Fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 4 August 2023

Chief Constable fortnightly update to the Police and Crime Commissioner

4 August 2023

Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

I would like to start this letter to you today by telling you about a very worthy cause that Wiltshire Police is supporting. Last weekend, I was proud to see off a small contingent of officers and staff on bicycles from Wiltshire Police Headquarters who were taking part in the Police Unity Tour (PUT) which is a national event, with police forces all over the country taking part. The PUT takes place every year to remember officers who have died in the line of duty.

Over the weekend, the team cycled 185 miles, from Devizes HQ to the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire for a special ceremony to commemorate those who have lost their lives in policing nationally. As part of this, officers and staff who took part raised money for the Care of Police Survivors (CoPS) charity and, cumulatively over the 10 previous tours, more than £100K has been raised for COPS, which is incredible.

Since Wiltshire Constabulary was formed in The Bear Hotel in Devizes on 13 November 1839 up to the current day, 30 Wiltshire officers have sadly died in the line of duty. The impact upon the families, and on the Force, has of course been devastating each and every time, and I am so pleased that we are able to honour the memory of these officers, and support their families, in this way.

There are a number of operational incidents I would like to update you on in this letter. One very sad incident earlier this week was when my officers attended a property in Market Lavington following a concern for welfare call, finding a woman in her 90s deceased with a second woman, who was also living at the property, needing to be taken to hospital having suffered a medical episode. An investigation was immediately launched, with my officers carrying out enquiries to understand more about the circumstances. Sadly, the second woman has also now died. This incident has attracted a lot of interest from the media this week due to the unusual circumstances surrounding it. We were able to confirm yesterday that both deaths are being treated as unexplained, but there is no third-party involvement, and we are not looking for anyone else in connection with this incident. Our thoughts are of course with the friends and family of the two women.

Secondly, there are some incidents of violent crime I would also like to update you on the progress of. You will recall that on 24 July, a 13-year-old boy suffered knife wounds and a 16-year-old boy suffered injuries to his face further to being assaulted on a cycle path in Swindon. We have now made three arrests in relation to this incident - two teenage boys on suspicion of ABH and GBH with intent, and a third on suspicion of GBH with intent. Our investigation remains ongoing.

Also, this week a 17-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy, both from Swindon, have been charged with section 18 grievous bodily harm, affray and possession of a bladed article in connection with a stabbing in Stubsmead, Eldene in March this year whereby a 17 year-old-boy suffered injuries in an assault. These two charges follow a previous charge relating to this incident, of a 45-year-old man who has now appeared in court, pleaded guilty to affray, and is due to be sentenced later this month. We are seeing a worrying number of offences involving knives and young people in the county over recent months - lives are being lost and lives are being ruined.  My officers and staff will continue to work hand in hand with our partners to educate the public on the dangers of carrying knives and ensure a visible presence in our communities to reassure the public that we are doing all we can to combat these issues. Violent crime will not be tolerated, and we will be persistent in dealing with those who behave in this way on the streets of our county.

In recent days, we have had the latest crime statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). As you know, the ONS publish quarterly updates on all forces, based primarily on the Crime Survey for England and Wales and police recorded crime data – and these updates are all available through www.ons.gov.uk. The latest release covers the period 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023. Our local Wiltshire statistics show that we have seen a 6.1% increase in crime during this time period when compared to the same period the year before, and also show that the number of reported crimes which resulted in a charge or summons saw a slight increase of 0.6% on the figure of 8.3% last year, compared to a national figure of 5.7%. This is a positive trend which is being reflected across all crime groups in our Force area and it's particularly reassuring to see this being the case in sexual offences and rape offences.

I cautiously welcome what appears to be a broadly positive direction and, whilst care must always be taken in interpreting statistics, the focus and commitment from across Wiltshire Police to improve our standards and professionalism of service appears to be being evidenced in the positive trajectory, with improved outcomes for victims of crime. We continue to drive forward improvements in the Force - however I hope that indicators such as these will be welcomed by you, and by the communities we serve, as a result of the positive steps that are being made to continue to improve the service we provide.

