Attending: Chief Inspector, Peter Steenhuis; a representative from West Kent Mediation; and PACT chairperson.

The Chairman welcomed Chief Inspector Peter Steenhuis from West Kent Police,  and Amanda Bell the Service Manager and Bev Giannoni the Restorative Justice Manager from West Kent Mediation to the meeting. Unfortunately the Chairman of Hextable Partners and Community Together (PACT) was unable to attend but the Sevenoaks District Council Community Safety Co-ordinator attended instead.

Peter Steenhuis, the new District Commander for Sevenoaks,  gave a presentation about the New Policing Model which was to be implemented by Kent Police on 16 November 2011. He gave the model strong support and believed it would bring policing back to the community.

He explained that crime in Sevenoaks was the lowest in the County. He considered it a joint effort and thanked the Community Safety Partnership for its significant impact. Burglary and vehicle crime were down but there were still problems with handling stolen goods, retail theft and particularly with metal theft. The area also suffered from theft from sheds so an Officer has been redeployed from a specialist team to investigate this.  Resources would be available from November in  the new policing model for  this function.

The new model meant there would no longer be separate sections within the police but each Officer would own a case from when it was reported until the charge. The most appropriate, available resource would deal with a matter regardless of district boundaries.

There would be an increase in neighbourhood policing with 5 teams to cover 7 days a week between 7a.m. and 1a.m.. Each team would have 5 Officers and a Sergeant. This meant that at the height of a changeover between teams there would be 12 Officers which was a significant increase on the current 3 or 4. Response officers would come out from Tonbridge.

In reply to a question the Chief Inspector acknowledged that detection for hate crimes was low, particularly compared to the rest of the County. An Officer had been assigned to review the 16 cases over the last year to ensure that all that could be done to address hate crimes had been done and that any further action was taken if required. A Member felt it was important that an Officer came to talk to the black community and the Chief Inspector agreed to do this next time such meetings were organised.

Since the eviction of travellers from Dale Farm in Essex a Member enquired whether the District had been put on alert. The Chief Inspector reminded Members that it was a lawful lifestyle but the whole County was on notice. He did not expect to use any special powers to remove travellers as bye-laws were often effective. Extended powers would only be employed in cases of anti-social behaviour or if schools or hospitals were affected. If travellers were on private land without consent they would be monitored.

Peter Steenhuis commended the approach in Sevenoaks of using PACTs for dealing with community safety issues of importance to local communities. He felt it was effective and was best practice and he was encouraging colleagues to follow this lead.

A Member enquired about the extent Neighbourhood Watch was still used. The Chief Inspector was excited about E-Watch in West Kent. It gave residents a list of crimes in the area and linked to information to aid prevention. There was a concern with getting residents to sign up and login to the site but he hoped the mobile application in development would encourage more users.

The Portfolio Holder for Safe Community said she found the Chief Inspector’s visit very informative.

The Service Manager of West Kent Mediation explained how the service also covered Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells Districts and had expanded into many different types of mediation.

Victim-offender mediation had now been going for 7 years and the spin-off Parent-teenager mediation was helping to resolve some of the underlying problems. Work-place mediation was offered to all businesses in the district but was only a small income stream for them and was not actively supported. They had received funding for peer mediation for 3 years and had started in primary schools but was also now in secondary schools. Mediation was provided for those with anger habits; about 10 cases per year were dealt with and most referrals came from a single school. In October 2010 Final Warning Clinics resumed in Tunbridge Wells police station; the Service Manager felt that there was a problem with attendance levels, but when they took place it could be very effective. More than 130 cases came from parent-teen or community cases and they had dealt with 14 schools for peer mediation.

There were 2 part-time and 3 full-time staff with 35 volunteers. Funding came from all 3 district councils, Kent Probation and grants among other sources.

The Restorative Justice Manager explained that they dealt with 60-65 youth justice cases in the year to March 2011. They also used parent-teen mediation in cases where a person left prison and had nowhere to go but to their family with whom they had some conflict. West Kent Mediation had become a Restorative Justice Council member and the Restorative Justice Manager had become one of only a few accredited practitioners across the country.

The Chairman commended the staff at West Kent Mediation and informed Members that it was the only mediation service with PQASSO accreditation.

A Member felt there may be cross-over between their services and family mediation already offered in schools.

Another Member enquired how success could be measured for restorative justice. The Restorative Justice Manager informed him that 98% of the feedback received was satisfied or very satisfied with the service. However they could not measure the impact mediation could have helping those, particularly victims, who had suffered psychological effects from serious violent crime. She felt the service played an important role after court cases had finished when there was less support for victims from other sources.

In response to a further question she suggested it was difficult to evaluate reoffending rates because although she did not tend to see youth offenders again that might be because they had reached 18 and would then be dealt with by the Probation Service.

In response to a question from a member she informed the meeting that when she wrote to schools 5 or 6 years ago 98% of them were interested in taking up the anger mediation. However, resources currently limited the service to about 10 cases per year. They were again in the process of writing to schools to investigate opportunities once schools have to buy in services.

The Community Safety Co-ordinator gave a verbal presentation on PACTs.

She described the usual procedure for PACT groups. They would start the initial meeting by asking residents the things they liked about their local community. Only after this would they discuss what the top 3 priorities were for change. The priorities for change were often speeding, litter and anti-social behaviour. At the subsequent panel meeting the community would take the lead as to what actions were required to address issues. The Community Safety Partnership would attend this. Young people would be encouraged to attend or to identify their issues separately. The PACT panel, including residents, would then co-ordinate the implementation of the action plan.  The PACT would be disbanded once actions were complete and the issues had been addressed.

In Sundridge engagement with young people had addressed concerns of anti-social behaviour and provided young people with a shelter and litter bin. Brasted had established a cold-calling control zone and was funding signs, leaflets and CCTV. In Swanley and Edenbridge dog fouling initiatives were to be taken forward in late 2011 and early 2012 which focused on education and enforcement. In Crockham Hill Speed Watch was established with a speed board, trained volunteers and a PCSO available to assist.

There were currently 9 PACTs in operation with a further 4 recently completed. The completed PACTs could be brought back into operation if there were a future need.

The Community Safety Co-ordinator felt it was important that information be fed back to the community after meetings, whether this was positive or negative. They had to be honest about what problems could be resolved.

A local Member was concerned that attendance had been poor for the PACT in Swanley. The Head of Community Development noted that the large population in Swanley made it more difficult to get the community together.  Evening PACT meetings held in each ward had been widely publicised but poorly attended.  Often in large communities one needed to go where people gathered, for example at Meeting Point or the local supermarket. The Partnership had held community days in the 3 main towns last year and these had been repeated this year giving local people an opportunity to speak to the police and partners.  The Chief Inspector added that PACTs were only one tool available to them.

The Chairman thanked all the speakers.