Members received the Head of Service Environmental Services, Licensing and Community Safety’s annual report which provided information on the work of the Rother Community Safety Partnership [known as the Safer Rother Partnership (SRP)] for the Committee to review, scrutinise and make reports or recommendations to the responsible authorities of the SRP, in line with the Council’s statutory responsibilities under the Police and Justice Act 2006.

The Chairman welcomed Inspector Chris Varrall to the meeting who drew Members’ attention to the main points of the report.  Members were advised of the key initiatives delivered during 2020/21 to reduce crime and the impact of crime and Anti-social Behaviour (ASB), which included: providing support for high and medium risk victims of ASB through multi-agency monthly meetings; a range of initiatives delivered by the Domestic Abuse Group and a pan East Sussex Violent Crime Group; reduce the occurrence and impact of young people involved in crime and ASB and as victims; road safety; and Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

The joint Board met quarterly to identify changes in crime and ASB of strategic significance to both areas, wider trends and review the work delivered against these priorities. The Board was co-chaired by Councillor Brian Drayson and his Hastings Borough Council counterpart (Councillor Paul Barnett).

The Rother Joint Action Group (an Officer group) met monthly to oversee the delivery of the local priorities for Rother which in 2020/21 included: ASB and youth crime; rural crime; County Lines; acquisitive crime within retail (which had been stalled because of the closure of businesses under the COVID restrictions and the associated reductions in this type of crime); White Ribbon campaign; continued Community Safety Partnership (CSP) funding for the Seaview Outreach Service and partners to identify, engage and support rough sleepers in Rother; Operation Thornhill (supporting young people onto a positive pathway); tackling modern slavery (project Discovery); ASB neighbour disputes; issues arising at beaches; safeguarding of both adults and children; COVID-19 compliance; and funded crime reduction equipment.

There were 5,376 crimes in Rother reported to Sussex Police during the 12 months to the end of December 2020, which was 644 fewer than in the previous year. There had been delays in receiving data since COVID working practices came into place, which meant that data was received at least three weeks after the end of the month.  Reductions in crime since March 2020 had matched the patterns across most of Sussex.

Most crime types had seen decreases in the 12 months to the end of December 2020. However, the following had seen increases: criminal damage to a dwelling; racist incidents; racist crime; and domestic abuse incidents.  However, the number of domestic abuse crimes reported started falling in April, which followed the national and local picture.  Police, housing providers and support organisations predicted these figures would rise as victims felt safe to leave their homes after the end of lockdown, when victims perceived they would be able to access services and when victims had a reason to leave the home for a period of time e.g. to take children to school, go to work, attend the GP surgery etc.  This situation was being monitored and planned for by the members of the Safer Hastings and Rother Domestic Abuse Group.

Homophobic crime had also increased, and drug possession reports rose with the highest in June, August, September and October 2020. This also followed a pattern seen during the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, where fewer people were about and drug dealing was more noticeable.

Reports of ASB across Rother had also reflected the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown. Across East Sussex, all districts and boroughs had seen percentage increases in reports of ASB, with the highest being in Wealden.

The SRP Joint Action Group was considering priorities for 2021/22 at its March meeting and would be using a new analytical product provided by the police to focus resources on those crimes and victims that had the highest risk, or behaviours that had the biggest impact on the community of Rother.  The Domestic Abuse Bill, which was being considered by the House of Lords, would require a review of Council and partner agencies responses, and further work was required to continue to develop Council duties and practices for safeguarding adults and children in line with legislation and good practice.

Members had an opportunity to put forward questions and the following points were noted:

•           project Discovery, a joint agency partnership set up to tackle modern day slavery (the second largest type of organised crime globally), consisted of 23 organisations available to be called upon to safeguard victims;

•           data for fraud and scams, including those by email, text and telephone by district could be requested through the live chat facility on the Office for National Statistics website:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/contactus/generalandstatisticalenquiries;

•           it was suggested that the Council needed to play a more active part in encouraging crime to be reported;

•           CCTV cameras were well publicised, with coverage in Bexhill and along the coastal strip being excellent.  Cameras were monitored  from a central point, but tended to be reactive;

•           the central point for neighbourhood policing in the district was in Battle, with East Sussex Traffic Police officers based in Bexhill and a dedicated coaching unit for new recruits in East Sussex trained out of Bexhill, as well as Polegate.  This was of benefit to Bexhill as it provided more police cover for the town in the forms of four police coaches and a constant turnover of new recruits, as well as traffic officers coming in and out of the town;

•           scams were looked at by the Partnership, but could be difficult to manage, as victims were often too embarrassed to report;

•           the Partnership was extremely effective at managing ASB, with all medium and high risk victims continuing to be supported through the multi-agency Hate ASB Risk Assessment Conference process;

•           a partnership intelligence group met every two weeks to discuss all the various risks across the district, including repeat offenders and those offenders leaving prison;

•           Integrated Offender Management was a national group looking at violent offenders and those causing the most harm to communities and how to manage those individuals; and

•           criminality within Central Bexhill was much higher than in Battle and Rye, but due to a multitude of different factors, such as deprivation, poverty rates etc.  The Partnership was working extremely hard to drive criminality down.

The Chairman thanked Inspector Chris Varrall for his update and praised the outstanding partnership working that was taking place.

RESOLVED: That:

1)         the Council’s work in relation to Anti-Social Behaviour and Community Safety be noted;

2)         the Council’s and partners’ roles in dealing with resource intensive crime and Anti-Social Behaviour issues connected to COVID restrictions, lockdown and the return of traditional crime types be noted and planned for in 2021/22; and

3)         cyber and telephone crime data be added to future reports of the Safer Rother Partnership.