A RENEWED focus on rural crime in the Thames Valley will not see officers taken away from elsewhere, Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld has pledged.

Mr Stansfeld appeared before members of Oxfordshire County Council’s safer and stronger communities scrutiny committee yesterday to introduce his policing plan and to answer questions.

Councillors quizzed Mr Stansfeld and Chief Constable Sara Thornton, Thames Valley Police’s two most senior figures, on issues including:

  • Child sex abuse and absentee schoolchildren
  • Speeding and how the force tackles it
  • Alcohol use leading to offending and antisocial behaviour

Mr Stansfeld was particularly concerned about rural crime, claiming that it had been “ignored” over the years.

He said: “If you broke into a bank and took £150,000 it would be a major crime on the front of all the newspapers. “If you take tractor worth £150,000 you would get a scenes of crime officer two days later.”

He noted that there were, proportionally, more officers that covered city areas within the Thames Valley region. The crime commissioner said: “I hadn’t realised until I looked into it that there was such a variation between different areas. I quite understand towns and cities require more money and have bigger issues than smaller towns, but if you look at policing it’s two-to-one in favour of urban areas.

“The concern people have is that I am moving policemen from elsewhere, which of course I am not. I am just making sure police in those areas are taking matters more seriously.”

Ms Thornton pointed out Oxford had 40 per cent more officers per head of population than in rural areas, which she described as “quite right”.

Councillors asked a number of questions about how his work in the post, which he took up in November, was being scrutinised. Councillor John Goddard, who represents Summertown and Wolvercote, asked him: “Anyone in such high public office has high public expectations of transparency and accountability. How do you expect to meet public expectations? All sorts of people might say you ought to be accountable to them.”

Mr Stansfeld said: “Anybody in Government doing a cabinet position would be in the same situation. I have a crime panel that scrutinises me, also I have the Press and media trying to scrutinise me.” Ms Thornton gave a presentation explaining the force’s objectives and successes. She outlined figures which showed 5,367 people had signed up for Country Watch Alerts. She also produced statistics which showed that despite cuts to the budget which she claimed amounted to 20 per cent in real terms, the number of officers, including those on patrol, had grown since 2010.

The number of patrol officers had risen from 1,218 to 1,348, while the total number of officers grew from 2,259 to 2,419.

Nine extra officers will be joining the force, while 15 officers currently working elsewhere will be deployed to the Kingfisher Unit, a collaboration with the county council to tackle child sex exploitation.

Special Constables also grew from under 300 in 2008 to nearly 800 this January.

 

Q&A: Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld

Q What are your views on rural crime?
A I am concerned over the years rural crime has been ignored. Farms have vastly bigger equipment which is vastly more valuable. If you broke into a bank and took £150,000 it would be a major crime on the front of all the newspapers. If you take a tractor worth £150,000 you would get a scenes-of-crime officer two days later. These vehicles are being moved out of the country. It is very serious organised crime

Q Are you planning to have any meetings that might be open to the public?
A We have meetings which are open to the public and the first one we held, only two members of the public turned up. It was in the middle of winter. People always say they want to come to things, but actually very few people turn up, and when they do you have to be careful as they can represent a lobby group that doesn’t represent the vast majority of people.

Q You have been in your post several months. Over that period you have met with local authorities, councils, etc. Are there any messages which have come across which you now have in mind that perhaps you have not had before?
A I don’t think there have been any surprises. It is difficult to set priorities in an area that includes Slough, the Cotswolds and Milton Keynes. I have got to balance it.

Q Over-consumption of alcohol is one of the main causes of antisocial behaviour. What are you doing to address that?
A Really it is up to the councils, who deal with licensing, to listen to what police advise when dealing with the late-night economy.

Q What are you doing about speeding traffic?
A This is a difficult one, I get this on both sides – people saying we are not enforcing them, or asking why are we enforcing them. We enforce the limit where there is clear evidence we have an accident problem. There seems to be an idea the more speed limits and signs we put up, the safer it becomes, but I drove into Oxford the other day and the sheer number of signs you had to read in 150 yards was extraordinary. It’s a matter of ergonomics and getting it right.

 

Q&A: Thames Valley Police Chief Constable Sara Thornton

Q With regard to child sex exploitation, do you have a remit to go to the schools and ask for lists of absenteeism where absenteeism is fairly lengthy?
A It is not our job to go actively to the school, but there is a key person based at the school who should be shown that information. Now in Oxfordshire particularly around exploitation we have the Kingfisher Unit and the great thing about it is we have people working closely with schools in the same room as a police officer. We don’t go and knock on the door of the school, but I am confident now that information is coming back to us.

Q Can you tell us more about criminal gangs in Oxford?
A There are several gangs in Oxford city. [Senior investigating officer] Simon Morton is leading a lot of this work, working closely with the city council. It is very much multi-agency work, and we have identified young people in gangs or those who are vulnerable.

Q A few years ago there was a great concern of officers switching to other forces. Is that still a problem?
A The Metropolitan Police has to lose officers themselves and haven’t been aggressively recruiting. The danger has gone away, but only for the time being. If it becomes a problem again it wastes so much money to train people only for them to leave. I will have to speak to the police and crime commissioner about what we can do.

Q When the Windsor Review on police pay and conditions was published, morale was pretty low. Has that abated?
A Officers do still feel very concerned about terms and conditions. We are very mindful of that. Most people accept it is part of a broader economic issue and we have all got to get through it together.

Q Some PCSOs are partly paid for by commercial organisations which can leave some villages not seeing PCSOs as much as they would wish. How much influence is there from commercial concerns who assist in financing these positions?
A There are about two or three PCSOs who are not just part-funded but fully funded by commercial people. If they are paying for it they really should get that service. When it is part-funding, we should be able to say actually we have got more pressing needs here.