Officer Safety Training

During the week I took part in one of our "Officer Safety" training courses. This was an excellent day run by PC Matt Hodges.

When I joined in 1980, we had about half a day looking at the use of the truncheon (useless) the handcuffs (barely adequate) and a very optomistic lesson about how to disarm someone who was holding you at gunpoint (hmm!).

Matt's course was a refresher, which all our operational staff take every year. It covered "tactical communications" ie using verbal commands to keep safe, the basic use of force, the "Casco" extendable baton, "Pavo" pepper spray, "quickcuff" handcuffs and the law relating to all of this. Our officers have the ability to use a wide range of kit and if need be are backed up by tazar, firearms and other "less lethal" options. While we have all this kit the Bristish police are still, almost uniquely, an unarmed force while on regular patrol. If officers do use their personal protection equipment, they need to be able to explain why they chose to do so. The course equips them to use it and rationalise it. I was so impressed I have asked Matt to do an entry here to explain the philosophy of our current stance on such equipment.

Doing the course reminded me of a shocking knife attack on one of our officers from Torbay. The case was dealt with in court last year. I have put the story from the BBC and video from youtube below. It goes to show why our staff do need goo training to keep themselves and the public safe.

Man detained after stab attempt

A paranoid schizophrenic who tried to stab a Devon police officer has been ordered to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

The attack happened at a police custody room after Jason Lord, 21, of no fixed address, was arrested for carrying a samurai sword in Paignton.

Lord pleaded not guilty to attempted murder but admitted attempted wounding with intent at Exeter Crown Court.

Judge Graham Cottle described it as a "potentially murderous attack".

Lord was arrested after he was knocked down during a cycle race in Paignton and police officers who went to his aid found the sword.

'Tragedy prevented'

Exeter Crown Court was shown video footage of Lord pulling out the 6in knife in the police custody room and trying to attack Pc Jonathan Croft in the neck.

That knife would have been in the officer's neck had it not been for his incredibly quick reactions and those of his colleagues Judge Graham Cottle

Pc Croft grabbed his arm and two colleagues, one of whom leapt over a counter, overpowered and disarmed him.

Judge Cottle said: "That knife would have been in the officer's neck had it not been for his incredibly quick reactions and those of his colleagues.

"They saved a tragedy from happening."

When interviewed Lord said he did not intend to kill or injure the officer and was trying to show him the knife.

Drug problem

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Adrian James said Lord was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and had shown a considerable improvement since being admitted to the Butler Clinic at Langdon Hospital.

He was made the subject of a section 37 order under the Mental Health Act with a section 41 order, detaining him without limit as to time.

The court heard Lord had a serious drug problem but was being treated with anti-psychotic medication and would continue that treatment under the hospital order.

Prosecutor Malcolm Galloway said when Lord was arrested and relieved of the sword he told officers that he did not have anything else with him that could harm them or himself.

He was taken to the police station and during the routine search, suddenly pulled out the knife.

The video showed that Lord was calm as he was being searched but as PC Croft stepped behind him he pulled out the knife and tried to stab the officer in the neck.

Policing Plymouth - John Green

I have asked a variety of people to express their view on any aspect of Policing Plymouth. The below is by John Green, our Superintendent (Operations Support)

"As the most recent addition to the BCU Senior Management Team in Plymouth I am responsible for issues which, as the title would suggest, deliver support to our operational policing functions. This involves working with our partners across the city, including statutory, private and the voluntary and community sector (more widely known now as the Third Sector).
Having transferred to Devon and Cornwall from Northamptonshire Police in 1999, I have worked for the period since transfer in Cornwall fulfilling various roles at Superintendent level. My policing background is essentially in uniformed operations. I was a beat officer ofr a number of years in my native Scotland and, on transferring to Northants, was a patrol sergeant before moving on to various other operational roles. I am a police public order commander and firearms commander.
I was posted to Plymouth in the New Year and have thoroughly enjoyed my first two months in the city. Plymouth enjoys an excellent reputation in the police for the way all parties work together towards agreed common goals. I was very happy to be posted here and look forward to the time ahead being part of the team in Plymouth. I am absolutely committed to working with everybody to reduce crime and create a safer city for those who live, work or visit the city. "

Policing Plymouth - Sid Anning's View

I have asked people with a variety of views to comment on "Policing Plymouth". Sid Anning is a frequent correspondant to the Herald and his views on a variety of topics causes considerable debate. Here is Sid's comment. It is his and usefully adds to the debate.

Thank you Sid for sharing it.

