Agenda item

The Chairman thanked the Borough Commander, Mr Colin Wingrove, for attending, particularly as he had also been presenting at an event about the same issue in the Council Chamber the previous evening.  Mr Wingrove had been pleased with the attendance at that event which gave members of the public the opportunity to comment on the proposals.  It was noted that the deadline for consultation responses was 5.30pm on 6 October 2017.

The MPS had been engaging with members of the public and encouraging responses to the consultation through Facebook, Twitter and, more locally, in Hillingdon People.  However, it had still been challenging to get residents to attend the consultation events. 

Members were advised that the strategy had been worked up by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and not by the Borough.  It covered all 32 London boroughs and had been brought about by the need to save £400m on top of the £600m already saved.  The first round of savings had resulted in the outsourcing of some back office functions and a reduction in the number of PCSOs.  It was anticipated that the proposals would result in revenue and capital savings and would include an additional 800 new police officers. 

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) currently occupied more than 400 buildings across London and it was anticipated that the proposals would reduce this number to around 100.  Each borough would have one police station which was open 24/7 - the proposal was that, in Hillingdon, this control centre would be on the current Hayes site.  The stations in Uxbridge and Ruislip would be sold off and the Northwood station would be returned as per the building's covenant.  Mr Wingrove noted that the Uxbridge site would sell for more money than the Hayes site and cost more to maintain.  The proposals would include the refurbishment and modernisation of Hayes police station to accommodate the additional 200 officers that would need to be decanted from Uxbridge.  The detail of this work had not yet been determined.  It was suggested that the projected value of the Hayes site would increase with the advent of Crossrail so that it was more in line with (or exceeded) the value of the Uxbridge site. 

Members queried whether an adequate cost benefit analysis of the proposals had been undertaken (which included the impact on services and operational ability) and whether the value of the sale of Uxbridge and the refurbishment of Hayes would cancel each other out.  Concern was expressed about whether Hayes, even after development, would have sufficient capacity for staff and whether consideration had been given to developing a brand new purpose built station in the Borough.  It was noted that there were operational advantages and disadvantages to both sites, for example, demand was greater in Hayes, Yiewsley and West Drayton but Uxbridge would be more visible and was closer to Brunel, the London Underground and major road networks.

Each of the 32 London boroughs previously had their own Borough Command.  Pilots had been undertaken to group some boroughs together into single command structures/Basic Command Units (BCUs) in order to deliver a better and more efficient service.  Although the performance of / learning from these pilots had not yet been evaluated / analysed, if BCUs were to be rolled out across London, Hillingdon would be partnered with Ealing and Hounslow and consideration would be given to the structure of specialist teams. 

Concern was expressed about the restructuring of specialist services and how they would communicate with Borough officers. This communication was critical with regard to child protection conference and strategy meetings so it would be essential that social workers were able to contact the relevant officers out of hours.  Mr Wingrove advised that Islington/Camden had created a safeguarding umbrella for a number specialist units where officers worked shifts to cover 24/7.  He also assured Members that many local arrangements, such as MASH, would remain in place but that other additional arrangements would also be put in place. 

Hillingdon was a large borough bordered multiple counties and which was impacted by issues such as HS2.  As such, it would be important to ensure that consideration was given to locating patrol cars in Ruislip and Hayes as part of the new arrangements.  It was noted that Ealing was a smaller and more compact borough but that it would experience similar patrol car coverage issues as its police station was likely to be in Acton. 

Members were advised that the number of Dedicated Ward Officers (DWOs) in each Hillingdon ward had increased from 1 to 2 in 2016 and had resulted in very positive feedback.  Public confidence had increased over the last year from 56% to 64%. 

It was thought that police officers' use of mobile technology would be helpful and would enable them to be more responsive.  Tablets would be rolled out to all front line officers in mid-October and, unlike the rest of their equipment, they would be allowed to take them home.  Officers would be given power packs to ensure the batteries for their tablets lasted for the duration of their shifts.  A trial of mobile technology in Hammersmith and Fulham had freed officers up for at least one hour each day and had proved very popular. 

Investigations were currently underway to identify partner locations around the Borough that could be used as hubs for DWOs.  The Council and other partners had been supportive of this concept.  It was anticipated that hubs would be based near to DWOs' patrol areas and would be accessible.  Mobile technology would be key and would help to improve efficiency through the increased use of Skype and the collection of CCTV footage (an application was being developed for businesses to be able to transfer encrypted files to the MPS).  As the DWOs would be able to access information remotely, they would be able to update reports on vulnerable adults and children, which would assist with safeguarding.

It was recognised that an increased police presence was an important part of effective policing which provided a visible deterrent. 

Hillingdon's major custody suite was based at Polar Park which would be affected by the third runway at Heathrow if it went ahead.  Individuals arrested by police officers in Hillingdon would generally be transported to Polar Park to be held in custody. 

Concern was expressed that the location of DWOs in hubs around the Borough, rather than working from a central base, would reduce contact between police officers and potentially have a negative impact on team working and camaraderie.  Mr Wingrove noted that Hillingdon was currently a people-centric Borough with police officers being able to access support services such as counselling, the wellbeing forum and professional development days.  Consideration would need to be given to how this approach to staff would be maintained with regard to remote working, particularly from a supervisor perspective.  To this end, where possible, Mr Wingrove tried to contact every officer in Hillingdon that was injured in the line of duty to ensure that they were looked after.  Plans had been put in place to monitor staff wellbeing and the leadership would need to ensure that remote workers were adequately supported. 

Mr Wingrove advised that the proposals also included an increase in the number of Safer Schools Officers (SSOs) to ensure that every school had access to one.  Concern was expressed that if there were fewer police stations, the schools would become a substitute station.  Members were assured that SSOs were associated with specific schools. 

The consultation had already prompted a significant number of detailed questions about the logistics of the proposed changes.  However, as the proposals were still in the early stages, this level of detail had not yet been worked out. 

Mr Wingrove noted that there had been a soft launch of the new online service.  Despite not advertising the facility, there had been an increase in its usage.  The soft launch had enabled the MPS to smooth out any wrinkles in the system.  Users were only able to report less serious crimes through the online service and the website would force the user to call the police if the crime were more serious. 

It was anticipated that online and telephone investigations would evolve over time.  The MPS was aiming to increase the number of telephone investigations from 34% to 40%.  It was noted that 101 operators assessed calls as they came in and passed them on to the relevant team to progress.  This process freed up officers from having to visit every victim or scene of crime so that they could concentrate on more urgent issues.  Clearly, there were some crimes where it would be important for officers to visit and speak to victims face to face. 

It was recognised that the introduction of web contact could ease the pressure on the 101 service.  As demand had already increased by 12%, plans were in place to improve the way that this contact was dealt with as well as how to reduce the demand on the service in conjunction with partners (for example, monitoring repeat callers who were known to multiple organisations).  Demand varied and an algorithm was used to determine the right number of officers and put them in the right place at the right time.  Members were assured that any hate crime reported through Twitter was dealt with quickly. 

The service would need to ensure that plans were in place with regard to how these proposals would actually work on the ground: consideration would need to be given to how an officer's day would actually look like; where their equipment would be stored; and where they would park their personal vehicles.  Mr Wingrove acknowledged that staff engagement would be a very important part of the process and that a team was in place to work on the fine detail through a sophisticated change programme. 

If they were interested, Mr Wingrove invited Members of the Committee to ride along with a member of his team to experience their working day first hand. 

RESOLVED:  That:

1.    the Committee's comments be forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Community, Commerce and Regeneration; and

2.    the presentation be noted.