Over the last few weeks, I have spent some time with our Burglary Unit and the Tackling Serious Youth Gang Violence team. These teams are doing some excellent work in focusing on criminal behaviour which causes significant concern for our communities. Recent examples of their achievements, supported by other teams across Wiltshire Police, include three people charged with various offences following some swift proactive work. These charges included possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin, possessing criminal property, burglary, theft from a vehicle, taking a vehicle without consent, driving without insurance and possession of an offensive weapon.

They also recently arrested a suspect after they attempted to defraud an elderly lady out of more than £4,000. Officers attended her address where they were able to stop the crime and arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of fraud by false representation. We also saw the recent sentencing of a man, for three years and nine months, for his involvement in a series of burglaries in Stubbington and Swindon earlier this year. These are some really positive results, and my teams will be relentless in their pursuit of offenders who seek to cause harm to our communities. I would like to ask our communities to continue telling us any information or intelligence with regards to these and any types of criminality. In doing so they will be, with us, Keeping Wiltshire Safe.

On a significantly concerning note, we have recently seen a worrying number of fatal road traffic collisions in our county, with thirteen people killed on our roads so far this year. In addition, our Serious Collision Investigation Team (SCIT) has already been called out to 19 of the most serious road traffic collisions since January (where injuries sustained are the most serious) – compared to 20 incidents for the entirety of last year.

This is extremely troubling and tackling it is of utmost importance to me, as I know it is for you within your Police and Crime Plan. Wiltshire Police, with your office, has a strong road speed and safety awareness presence across the county. However, we will be implementing an enhanced response with a range of preventative and enforcement activity throughout the rest of the Summer and into Autumn, and the public can expect to see increased visible activity on our roads across the county. Activity will include increased traffic patrols and enforcement on trunk roads, increased activity of our Community Speedwatch teams across the county, increased speed checks, media and social media activity - including safer driving guidance and the dangers of speeding, leaflet drops in our communities, a Road Safety education day in Swindon, safety inputs into further education establishments, Project Zero activity (a weekly targeted road safety initiative), plus much more.

The national THINK website highlights that speed contributes to around one in four fatal collisions on our roads across the country. Through this letter I ask all members of our communities to please drive safely – by not doing so you put your own and other people’s lives at risk. My officers will be clamping down on unsafe driving on our streets, but we must all play our part to make Wiltshire’s roads safer.

I wanted to share with our communities the meeting attended this week by both yourself and my Senior Officers with colleagues at Gloucestershire Police and the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), where a discussion was had on how we can collectively tackle the important issue of rural crime more effectively across our region. Rural crime is a focus for both of us, and is an issue which causes significant disruption, distress, and damage to our rural communities. A pan Southwest approach will ensure that we can collectively harness our efforts to strengthen our response to these types of crimes. By working together, alongside countryside partnership organisations, we can bolster our prevention and enforcement activity and share best practice in order to make the Southwest an unwelcome area for those who seek to commit crime in the countryside. I am pleased that one of my senior officers, ACC Mark Cooper, will be stepping in as the regional policing lead on this issue, and he will, alongside his counterparts across the four other forces, seek to progress these discussions further over the coming weeks.

Finally, last week we saw the national launch of Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) – something I have mentioned previously in these letters to you. The launch saw the signing of a national agreement between the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Home Office, NHS England, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) and the College of Policing, setting out the principles around the approach countrywide.

This new approach ensures that focus is placed on identifying the most appropriate agency to provide care and support to vulnerable members of the community and, under this scheme, police officers are only deployed to mental health and other health-related incidents which pose significant safety risks, or if a crime is being committed. Forces who have adopted this approach have seen improved outcomes for victims of crime and, most importantly, the most suitable and supportive intervention to vulnerable members of the public who have required specialist support.

Forces across the country have been given a time period by when they need to have introduced this scheme in their local force area, using the national toolkit and best practice available from the forces who are already implementing RCRP. For Wiltshire Police, Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills is leading a working group which has attendees from local relevant partner agencies and community members across our county, to ensure that the introduction of this scheme locally will be carefully considered and taken in consultation with partnership organisations and our Independent Advisory Groups. We will work through the stages carefully together as a group to find the most appropriate solution and ensure the best support is provided to people in need within the county of Wiltshire. I will of course keep you fully updated on the progress of this.

Kindest regards,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police