MR SID ANNING
27th February 2008

Dear Jim,

In a few months I shall be officially a Senior Citizen, and when I was young, the local bobby was the respected pillar of society; The Man who had his ear to the ground, the friendly voice, always ready to give advice - good as well as bad. In fact someone the public treated as a friend in need - and a good one at that. Someone who new your Mum & Dad, your Brother's and Sister's, who would not ever be too frightened too either clip you around the ear, or worse still, give you a clip around the ear and still tell your dad whereby you got another one.
He was also the person that if you was getting a 'bit of bovver' from someone, you only had to whisper in his ear, and it was soon done and sorted, without too much animosity from anyone.
So what has gone wrong?
But it's not just the way the police are organised and the lack of public visibility that has caused the problems in today's society, but almost everything from bad Government, to lack of discipline in the Homes and at Schools. Unfortunately, society is rotten to the core today whereby people only think about themselves, and very little else.
Virtually everyone in this Country lays most of the problems of our society at the door of political correctness bought in by too liberal Government's in order to satisfy the minorities against the majorities who have been left bewildered. The destruction of Family Life as we know it whereby very few families now have a Father figure to keep order at home. So it would be unfair to blame all society's woes upon the Police.
Much of the problems we have seen around the City's Housing Estates have not been caused so much by lack of police, but by parents who could not give a toss where their offspring are, and more to the point, of what they are getting up to. For me, it's time that a law was bought in to make parents ultimately responsible for their offspring's behaviour.
There is a failure of Government to build enough prisons, to bring back hanging for capital offences, and the birch for the little thugs who roam our streets with impunity, knowing full well that the most they will ever get is community service if they unlucky. Simply a failure by Government to properly protect the 95% of law abiding citizens because of liberalisation.
It's wrong that the elderly and the frail should be forced to hide in their homes, and be too frightened to open the door or walk down the shop for fear pf being mugged by drug induced teenagers. What kind of society have we got when that happens?
The judiciary's hands are tide behind their backs because of the human rights legislation, and lack of prison places. Our sentencing needs toughening up and those who are sent to prison are subjected to hard labour, and leave with a view that they would not want to go back - rather than the other view.
I was shocked to read in the herald that there are only about 30 - 35 officers available at any one time available on a Friday or Saturday night - what for a City of 260,000 people. Far too much time is being spent doing paper work, and not enough time being devoted to the 'job'.
Instead of PCSO we should be having real police, with real teeth. The public treat them with contempt and are not taken seriously.
The public see them being penalised severely, often for minor offence, (though some Officers would disagree with me on that score), such as motoring offences, but at the same time the hardened criminals who have never done a days work in their lives repeatedly get away with it which adds to the frustration.
Yes, and of course the Police have to deal with all sorts of crimes, be it speeding or whatever, but fail to recognise at the same time, that the Police are becoming alienated because of it. You cannot expect the support from the public one minute, and then kick him in the teeth with a £60 fine and three points the next by the use of indiscriminate Camera usage and expect them to be cooperative.
The Police quite right say, "you should not be speeding", and of course they are right. But when I read of criminals going to Court and asking for 50 or more criminal activities to be taken into account at the same time, you don't say to them, "well you should not have been mugging that old lady", and repeatedly get away with it. But that is not the fault of the Police.
If we as a Society do not get to grips with these problems facing society, and do something about it, I fear for the future of this Country. In fact many thousands of our countrymen are departing these shores because of it. The Police cannot and should not be blamed for society's woes, but I as an individual want to see these stupid targets scrapped, many more police - real police out onto the streets, criminals being properly punished for their sins, and the judiciary given more powers.
Finally, the Police have to get back to talking to the public, meeting with them, and getting to know them. All too often when people see things going on around them, and report them as good citizens should, in many case they are ignored and who can blame them when the next time something occurs, they don't bother reporting it.
Yours sincerely,
Sid Anning

Survey results

So, now we know ! .The majority of readers want to hear stories about Plymouth Police, with a significant number wishing to hear about our performance. 56% of readers who answered are members of the Force. 82% of people live in Plymouth. This will colour what is posted up.

New survey to follow!

"Policing Plymouth" - Al Roberts

I have asked some colleagues and others to write a short piece on their view of "policing Plymouth". This first piece is from one of our best known Neighbourhood Beat Managers. PC Al Roberts polices Efford, these are his views:

LIFE AS AN NBM (Neighbour Beat Manager)
By PC Al Roberts.

I am PC Al Roberts, currently the Efford Neighbour Hood Beat Manger, known to many in the area as Al, or to those, not currently on my Christmas Card mailing list, I am simply called;

“Oh God, Not him Again”

I recently spent a shift out on patrol with the BCU Commander, Mr Jim Webster. He asked me how I felt about being an NBM in Plymouth and the simplest answer to that question is it’s very rewarding.

Why? I hear most people say, especially with my opening lines being somewhat negative. Well every single day out on patrol I meet dozens of individuals who seem to go out of their way to destroy my faith in humanity, but then, I meet one, who restores that faith and more.

Working on Neighbourhood, you can not help but feel a strong sense of responsibility for your area. I feel there is a need to take ownership and you are compelled to get involved in every aspect of community life. Many NBM’s who read this will smile and agree, even if they don’t want to openly admit it.

Being an Ex Marine, I do not take failure very well, but, I do follow the commando ethos, which is simply “Never Give In”. I recall an old Instructor, giving me some verbal corrective therapy, I think it may be called something else today but when I was 16 years old at the Commando Training Centre. He said;

“You cannot win a battle single handed son; you need your team mates. You start together, stay together and die together if need be”

He was in the process of kicking me up the backside at the time for lagging behind on a squad run, halcyon days. He opened my eyes to understanding we need support to succeed in life. That support normally starts at home with the help of those closest to us.

I am aware that not all young people out there have any form of support mechanism around them and we as a society should be doing something to put that right. You cannot expect good manners and etiquette when it has never been taught.

