Agenda item

The Chair of the partnership Assistant Chief Constable Scott Bisset and Odette Robson, Head of Safer Communities

Considered – A report of the Head of Safer Communities providing an update on the partnership working around the priority areas identified by North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnerships.

Odette Robson, Head of Safer Communities introduced the report providing an overview of the role of the Community Safety Partnership and its ongoing work to tackle crime and disorder across the county.

She went on to introduce Cathryn Clarke, Chief Superintendent for Local Policing to the Committee, and confirmed she would be taking over as Chair of the Community Safety Partnership in place of Scott Bisset.

In response to Members queries, Cathryn Clarke confirmed the following:

·          There had been no border force related issues in the last 28 days;

·          A new hub was to be introduced in Ryedale to ensure quicker response times, to address the perceived the lack of visibility of policing based out of the Malton hub;

·          Understanding geographical challenges ensured equality in responses in harder to reach areas of the county;

·          In regard to domestic abuse, the same level and type of support was available to both male and female victims;

·          There was significantly higher levels of female reporting of domestic abuse – members noted the spike in male domestic abuse victims in Quarter 2 and requested a more detailed overview of the actions being taken to address it in the next bi-annual update;

·          The community safety hubs had a strong focus on anti-social behaviour;

·          Race was a key factor in reported hate crimes but the number of number of sexual orientation related hate crimes was increasing – The criteria under which NYP recorded hate crimes was noted (as listed in paragraph 5.3 of the report).  It was noted a Group was in place and meeting regularly to look at it.  Raising awareness was a key focus and a Hate Crime Awareness week was planned for October.  Members requested a more detailed update on what was driving sexual orientation related hate crimes and the steps being taken to address it, as part of their next update;

In regard to the table at paragraph 3.6 of the report, Members suggested it would be helpful to compare the number of reported incidents of domestic abuse with pre-covid figures and to have an understanding of the root causes.  In response it was confirmed that it would be hard to carry out a true comparison given the introduction of significant changes brought in by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.

Members went on to question how Councillors might better feed in to the future work of the partnership and it was confirmed that following the local government reorganisation, a review was underway to better understand how that engagement might be improved.  The review was also looking at the work of the hubs and local policing.

Finally concern was raised about the 101 system, and it was confirmed it was on a journey of improvement particularly in the last 12 months.  It was noted that call handlers received a long period of training.  Councillor Trumper queried whether it would be possible to introduce a town watch scheme similar to the rural watch scheme run in the Esk Valley.  In response Cathryn Clarke agreed to take the idea away for consideration.

The Chair thanked Catherine Clarke and Odette Robson for their attendance at the meeting, and it was

Resolved – That the bi-annual update on the work of North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnerships be noted

The Meeting was adjourned at 12:15pm for a lunch break and reconvened at 12:35pm.