Minutes:
Neil Tipton (Head of Media and Communications, Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner) presented a verbal report regarding the Policing Priorities Consultation.
Neil Tipton reported that the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) had jointly commissioned the consultation with Warwickshire Police, and had commissioned the services of a professional market research company, SMRS, to conduct the survey and analyse the results. He advised that the consultation would aim to reach 750 residents, it would be primarily telephone-based with a supplementary on-line survey.
Neil Tipton stated that the consultation would target a representative sample of Warwickshire residents taking into consideration a proportionate geographic spread as well as factors such as age, gender and ethnicity. He commented that minority groupings would be prioritised to ensure that the results of the survey accurately represented the population demographics of the County. He added that SMRS had undertaken to vary the times of day and days of the week when residents were contacted to increase the scope of the consultation.
Neil Tipton advised that opinions would be sought from the public in respect of priorities for policing, areas or issues that should receive attention, levels of confidence in the police, reasonable response times for 101 calls, perceptions of stop and search practices, deployment of tasers and body worn video apparatus, and attitudes towards policing governance arrangements following termination of the Alliance. He reported that the questions were currently being use-tested prior to launch of the survey. It was anticipated that the consultation would be active for a period of three weeks. Neil Tipton advised that SMRS would analyse the data received at the end of this period and provide headline findings to the OPCC prior to a detailed report. He advised that it was unlikely that the results would be announced before the outcome of the Police and Crime Commissioner election was known in May 2020.
Neil Tipton advised that the Police and Crime Commissioner was supporting a separate on-line survey which would run concurrently with the Policing Priorities Consultation to focus on perceptions of crime, road safety, business crime, hate crime and antisocial behaviour.
In response to Councillor O’Rourke, Neil Tipton reported that representation of minority groups including members of the LGBT+ community and disabled people would not be overlooked by the consultation. He advised that the survey would be conducted predominantly by telephone which would not disenfranchise residents who did not have access to the internet. He added that hate crime awareness events were held across the year and that the OPCC would be seeking feedback from individuals affected by hate crime.
In response to Councillor Davison, Neil Tipton advised that it was not possible to disclose the total cost of the consultation due to commercial sensitivities, however, he reiterated that the project would be jointly funded by the OPCC and Warwickshire Police. He added that, though the project entailed a significant financial outlay, it was a justifiable investment as the information derived from the survey would help to inform the development of the Police and Crime Plan over a five-year period. He advised that, as the Precept Consultation was held annually and did not contain the same breadth of information, it would not be appropriate to commit to the same level of investment. The Police and Crime Commissioner added that the budget for the Office included provision for public consultations.
In response to Andy Davis, Neil Tipton acknowledged that response rates in the Boroughs of Rugby and Nuneaton & Bedworth had been consistently below average. In the case of Rugby Borough, he advised that considerable effort had been made to encourage greater participation in public consultations including targeted advertising, additional media coverage and support from Rugby Borough Council. He reported that these efforts had not prompted a noticeable improvement in participation rates, but that work was on-going to consider strategies to stimulate wider engagement. The Police and Crime Commissioner added that Rugby residents were not hesitant in approaching him in person which suggested that there was an appetite for engagement within the Borough.
In response to the Chair, Neil Tipton reported that the timescales for the Policing Priorities Consultation and the Perceptions of Safety Consultation were aligned, which presented benefits. The Chair observed that the HMICFRS PEEL Report had identified a requirement to consult on future policing governance arrangements; Neil Tipton confirmed that this had been included within the Policing Priorities Consultation.