I am given the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life in my job and I am never sure what I am going to be asked next. Every single day throws up new challenges and when you see someone’s quality of life improve as a result of your work, it is immensely satisfying.

I am currently responsible for Efford, Lipson and Laira wards, a population of around eleven thousand, with four primary schools and one Community College within my boundaries of responsibility. There is about two thousand plus young people of school age in the area, yet I am only well acquainted with, on a professional note, less than forty and some of those youngsters come into the area from other parts of the city.

These are the group I target on a day to day basis, attempting to put right where their lack of “support mechanisms” have failed them. When offences are highlighted, I deal with it. When there is evidence to put them in front of the courts that is exactly where they are sent. I am not responsible for the sentencing of these individuals but like many other British tax payers, I do get a little frustrated at seeing how individuals are dealt with at court. However, the old Commando Ethos kicks in and I just start again.

The reward is looking at the problem and finding a solution. This can be, not via the courts but via other agencies, working alongside the police. When a potential problem is highlighted I like to think, if I do not have an answer, I know someone who does. I am a good old British Copper; I am not a social worker, housing officer, councillor or a trained youth worker, but I do know where to find one when I need their help.

The area’s I police are both challenging and immensely rewarding, in a short space of ten months in the role, I feel I have forged some excellent links with the community. We have regular football training sessions every Friday at Lipson Community College with PCSO Chris Kinski and the rest of the gang and I am about to start an evening training session, covering conflict resolution and mixed martial arts for the kids.

What! Training them to fight, I hear people shout. NO! teaching them to be resilient, confident and looking at physical fitness, interpersonal skills and etiquette.
Mr Webster has kindly ensured I get just short of seven hundred pounds to buy equipment to train the youth in Efford and anyone else who wants to join in and naturally, I felt duty bound to explain how I feel about the job. Hopefully, I will still have a job when he has read this.

I have attached a couple of cartoon drawings which were sent to me by a wonderful chap in Efford, another Ex Marine I might add, called Tom Hill. They made me laugh, so I thought I would share them with you and leave you with a thought for the day.

“If a child lives with criticism, it learns to condemn.”
“If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, it learns to find love in the world”

We need to work together as a community; to change the train of thought of those causing the problems, then hopefully, the cycle of hostility will not continue into the next generation.

Safer Stronger Plymouth

Keeping Plymouth safe is the key business of the police, but it is by no means ours alone, we work in partnership with many agencies across the city, the fire service, health, probation, the City Council, probation and the private and voluntary sectors. Our partnership is under the heading of "Safe & Strong" in which "Safe" covers bringing down crime and "Strong" covers building a vibrant voluntary and community sector. We are also charged with oversight of waste, street services and neighbourhood management.

"Safe & Strong" is one of the key theme groups that makes up the Plymouth 2020 partnership. The other theme groups are focused on the issues of "Wealthy" ie economic development, "Healthy", ie the health of all of us in the City and "Wise", ie lifelong learning.

Today the "Safe & Strong" theme group met. We were reviewing our performance and checking progress of some of our joint projects. We have a wide range running including "Young Runaways Project", "Family Intervention Project", "Prolific & Priority Offenders Unit" and many more. All of them are designed to bring together key agencies across Plymouth to work for the benefit of all.

There is a stack of information on our partnership website here.

The old ones are the best!

Back at the end of last year I hosted a gathering of most of the Commanders who have run Plymouth police since 1979. We had an interesting discussion, looking at some of the changes over time in Policing.

Guess what, forms have changed (and multiplied), there is a proliferation of computers, but basically burglars still burgle, robbers still rob and police people on the streets still catch them. There is a lot more the same than is different.

This link takes you through to the new version of Billboard, our force newspaper that has an article and photograph on the event.

Really good to meet past colleagues and pick their brains.

Some views of our work

Dutch Police

We have a group of Dutch student Police over with us at the moment. I met them last night and they are out on patrol with us today. They are just finishing their 4 years of initial training. At the end of their course they have to submit a project on policing from an international perspective. They are out on patrol in the east of the City this evening. I will try to get hold of their final report and put it here. It would be great to see the Dutch view of policing Plymouth!

Should be a photo on here tomorrow and pictures of them out on patrol in the Herald tomorrow. Great uniforms, if you are into that sort of thing!

Survey Results

Thank you to all those who commented on the recent survey on this page, regarding the things that you would be interested in seeing here . The clear majority voted for "Plymouth Police Stories", with the runner up being "Police Performance" so those are the things I will focus on.

I will put up a new survey now, I would like to know if the readers of this blog (3,000) so far are from Plymouth or not and if you are police officers or not.

Feel free to comment on any article, it helps me to feed information of direct interest up.

R v Chen and others

Last friday a major trial was brought to a close at Plymouth Crown Court. I have placed a link to the ruling which HHJ Darlow made public at the hearing last Friday. The judgement can be found by clicking here.

Many of the lessons have already been implimented, others will now quickly be put in place. This brief entry if for the interest of people who have followed the case.

Alphabet Soup!

The day statrted and ended with meetings designed to work out the NI set to inform the LAA of the LSP !

