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Policing under the spotlight at PCC accountability meeting next week

Policing in the county will be put under the spotlight next week as Norfolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) holds his regular Police Accountability Forum with the Chief Constable.

PCC Lorne Green will quiz Chief Constable Simon Bailey on progress against the county’s Police and Crime Plan at the meeting at Norfolk Police HQ on Tuesday 28 January.

Items on the agenda will include:

  • An update on the current police budget and what is being done to ensure the Norfolk public receives efficient and effective services.
  • Constabulary plans for increasing officer numbers in line with the additional funding made available by the Home Office.
  • How the Constabulary is continuing to tackle domestic abuse in Norfolk.
  • A quarterly update on complaints by the Constabulary’s Professional Standards Department.

PCC Lorne Green will also be focusing on recent inspection findings in relation to how the Force records crime.

Having “noted with concern” the findings of the inspection by HMICFRS*, which were published earlier this month, the PCC will be asking Chief Constable Simon Bailey to update him on plans to address its recommendations for improvement.

“Despite making improvements since its last inspection, Norfolk Constabulary’s crime recording arrangements are not yet to the required standard”, the PCC said.

“The Police Accountability Forum is one of the mechanisms through which I hold the Chief Constable to account.

“At this next meeting I will be seeking, on behalf of the public, reassurance that the necessary improvements are being made so that we have crime data in which victims and the community can have confidence.”

PCC Lorne Green will also be asking the Chief Constable about work to tackle County Lines drug activity in the county, after a national thematic report called for greater collaboration and an improved cross-border response.

A particular focus of the HMICFRS report, entitled ‘Both Sides of the Coin’, was how police forces balance disrupting criminal activity and prosecuting offenders with safeguarding victims - recognising that children and vulnerable adults involved in county lines can be victims as well as offenders.

“County Lines and the serious violence that goes hand-in-hand with it are not exclusively policing issues, and they will not be solved by enforcement action alone,” added the PCC.

“I know, not least through preventative projects being run through my own office, that there are some great examples of collaboration and joint working taking place in Norfolk.

“But I’m keen to hear from the Chief Constable how much the issues highlighted in this report are impacting on work to tackle County Lines in Norfolk, and what he feels we can take from its recommendations.”

The Police Accountability Forum will be held on Tuesday 28 January 2020 between 10.30am and 12.30pm in the Wroxham Room, Norfolk Police HQ, Wymondham, NR18 0WW.

Read the agenda and reports for this meeting