Appendix 1 - Actions completed by Police Scotland
Perth and Kinross Council · 27 November 2024
Back to Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee — 27 November 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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OFFICIAL: POLICE ONLY OFFICIAL: POLICE ONLY Appendix 1 In relation to the actions raised at the previous Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee meeting pertaining to Police Scotland, I have the following to report. Action 17 – Provide further information on age demographic of individuals reporting sexual assaults or rape offences. The below table shows information on the age demographic of individuals reporting Sexual Assaults and Rape for the period 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024 for Perth and Kinross. Age/Sex Female Male Total Under 16 44 9 53 16-17 22 1 23 18-24 19 5 24 25-34 29 6 35 35-44 17 1 18 45-54 3 1 4 55-64 2 1 3 Over 65 2 0 2 Total 138 24 162 Of note you will see that there is a split, 53 under 16 years of age and 109 over the age of 16. The majority of those reporting sexual assault identify as female. Serious offending against children is dealt with by the divisional Child Protection Investigation Unit who are based in each of the 3 Local Authority areas. Serious offending against adults is investigated by several departments including the Divisional Rape Investigation Unit, Domestic Abuse Investigation Unit and Reactive CID. We also have access to national assets such as the National Rape Task Force and Domestic Abuse Task Force who have officers based within Tayside. Allocation of the investigation depends on factors such as whether it is a domestic offence and the severity of the incident. We also reach out to partners to assist victims of sexual crime by submitting referrals to local social work teams and organisations such as Perth and Kinross Domestic Abuse Service (Barnardos), RASAC Perth and Kinross, Women’s Aid, Victim Support Service, PKC Safer Communities Team and the Caledonian Women’s Project (part of Criminal Justice SW team).
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OFFICIAL: POLICE ONLY OFFICIAL: POLICE ONLY Action 18 - Provide examples of implementation of good practice within Perth and Kinross This action specifically related to Angus Local Policing Area (86%) having performed better than Perth and Kinross Local Policing Area (78%) in respect of overall satisfaction taken from the Your Police surveys which are carried out. A difference of 9% however important to highlight that Perth and Kinross had 74 responses compared to 54 in Angus. Perth and Kinross are not doing anything different from other areas of Tayside in respect of current good practice relating to our service and engagement with our local communities. Providing timeous updates and providing advice in relation to next steps and outcomes remains one of the most important aspects for people when they engage with the police and is something that we prioritise. We are also making efforts to increase our social media output regarding positive community engagements to highlight visibility and community engagement. Action 19 – Provide statistics regarding assaults on Police Officers The below table shows the number of assaults on Police Officers and the detection rate for that crime type for Perth and Kinross between the 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. Reported Detected Detection Rate 141 139 98.60% Thankfully most of these crimes are detected given they predominantly occur while being arrested or following providing their details to officers, however 2 remain undetected. The first of the undetected offences relates to a plastic bottle being thrown at an officer. Unfortunately, the bottle was thrown from a crowd and the suspect could not be identified. The other undetected assault on an officer occurred in similar circumstances whereby a female within a group pushed an officer and made off as officers were trying to deal with the wider disturbance. Unfortunately, the female was not traced. Following any incident involving an officer being assaulted, welfare provision is provided by their line manager. This includes being provided with medical attention where required, notification to the Scottish Police Federation where required and access to counselling if required.
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OFFICIAL: POLICE ONLY OFFICIAL: POLICE ONLY On all occasions, relevant paperwork is completed in relation to exposure to violence to comply with health and safety legislation. Figures for 1st April 2024 to 30th September 2024 are included in the Housing and Wellbeing Mid-Year Report and show a slight reduction in the number of assaults year on year. Action 20 – Provide breakdown of Road Traffic Collisions in relation to the A9 only This action related to the number of fatal road traffic collisions on the A9 in Perth and Kinross between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024, of which there was 1 reported fatal road traffic collision. Action 21 – Include information/statistics on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery within next report to Committee Of note there were no incidents last year and so far, this year we have 2 recorded crimes (included in the next committee update). It should be noted that both offences will likely be removed from figures as one has been investigated and no criminality identified and the other is an English crime reported in Perth and Kinross which we are awaiting confirmation of the transfer.