In other words, partners that make up the City's Local Strategic Partnership (LSP), consisting of the statuatory agencies, private sector and voluntary and community sectors work together to create a Local Area Agreement (LAA) that defines how we work together. Across the country all LSPs are defining the targets and indicators they are going to work on for the next 3 years. We are all picking the 35 key indicators we will jointly commit to. This sounds a bit dry, but it is facinating to see all these different bodies coming together, thinking about how they can work together for the benefit of all. For example, there is a clear police interest on Anti Social Behaviour, but underlying that are education, social services and leisure issues. We are working together in various ways now but If we choose the right shared targets and indicators, all our resources gradually shift over the years to greater long term joint benefit.

CCTV

Plymouth CCTV is an excellent asset to the City. 24/7 watching what happens, in the city centre but also Devonport and other areas of the city. They are constantly monitoring and calling in on the police radio network. Yesterday they were involved in the recovery of two stolen cars amongst the many other issues of the day. During the evening they were able to monitor the activities of some troublesome youths and call in Police to intervene before things got out of hand. They are often unsung heroes in our joint POlice /Council operations, but are much appreciated.

Veteran's Parade

27th June on the Hoe. More information will follow, but this sounds a great event. We have numerous ex forces people in Plymouth Police, many ex marines, but others from all forces. We will be taking part in this event, as an opportunity to show our respect for colleagues in the forces, those who have left and who have lost their lives.

end#

Customer Service

We are always keen to learn from America!

Plymouth's Detective Team

February 15th 2008. Great successes across the city in our fight against drugs; major investigations running; detection rates rising. At the same time a major case stops at court today. Much of our business features in the paper, loads more is never heard about.

Our detective officers have to have in depth knowledge across many skill areas. They need to understand untold "ologies" to investigate their crimes, then manage the complexities of solicitors, legal procedures, interpreters, doctors, identification processes and others while dealing with their prisoners. Having achieved this, they need to hold their cases together up to the court proceedings and manage the care of witnesses afterwards. They are managers of complex resources as well as individual investigators. Theirs is one of those jobs where by its nature, it intrudes into their family lives and their cases are always on their minds.

We ask a lot from our detectives. It is great to stand together when they solve difficult crimes. It is also a privilege to work as a team when we all learn from adversity.

"To the Poles"

I recieved a pack of cards today, from St Celia's Sunday School, which is part of Bickleigh Down C of E school. With them was a simple note to say the children had made cards to thank people who kept them safe. The envelope of one of the cards says "To the Poles" !

They are really great, handmade cards, one of them says "To Plymouth Police Unit, Thank you for all the hard work you have put in to make Plymouth a safe place, PS Thank you"

These simple words from young people mean a lot to us. The cards will be going up on the wall in Charles Cross Police Station tomorrow. I have put just a selection of them here.

Thank you to all the children (and staff), for your kind thoughts and for being great kids.

Domestic Violence

My colleague, Rachel Carnell, our domestic violence coordinator has put out the following:

VALENTINES DAY – DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Valentines Day for some women is a day filled with flowers and chocolates but for others is just another day in the year where they live in fear of both physical and mental abuse from their partner.

Domestic abuse is a very real situation for many and can see women living in fear of an abusive, controlling and violent partner.

Women's Aid highlighted during a 2007 campaign which was focused around Valentine's Day because one of the features of abusive relationships is that they often begin with what may at first be seen by a woman as a flattering display of romantic love.

But along with the chocolates, flowers and poetry can come the first danger signs of unreasonable jealousy and possessiveness. In many abusive relationships this 'love' becomes violent and controlling - a pattern of physical, emotional, sexual and verbal abuse that often escalates over time.

Police Domestic Violence Co-ordinator PC Rachael Carnell explained: “Valentines Day for many is just another day where the threat of physical or mental abuse is always there.

“Abusive relationships can often start very romantically with flowers and chocolates but this can soon deteriorate into for many a dangerous and controlling relationship. I would urge anyone suffering from Domestic Abuse at this time of year to contact one of the many helplines available.”

In Plymouth, Domestic Abuse is a very real issue with approximately 5361 instances being recorded by the police in the year. This means around 103 instances a week, with many crimes going unreported this number could be significantly higher. Help and advice is available for anyone suffering from Domestic Abuse and will be dealt with in a strictly confidential manner.

If you are a victim or know someone who is a victim of Domestic Abuse please call:

Devon & Cornwall Police – 08452 777444/ or 999 in an emergency; Domestic Abuse helpline – 0808 2000 247 (24hrs); Plymouth Women’s Aid – 01752 252033

Operation Talents

Great afternoon today (Wednesday). Operation Talents took the approach of the "parable of the Talents" and gave each of our Neighbourhood Team Leaders , all at Sergeant rank,£500 to develop community initiatives. No parameters were set, other than to advance the needs of local communities through neighbourhood policing. This afternoon we had eleven short presentations on what had been achieved. It was one of the most uplifting days I have spent in my Police career. I will add full details later, but the projects that were presented ranged from youth football, a youth shelter and sports provision, working with a school on crime reduction, street dance, "street surfing", community consultation, community information and a whole range of other youth and community provision. By the end of the presentations, a tot up revealed that our Sergeants had taken the total £5500 given to them and geared it up by obtaining £53k partner and sponser funding as well as untold community benefit.

The sheer energy and commitment revealed was fantastic. I will stick some more up about this tomorrow, but wanted to put something down about this before the day ends.

