Spfrs
Renfrewshire Council · 31 October 2023
Back to Communities and Housing Policy Board — 31 October 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Minute of Meeting Police and Fire & Rescue Scrutiny Sub-Committee Date Time Venue Tuesday, 22 August 2023 15:00 Council Chambers (Renfrewshire), Council Headquarters, Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley, PA1 1AN Present: Councillor Lisa-Marie Hughes, Councillor Robert Innes, Councillor Alec Leishman, Councillor Marie McGurk, Councillor Iain McMillan Chair Councillor McGurk, Convener, presided. In Attendance G Hannah, Head of Climate, Public Protection and Roads; F Wilson, Serious Organised Crime & Trading Standards Manager (both Environment, Housing and Infrastructure); K O’Neill, Democratic Services Officer, J Barron and D Cunningham both Committee Services Officers, D Pole and J Mclean both End User Technicians (all Finance & Resources). Also in Attendance L Waddell, Chief Superintendent, W Graham, Area Commander, A Maclean. Detective Inspector, and R Jackson, Sergeant (all Police Scotland); and D McCarrey, Area Commander and P Storrie, Group Manager (both Scottish Fire & Rescue Service). Webcasting of Meeting Prior to the commencement of the meeting the Convener intimated that this meeting of the Sub-committee would be filmed for live or subsequent broadcast on the Council’s internet site. Declarations of Interest and Transparency Statements There were no declarations of interest or transparency statements intimated prior to the commencement of the meeting.
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Order of Business In terms of Standing Order 16, the Convener intimated that she proposed to alter the order of business to facilitate the conduct of the meeting by considering item 4 of the agenda Cybercrime Investigations before item 1 Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE): Acquisitive Crime Strategy 2023-2028 of the agenda.
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1 Cybercrime Investigations A MacLean, Detective Inspector and R Jackson, Sergeant, gave presentations on Cybercrime which provided statistical information on the increase in the numbers and categories of this form of crime. Police Scotland had a department which was created specifically to deal with these types of crime and the challenges faced in policing these crimes were highlighted. The Prevention Partners and Community Wellbeing Division was based in three locations across Scotland. The Cybercrime Harm Prevention Team, which included two civilian officers, worked closely with partners across Scotland to provide cybercrime prevention support, resilience and mitigation guidance. The Unit collaborated with various government organisations and included Education Scotland through GLOW network to raise awareness of child online safety and monitored cybercrime landscape to identify emerging threats. National data for Scotland was provided together with the types of threats domestically and to businesses involved. Police forces across the United Kingdom were working collaboratively to address these crimes and communicated with law enforcements agencies across the world. DECIDED: That the presentation be noted. 2 Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE): Acquisitive Crime Strategy 2023-2028 There was submitted a report by the Director of Environment, Housing and Infrastructure relative to the Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE). Police Scotland, with their partners across industry, the regulatory landscape and third sector, had formed SPAACE to provide strategic focus to preventative activities. The partners brought a range of expertise to tackle the problem, with the joint aim of reducing the risks communities faced from acquisitive crime, and the associated financial loss. Acquisitive crime was defined as any type of crime whereby the perpetrator sought to derive material gain from the crime. Anyone could be a victim of acquisitive crime, which included fraud, housebreaking, doorstep crime, fuel thefts and theft of plant machinery. SPAACE had now launched the first “Acquisitive Crime Strategy 2023/28”, attached at Appendix 1 of the report, which recognised that the key to success in tackling this growing area of criminality was in a collaborative approach. DECIDED: That it be noted that Trading Standards and the Community Safety Partnership welcomed and would commit to supporting the Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) Strategy 2023/28, as attached as Appendix 1 to the report.
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3 Police Scotland - Quarterly Performance Report There was submitted a report by the Area Commander, Police Scotland, relative to service performance and activities in the Renfrewshire area during the period 1 April to 30 June 2023. The report summarised the key performance indicators and provided statistics relating to the specific key objectives detailed in Renfrewshire Policing Priorities 2023/26 and Police Scotland’s Policing Priorities 2022/23. The report provided updates in relation to Renfrewshire Policing Priorities 2023/26 of violence, disorder and anti-social behaviour; protecting vulnerable people; acquisitive and cyber/digital crime; serious and organised crime; road safety and road crime. Overall violent crime had increased by 6.2% on the previous year. Overall crimes of dishonesty had increased by 24.6%, with common theft, fraud and shoplifting (three of the highest volume acquisitive crimes) all on the rise. Of the crimes tagged with the ‘cybercrime’ marker recorded in the current reporting year 41% were acquisitive crimes, most commonly online frauds. Intelligence led policing resulted in 52 drugs detections in the current year, a rise of 24 on the previous reporting year. In Renfrewshire & Inverclyde Division, serious and organised criminals were deprived of £808,553 in cash and assets through use of the Proceeds of Crime Act an increase of 184% on the previous year. One Serious and Organised Crime Group (SOCG) principal member and 29 SOCG associates were arrested in the current reporting year. Overall, road casualties had increased by three on the previous year to a total of 30. The detection rate for offences relating to motor vehicles was 85.2%. Drink and drug driving offences had reduced by 23.2% on the previous year, to a total of 43 offences. In the period April 23 to June 2023, there were 193 recorded missing persons incidents, a significant decrease on the same period 2022/23. All but one missing person was found alive. The decrease was most evident in missing persons reported involving younger people, with the incidents involving people aged under 20 years falling by 32.7% year on year. In Renfrewshire, over 65% of missing people were traced within 24 hours of being reported as missing, with this proportion rising to approximately 84% being traced within two days. DECIDED: That the report be noted. 4 Scottish Fire and Rescue Service - Quarterly Performance Report - Qtr 1 There was submitted a report by the Group Manager, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) relative to SFRS performance and local fire and rescue service plan priorities in the Renfrewshire area during period 1 April to 30 June 2023. The report provided updates in relation to Renfrewshire activity, accidental dwelling fires and casualties, unintentional injury and harm, deliberate fire setting, non-
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domestic fire safety and unwanted fire alarm signals. Accidental Dwelling Fires had increased by 3% (one incident) on the same period in 2022/23. One dwelling fire casualty, for this reporting period was recorded. Non-fire casualties had increased by 3 from the same period last year with a total of 31 casualties, of which 16 (52%) were as a result of road traffic collisions. Deliberate fire setting had decreased by 27% (59 incidents) from Q1 in 2022/23. The report also provided information on Unwanted Fire Alarm Signals (UFAS) which had shown an increase of 4% (9 incidents) on the same period of the previous year, a breakdown of the number of incidents, categories and where these occurred was also provided. It was anticipated that the implementation of Scottish Fire & Rescue Service’s UFAS Strategy would see a reduction in the next reporting period. DECIDED: That the contents of the report be noted. 5 Local Issues In answer to questions raised Police Scotland re-assured members that there had been no impact on the policing provided in the Johnstone area while the recent world cycling championships were being held in Glasgow and that officers who would normally have been on their rest day had covered this event. Police Scotland advised that they were aware and were dealing with the issue of frequent speeding incidents in Renfrew together with the noise associated with this. Members were advised that incidences of this type should be emailed to the Community Policing mailbox. In answer to a question raised about the protests at Erskine Muthu Hotel, Police Scotland advised there had been no further issues although the protests were still ongoing. In relation to the ongoing problem with vandalism at the skate park located adjacent to the Onyx in Linwood members were advised that there had been increased Police presence to attempt to address the situation which was preventing young people using the facility. DECIDED: That the information provided be noted.