Agenda item

The Committee received a presentation from Borough Commander, Inspector Alick James, on Surrey Police’s role during the COVID-19 pandemic and the general challenges of policing within the Surrey Heath Area.

Whilst residential burglaries and commercial burglaries had fallen by 39% and 24% within the last year respectively, theft of a motor vehicle and hate crime had risen in the past year by 14% and 27% respectively.

Motor vehicle thefts within Surrey Heath had centred in the wider Camberley Urban area, as well as in Lightwater and Chobham. The borough had experienced a notable rise in relay attacks which targeted cars with keyless entry and start systems. A relay attack typically involved two people working together. Whilst one perpetrator stood by the targeted vehicle, the other stood near the house with a device that would pick up a signal from the key fob. The device then relayed the key fob’s signal directly to the car, which allowed the thieves to get in and drive away immediately.

Owners of potential target cars could place their car keys in something which would block the key fob’s wireless signal, such as Faraday or Radio-frequency identification (RFID) bag or metal travel mug. Furthermore car owners could also use a steering wheel lock to make the car a less attractive target.

Whilst hate crime within the borough had risen, the arrest rate and voluntary attendance rate had improved on previous years. 20% of hate crimes were between neighbours and 22% were between strangers, whilst the rest of cases were between known rivals or part of feuds. Surrey Police were emphasising the value of partnership intelligence in respect of hate crimes and were actively encouraging the reporting of witnessed hate crime cases, which could be used as evidence by police boards.

The Joint Neighbourhood Survey for Quarter 1 of 21/22 highlighted the stress the public paid to tackling issues such as anti-social or inconsiderate parking and anti-social driving. In relation to the car-meets which were taking place at the Meadows and Watchmoor Park; Surrey Police had secured a dispersal order at Watchmoor Park, which gave the Police powers to direct a person committing or likely to commit antisocial behaviour to leave Watchmoor Park for 48 hours. Positively the Joint Neighbourhood Survey stated that 90.2% of residents were confident or fairly confident in Surrey Heath neighbourhood team, which was the highest confidence rating in the County.

Surrey Police prioritised roads, where speeding offences were reported and where Surrey County Council had reported the highest speeding cases and casualties were most prevalent. This was outlined in its speed management plan. Such highest priority sites were provided with mobile enforcement and central casualty reduction officers from Surrey Police’s Central Roads policing resources. Lower priority sites were policed by Surrey Police’s local casualty reduction officer and by local resources.

Arising from Members’ questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         Dangerous, speeding and anti-social driving made up a significant proportion of complaints that Councillors received from residents.

·         There had been large numbers of keyless vehicle thefts on the Copped Hall Estate in Parkside and Wellington Park in St Pauls. Whilst due to their inherently quick nature, it was difficult for the Police to respond to such thefts whilst they were taking place, the Roads Policing Team had the ability to tackle the issue by tools such as convoy analysis, comparative time analysis, and comparisons against stolen vehicle descriptions to identify suspects.

·         There was an opportunity for Surrey Police to better promote its successes and promote the crime-prevention initiatives; such as use of a faraday pouch, which could be undertaken by residents; via their social media channels.

·         Surrey Police’s ‘Meet the Beat’, Initiative had been well received by residents. It was noted that the opportunity to meet with their Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) face to face had been reported to Councillors as of being of great reassurance.

·         As it stood Surrey Heath Beat were intentionally overestablished for PCSOs, as some were due to leave to join as PCs or move to take up positions in different boroughs. Whilst 2 news PCSOs were due to shortly join the borough’s force; there continued to be once PC vacancy; and a number of workload pressures which faced the borough’s PCs.

The Committee thanked Inspector Alick James for his informative presentation and his continued positive work throughout the borough.