This is a list of who presented what, we are still to decide which won, but all had real value to our communities:

PS 2712 GLIDDON - West Sector - Beacon Park

Vulnerable vehicle scheme. Street Clearing Initiative.

PS 199 NODDING - New Deals

Granby Island Community Centre Initiative.

PS 5409 MAIDMENT - West Sector - Miers Close

Football Coaching Initiative.

PS 3749 PRIOR & PS 6399 MORLEY - Central Sector

Community Engagement Initiative.

PS 4089 SLOMAN - North Sector

Budshead Trust.

PS 3715 HOCKING - North Sector

Youth Shelter Consultation.

PS 3597 GORDON - East Sector – Plymstock

Street Surfing Initiative.

A/PS 5889 BULLEY - East Sector – Plympton

St Maurice Kick Wall.

PS 4914 SCOLES & PS 3636 SHARPE - South Sector

Community Engagement Initiative.

PS 4528 M'HAND - Devonport Sector

Street Dance Project.

PS 5359 HAVIS - Devonport Sector

Stoke Damerel Initiative

Police people like pubs!

In Plymouth we work closely with the licensed trade and are proud of our association with the trade, through the British Institute of Innkeepers, Citysafe and Pub Watch. The licensed trade is a key part of the economy of the City, it is a key employer and it's turnover is critical, not only to it's immediate staff, but also to those who supply our puubs and clubs with food, drink and their many necessary services. The City has very high standards in many of it's licensed premises. A sign of the trade's commitment to constant improvement in the field of crime, disorder and safety is the high level of membership of the Citysafe scheme; there is a link to its website on the right hand side of this page.

We need to have a balance between the economic value produced by the "evening and night time economy" (ENTE) and its impact on residents and communities. A "saturation" or "cumulative impact" policy seeks to achieve this. You may know that the Police have asked the licensing authority, the council, to consider such a policy. We do not seek to stop the growth of the licensed trade, what we do seek is that, in the identified areas, licensees demonstrate why they will not cause more disorder or harm by opening a new premises, before the license is granted.

I have put some of the detail in the entry below. This is just the outline, if you want to read the whole police submission, use the link at the bottom.

Cumulative impact or saturation policies

You may be aware that the council recently completed a consultation of the City’s Licensing Policy. The amended policy will soon be re-published. During the consultation period, we (Devon and Cornwall Police) submitted a portfolio of evidence identifying five areas where we think crime and disorder is associated with the evening and night time economy. We set out a request to the council to consider the benefits of a saturation policy for those areas.

The areas are Union Street (including Derry's Cross), Mutley Plain, North Hill, Stoke Village and the Barbican.

A series of open drop in sessions were held in each of the respective areas between the 4 to 10 January 2008. Other individuals and groups have submitted their views.

Background

The Licensing Act 2003 introduced a brand new licensing system for:

• The sale and supply of alcohol;

• Provision of “regulated entertainment” e.g. music/dance/film/theatre/ indoor sport;

• Provision of refreshment such as hot food/drink sold after 11.p.m. and 5.a.m.

The Act established four licensing objectives. These are:

• The prevention of crime and disorder

• Safety

• The prevention of nuisance

• The protection of children from harm.

The local licensing authority is responsible for the new licensing system, with role of promoting the four licensing objectives.

The Act provides a range of powers to tackle problem premises. For instance, legal action can be taken for operating without a licence; for selling alcohol to children or to people who are already drunk. Power exists for licences to be reviewed where premises are giving rise to concerns.

The guidance to the act sets out ways to tackling problems arising from the combined effect of a number of premises operating in close proximity to each other in a small area. Licensing authorities can consider introducing special policies, known as “saturation policies”, in certain areas. Saturation policies can be introduced in areas where the “cumulative” effect of licensed premises in the area, is sufficient for the authority to decide that the growth of premises of a similar nature in that area needs to be controlled.

Where the authority has evidence to show that a special policy is necessary, it can, following consultation in the area, introduce a policy that no further licences will be granted to similar premises unless the applicant can show that the licensing of his premises will not add to the problems that have already been identified. This is what the Police have asked Plymouth City Council as the licensing authority to do.

How the policy would work

Normally, when an applicant applies for a licence, the applicant has an entitlement to the licence they are seeking to obtain. A number of “responsible authorities” such as the Police and Fire Authority, and local residents have the ability to raise concerns about the application. If no concern is raised, then the licence will be granted, subject to any conditions which are set out in the Act, or are consistent with the applicant’s “operating schedule” which forms part of the application. The “operating schedule details the applicant’s proposals for the operation and management of the premises.

Where a saturation policy is in place, what is known as a “rebuttable presumption” is created. This introduces a subtle change to the position. Now instead of having an entitlement to the licence, the applicant must demonstrate that the grant of the application will not add to the existing problems.

This does not mean, however, that no further licences can be granted. The policy is not applied automatically. It still requires one of these responsible authorities or one or more local residents to lodge representations about an application with the local licensing authority. Once this happens, the policy comes into effect. If no representation is received then it remains that a licence must be granted that is consistent with the terms of the operating schedule.

