Your Authority Needs Your Thoughts
Devon and Cornwall Police Authority is committed to consulting with the communities of Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly in a meaningful way.
The current economic and political climate mean difficult decisions will be have to be made about policing and the communities voice in these high level considerations is important. Over the next twelve months we will be changing our methods of face to face engagement and in Devon that will enable us to hear your views on significant high level policing issues such as target setting, budget setting, and use of resources.
The Police Authority recently undertook a review of its open public meeting model of engagement: Police Authority Liaison Meetings which are currently used as one tool of hearing the voices of local communities across Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. This review showed that issues being discussed were mainly local operational issues. Whilst important these are the remit of the Constabulary and not issues the Police Authority can directly influence.
Councillor Mike Hicks, Chair of the Authority’s Community Engagement Committee said of the review: “It was clear to the Committee that time and effort was being spent, on the part of the Police Authority and communities, talking about issues that the Authority could not influence. Whilst these issues are important we [the Authority] are keen to hear what members of the public think about the high level policing challenges currently being faced”.
Across Devon (including Torbay) there will be no Police Authority Liaison Meetings for the next twelve months. Instead the resources will be used to host three conferences (one in central Devon, one in North Devon and one in Torbay) which will provide an opportunity for community members to debate key issues with Members of the Police Authority, senior officers from the Constabulary and representatives from their local authority. This forum will enable members of the community to consider challenges facing the Authority and its partners currently, ask questions relating to these, and have their input to debates.
Local concerns and issues are best directed to neighbourhood policing teams. Information neighbourhood policing teams can be found at http://neighbourhoodpolicing.devon-cornwall.police.uk or by calling 08452 777444 (24hours non-emergency).
Members of the community interested in receiving more information about the Devon and Torbay conferences should contact the Police Authority office via email polauth@devonandcornwall.pnn.police.uk or calling 01392 268333 (please note this number cannot deal with enquires for the police which should be directed to the local rate number 08452 777444).
The Plymouth model will remain unchanged. In Cornwall a number of Police Authority Liaison Meetings will take place and the venues/dates for the Autumn round of meetings are available on our website. The changes across Cornwall will be:
- The meeting will discuss a preset strategic themed topic such as the budget. This will ensure every PALM across Cornwall in a set period will be debating the same topics.
- The results of these discussions (action plans and meeting notes) will be collated by the Policy Officer for Community Engagement who will highlight the themes and salient points from a round of meetings. The resultant report will be presented to the relevant Committee/Working Group (i.e. a round of meetings could discuss council tax precept setting and the responses to this would then be fed to the budget working group for consideration)
- Police representation will no longer be neighbourhood policing teams but the relevant Local Policing Area Commander (Superintendent rank) to support the strategic discussion.