisions in the Hitchin Urban area.
Members acknowledged that the raw statistics provided were not always helpful as the Home Office kept changing the method of reporting crime which had resulted in an on-paper increase in the volume of crime recorded. Until the reporting system settled down, it would be difficult to make comparisons year on year
They also acknowledged that Hertfordshire was a very safe place to live and that the percentage increases reported were from a low starting point.
Members asked for clarification regarding the additional responsibilities that had been placed on the local Police team.
Sergeant Oliphant advised that there were many reasons for the increase in recorded crime which included that there was an increased confidence in the Police resulting in people being more willing to report crime and the changes in the way that the Police recorded crime,
In terms of responsibilities, they had been successful in tackling issues such as anti-social behaviour and there were now several different methods for people to report crime, these positive developments had resulted in an increase in the amount reported.
The Constabulary were asked to support many other activities and agencies, which resulted in that time not being available in the local area
The Vice-Chairman thanked the Hertfordshire Constabulary for their work in the Hitchin area and Sergeant Oliphant particularly, for his presentation.