The purpose of the policy is to maintain the current position / status quo. The policy does not allow the licensing authority to withdraw or cut-back licences it has already issued. It does not allow the licensing authority to impose quotas that would prevent an application being considered upon its own merits. It does not allow the licensing authority to set limits on the hours of licences that it grants in the future.

Establishing the policy

A policy cannot be considered until the council has consulted on the matter in the local community with the licence holders and businesses and local residents that may be affected.

All views received from this consultation exercise will be reported firstly to the Council’s Licensing Committee. Any decision to approve a saturation policy will be taken, however, by the full Council Assembly and announced in the press. Any local saturation policy will then become part of the Council’s overall statement of licensing policy. Any saturation policy is required to be monitored and amended or removed if the original concerns which led to the policy being introduced are satisfied.

For full details of the consultation and the Police submission, go to:

http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/saturationpolicyconsultation20072008

The Mosquito

On the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/ the Mosquito device was discussed. This machine emits a buzzing noise, set at a pitch too high for adult ears to hear, but which can be heard by young people, under 20. It is used outside premises where young people have gathered and where there is a perception of disorder. The device has been devised by a private company and is available for use by Police, local authorities and private companies. The details can be seen at:

http://www.compoundsecurity.co.uk/

Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the Commissioner for Children was interviewed on the show. He said that children were angry about the use of the machines. He said they were installed indiscriminatorily. Children had reported to him that while some kids do cause problems, most don’t. They reported they had no where to go, nothing to do.

The thrust of Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Greens view was that there was a widening gap between young and old, with a disproportionate fear of the young. Professor Green will now lead a campaign to “Map the Mosquito”, to open a national debate about their use.

In Plymouth there has been use of such devices, as well as the playing of classical music outside shops (apparently an equally effective deterrent!) You will recall we have also heard the playing of classical music in Bretonside bus station to deter people “of a certain age” from loitering!

Across the country there has been extensive use of the mosquito, in Merseyside they have fitted the device into a covert vehicle that can be driven from location to location.

As said elsewhere in this blog, we see children as valuable people who have a right to enjoy the City. If large groups do cause harrasement, fear or distress, we will to deal with it, but we do not want to “criminalise” our young people.

Good discussion brewing on the R4 website, interesting debate:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbtoday/F5963509?thread=5091969

Weekend Booze Busting

Plymouth Police support young people enjoying the City. Enjoying the City does not include doing so in such a way as to cause fear, harassment or distress to others. Young people in large groups, dking under age are a recipe for just that.

The Herald has covered some of o work this weekend. PC Mike Wilkins from our licensing department has been arranging special patrols to deal.

In the article Mike says, "86 cans and bottles of beer, 20 bottles of cider, eight bottles of wine, 30 alcopops and two bottles of spirits were confiscated from under-18s on Friday and Saturday nights in a targeted operation. The patrols are continuing next weekend, and after that we will build on the intelligence gathered on this operation to continue tackling under-age drinkers.
We used alcohol-screening kits for the first time to confiscate booze which is otherwise hard to smell or taste, such as vodka concealed in cola or orange juice.

The kits - sticks which change colour on contact with alcohol - were used on four occasions over the weekend to prove soft drinks contained alcohol.

As well as the alcohol seized Mike and his team did 31 Youth Intervention Profiles, these forms, devised by the licensing office; record the names and addresses of youths who have alcohol taken from them. For each one completed, a police officer will visit the child at home over the next few weeks and discuss their behaviour, attitude and circumstances with the parents.

To see the full article, click below:

Herald Article: Police call time on teen boozers

We also had Spotlight out with us on Friday evening. Inspector Gary Neeves and his team were out dealing with disorderly young people.

To see the article, click here:

Spotlight Feature: Police move to disperse gangs

I do want to emphasise, we take no pleasure in moving kids on. We would much rather be working, alone or with our City partners in developing useful and stimulating activities for them. Our officers and PCSO's are involved in a whole variety of work with young people which we will look to do yet more of. That being said, our priority must be to ensure that people of all ages feel safe in their homes and on the streets. To that end we will constantly deal with disorder, whether created by young people or others.

Team Work - Supporting the Front Line

Just another day, a police car pulls a car over and checks a driver, the check is fine and the driver goes about their business.................

Now the rest of the story:

• At some point in the past a police officer, somewhere in the country, arrests a suspect for dealing drugs.
• The officer puts intelligence into Police systems, an intelligence unit checks it, grades it and distributes it, this goes into the ANPR system.
• That intelligence includes car numbers and associates.
• The car drives into our City
• The automatic number plate reader system (ANPR) reads the number, checks it and finds the drugs warning marker
• An officer in the communications department checks the system and puts out a message to all patrolling officers to be on the lookout
• The vehicle is spotted by the Plymouth CCTV team
• Patrolling officers are directed to the vehicle by the CCTV team, they decide to let it move and stop it somewhere where the risk of a pursuit will be minimised
• Other officers, including a drugs dog, discretely move into the vicinity to support their colleagues
• The car is stopped, the dealer is not present, the occupiers of the vehicle are fine and are thanked for their cooperation
• All parties go about their business
• As for the dealer, all in good time.......
  

This is just one of many stories from one team on one shift. Our business is 24/7 and there are such events all the time. The key to delivering high quality policing is operating as a team. Our public face is the patrolling PC, Special Constable and PCSO, behind them and not seen is all the rest of our units., working together.

