The Chair of the Police Authority and the Chief Constable are to attend this meeting.

The Chair of the Police Authority and the Chief Constable attended the meeting.

Mr Bernard Hogan-Howe, Chief Constable of Merseyside, attended the meeting accompanied by Councillor Bill Weightman (Chair of the Merseyside Police Authority), and Chief Inspector Jon Ward (Area Commander). The Chief Constable gave a presentation on what had been achieved by the force in terms of:

- a reduction in crime of all types and a reduction in anti-social behaviour;

- the level of sanction detections in April to December 2008 compared with the same period in 2007

- Wirral’s position compared with comparator BCU’s

- levels of crime in terms of a year-on-year comparison

- analysis of citizen satisfaction

- seizure of drugs under Operation Hawk, which targeted the supply of street level drugs;
- the December results for Operation Manaton which targeted drug linked acquisitive crime;

- seizure of vehicles under Operation Tango;

- road traffic collisions by month over 3 years;

- sickness levels of police and staff;

- levels of anti-social behaviour over 4 years; and

- call handling.

Councillor George Davies congratulated the Chief Constable and the Area Commander on the position of Wirral's basic command unit (BCU) in national terms and queried whether there were any new initiatives that had been identified to tackle those remaining targets.  The Chief Constable indicated that the level of vehicle theft had reduced partly through new technologies introduced by the motor industry and as new aspects were developed, this should reduce crime further.  In addition, he felt that the installation of burglar alarms were instrumental in reducing burglary in homes and this matter would be explored with housing partners.  The Chief Constable also highlighted the use of drug rehabilitation to reduce crime and felt that this was an issue to be taken up with health partners.

Councillor Phil Davies thanked the Chief Constable for his presentation and referred to the need for continuity in neighbourhood policing.  The Chief Constable indicated that this had been discussed at the Police Authority and it had been suggested that some targets be set for continuity and benchmark data be collected.

Councillor Jean Quinn referred to the levels of satisfaction where the police attended incidents and queried whether the police attended every incident.  The Chief Constable indicated that the police would now attend each incident if the victim requested that, although this was a new approach and was being embedded with the call-handling system.

With the permission of the Chair, the Leader of the Conservative Group addressed the Cabinet and thanked the Chief Constable for his presentation.  Councillor Green queried whether the excellent performance demonstrated would result in a reduced budget and how the decriminalisation of youth offending would affect the force’s targets.  The Chief Constable and Chair of the Police Authority explained that the level of budget was not yet at the formula grant level although it was expected that the formula would shortly be amended.  In terms of the decriminalisation, the Chief Constable referred to the use of Police cautions.

With the permission of the Chair, the Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group addressed the Cabinet and thanked the Chief Constable for his presentation.  Councillor Rennie referred to embedded police officers in schools and whether any correlation with anti-social behaviour had been carried out.  The Chief Constable indicated that he would like to increase the number of schools involved in this area and would look at some comparator figures with levels of anti-social behaviour.

Resolved - That the report be noted.