Cooking on gas!

I assume if you are reading this you are good on IT and a regular on the Herald website. If so, rather than me list a load of things that have happened recently, just search under "police" on the Herald main site. Plymouth Police, my colleagues all, are delivering fantastic results. I know (because I read them) there are loads of people who genuinly hold adverse views about the Police, I am sorry you can't always see what I see and understand the detail of what is being done for the City.

• We have recently had massive drugs seizures, and now will be going after the dealer's money, a large proportion of which will be ploughed back into fighting crime.
• We have been consulting with our communities through the PACT process and delivering on very local priorities.
• We have just finished a week of action in Plympton (some results in the Herald, more to follow).
• This weekend we have been out in large numbers dealing with Anti Social Behaviour.

We are dealing with high risk missing people, accidents and all the normal range of policing challenges, and with renewed vigour.

I know Police colleagues occasionally read this, so I would like to thank the team for their response to ASB. Since my declaration of a new stance that I made, including on the front page of the Herald, we have seen a dramatic rise in the overall number of arrests in the City, including the number of arrests for ASB related issues. I will have more detail available next week.

Clearly, as I have said many times, arrests are not the whole answer, they are a very short term response. We do not want to criminalise our young people, who have a legitamate right to be on the streets and to congregate. That being said, the public rightly expect the services they pay for to support their legitamate right to peacefully enjoy their homes, streets and city. Although arrest and enforcement are short term solutions to youth ASB and disorder, where the need arises we will positively use them.

If any readers are genuinly interested in seeing more of what we do, please let me know. We run a scheme called "Insight Patrol" which allows people to go out on patrol with us. We have to go through a security, health and data protection check, but that being done, we do let individuals have the chance to see our work form the inside.

Bureaucracy - Sir Ronnie

At last! Sir Ronnie Flanagan’s report, released in draft this week points up the waste of police time that is being spent chasing paper around the place. Some of this is our own fault, being too risk averse, seeking to cover every possible eventuality, but a lot of it services “the system”. Sir Ronnie’s report, when finalised and adopted, will set out the need to treat Police officer time like the expensive valuable resource it is.

If we were paying a consultant hundreds of pounds an hour, we wouldn’t have them sitting filling in details over and over again, we would have them delivering core business. To train, equip and deploy a front line police officer, then back them up with communications, forensic and other support costs us all this kind of money, they are a precious resource and need to be treated accordingly. We want our Police doing proper policing tasks, making a difference to our communities.

We can’t always blame others, some of our IT was state of the art 10 years ago, but is no woefully out of date. We are now preparing to upgrade our main systems to get away from “double keying” data into different systems, and bringing us fully up to date.

In Plymouth we are constantly looking for ways to cut down on unnecessary paper, it does need a force, national and inter- agency approach to make the real impact we need.

This is a very important report; Sir Ronnie is a pragmatic police officer, whose views are listened to in government. I have put some links in below:

The BBC has done some good analysis on the document:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7232226.stm

The Herald covered the Plymouth perspective:

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=19810503&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

Other Police blogs are discussing this in detail:

http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/

Here is the whole document:

http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-and-publications/publication/police-reform/Review_of_policing_final_report/

Sir Ronnie's Report

Radio 4 discussion

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today4_police_20080207.ram

To see a wide range of Police views:

http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/ronnie-flanagan/

Our article in the Herald

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=133188&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133171&contentPK=19810503&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

A varied day in Plymouth

The day started with a discussion on Plymouth policing issues with James Watts on Radio Devon. I have seen the questions posted on my "request for things to raise" below. We did touch on that kind of area, but not exactly so I will post a response directly on here later.

Then just a short interlude to deal with some operational policing issues.

Mid morning up to Plympton for the launch of the week of action, "Respect for Plympton". This is a partnership approach to working on locally identified priorities. Gary Streeter, the MP for Plympton and Plymstock opened the proceedings. This week of action follows those carried out in Devonport, Barne Barton, North Prospect and Honicknowle.

These weeks are not about trying to solve all problems in one go; clearly not possible, but they are about bringing together a wide range of agencies to focus on those issues identified by local people. Today, amongst others we had the Neighbourhood Policing Team, Traffic Officers, the ANPR team, the Dog Warden, members of the Council Community Safety team, young people from the Phoenix youth project the local councillor for Plympton Erle, Dr David Salter and the council cabinet member Peter Brookshaw. The event was hosted by Devon and Somerset Fire Brigade.

During the course of the day I was looking at our PACT (Partners and Communities Together) priorities. These are the priorities we have agreed through a series of local meetings. These are now a key priority for us. We are still working on our main crime types (year so far car crime down 6.3% , burglary down 0.1% , violence down 8%, criminal damage down 15.6%, overall crime down 10.4%) but we recognise that even though crime is coming down, often people don't feel safer. Bringing down these main crime types is not enough. We need to work with other agencies to improve those issues that affect local quality of life.

Our PACT priorities are set out in the document below. These are driving our Neighbourhood Policing Approach. The priorities change as they are resolved to the satisfaction of the local community and more are then selected.

(THE SOFTWARE STOPPED THIS DOCUMENT GETTING THROUGH I WILL ADD IT LATER)

Then a range of quick meetings to discuss licensing, youth and partnership issues.

The day is just coming to an end having met just some of Plymouth's diverse community associations, this included the African, Iranian, Kurdish, South Asian and Chinese associations. All of these groups came together in Crownhill Police Station to support each other and the Police in understanding some of the challenges they face and opportunites they bring.

Wishing all a safe evening

PS be aware of a spate of break in's to Citroen Saxo and Peugeot 106's. These have been reported across Plymouth and Cornwall and is featured in today's Herald. If you own one of the vehicles, please remove all valuables from sight, if you find your car has been tampered with, please let us know so we can obtain any forensic evidence.

Gordon Sparks Show Monday

On Monday morning, at about 0800, I will be on the Radio Plymouth Gordon Sparks radio programme. I go on once a month to talk about current policing issues. There is no preset agenda, Gordon raises any areas he wants to discuss and I answer up. Is there anything you would like to have covered? Leave me a message here and I will see what I can do. Normal limitations apply, ie can't discuss cases that are going to court, or individuals without their consent.

Here is a link to Sparksy's show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2005/09/29/gordon_sparks_radio_devon_feature.shtml

Have a good weekend

Behind the Headlines

An author in today's "Your Say" page in the Herald posts some interesting questions. I have set out some answers below.

Tucked in the middle of the letter, Mr Blatchford asks about the photos used. His descriptions "Grimly resolute/positively alarming", matched my own thinking. I am up for changing a lot to make Plymouth safer and stronger, but I am stuck with this old mug! It certainly made my wife jump when she saw it staring at her out of the Herald!

Mr Blatchford was right, the Herald do hold a photo library, they often need a view on something, a court case, an incident or the release of data and to stick the same old shot up each time is more than the Herald's readers should be asked to bear! These things often happen at short notice, so taking a photo then wouldn't work. If you want to see the lot, you can look at: http://3303.e-printphoto.co.uk/peh/index.cfm?z=z (type Jim Webster into the search box).Personally I think the smiling ones are scarier that the "grim faced", but you have to do the best with what you have got!

I would also say that while I am responsible for many things, writing headlines isn't one of them. Wether the headline of this particular article was obvious or not, or sensible or not, is a matter for the sub editor of the paper. Clearly the words used were accurate quotes, but they were taken from a lengthy telephone interview, some of which was used in the article.

Now for the answers to Mr Blatchford's questions:

Q How do these things work? Did The Herald contact Mr Webster and ask for his response to the fact that his men didn't turn up very quickly to a potentially dangerous situation?

A Yes

Q Or did Mr Webster proactively contact The Herald?

A No

Q And the photos? Were they from The Herald library

A Yes

Q or did people actually spend time doing new ones

A No

Q Page 1: Hat on, grimly resolute.

A Agreed

Q Page 5: Hat off, positively alarming?

A It alarmed me!

Q Mr Webster regretted the incident but did not apologise because there were 15 other incidents across the city at the same time. That doesn't tell us anything. Is 15 incidents a high, low or average number?

A There were 15 incidents in that area of the City at that time. Friday evenings are busy for us in any event, this evening was particularly busy at that particular time. We can and do deal with multiple events, but there will be occasions when if they occur in the same area and at the same time, eventually we run out of staff. We then have to redeploy from situation to situation.

Q Was not the fact that over the evening there were more incidents. What were the severities of those other incidents?

A I will post up some details on the blog later. I don't have the list of all the events available where I am now.

Q Considering what happened to Mr Newlove in Cheshire last August, when he was kicked to death by just three murderous yobs, you would have thought 40 yobs surrounding one man would attract some kind of priority.

A Agreed. This incident was reprioritised once the facts became clearer. This sort of incident should be treated as a priority.

Q So what did he regret? That he doesn't have unlimited resources? We all regret that. Maybe the word 'Sorry' is more appropriate. A bit of humility goes a long way, it is not a sign of weakness and it might well endear him more to his customers.

A

REGRET:
a feeling of sadness about something sad or wrong or about a mistake that you have made, and a wish that it could have been different and better:

SORRY:
used to say that you wish you had not done what you have done, especially when you want to be polite to someone you have done something bad to.

I am sorry that any one in Plymouth has to put up with feeling intimidated in their homes or in the streets by people who should know better. I take this very seriously and mean to make Plymouth increasingly safe for all who live or work here.

Q Finally, the announcement of a robust presence in the area in the coming weekend. These statements of intent - 'crackdown' is another commonly used one - how convincing are they?

A I don't expect any headline in the paper to be convincing, but as you say a "statement of intent" has value. Particularly where it is used to alert those who might be otherwise drawn into trouble and to create a sense of urgency about the issues.

Q Is it a sound tactic to announce where you are going to be to prospective criminals?

A It can be if part of a wider campaign, in which you declare some aspects and keep others to yourself.

Q Isn't news supposed to be what has happened, not what may happen?

A Isn't news often both?

Q So, in the interests of a real newsworthy story, how many yobs were arrested in Eggbuckland last weekend as a result of the 'robust presence'?

A I will be doing a piece on that when I am back in the office. Bear in mind, this is not just about Eggbuckland and not just for a weekend. This is about dealing with the immediate consequences of yobbery through enforcement, while working with others to build a better longer term future.