Information
Police Assurance & Accountability Meeting 10th September 2025
POLICE ASSURANCE & ACCOUNTABILITY MEETING MINUTES
10th September 2025
- Welcome and introductions.
Attendees:
- PFCC Danielle Stone (DS)
- DPFCC Marianne Kimani (MK)
- Jonny Bugg (JB)
- Paul Fell (PF)
- Vaughan Ashcroft (VA)
- DCC Ash Tuckley (AT)
- Stuart McCartney (SMc)
- Det Supt Richard Tompkins (RT)
- Det Supt Jo Banfield (JB)
- Nick Alexander (NA)
DS welcomed everyone to the meeting.
- Action Log
The actions were circulated and noted.
- Performance Update
The Commissioner received a briefing from the force relating to Domestic Abuse investigations, Repeat Victimisation and Positive Outcomes. The Force began by setting out the current trends in relation to arrest rates for domestic abuse. The Commissioner asked about the work connected to identifying high risk cases. The force noted that a lot of work was being undertaken nationally on this issue and they would look at what learning could be taken to bolster the work already being undertaken. The Commissioner set out her concerns relating to victims and the complex nature of this work and the importance of avoiding bias when dealing with cases. The Force noted the relaunch of the RAPID DA campaign and the work being undertaken to unlock more capacity on the frontline. The issue of co-location was discussed, and the importance of staff wellbeing was raised by the Commissioner. The Commissioner also raised her concerns relating to how some officers interact with victims. The DCC responded and assured the Commissioner this will improve with experience. The issue of performance was discussed with the Commissioner asking how this could be improved. The DCC responded and noted that the need to balance resources and priorities as an organisation was important as was the challenge of being more flexible when responding to incidents. The Commissioner asked what work could be done to improve the support available to DA victims. The Force noted that this work is undertaken locally but more needs to be done to understand what good looks like countrywide. This was the case relating to the three areas raised by the Commissioner, which were arrest rates for domestic abuse crime, their positive outcome rates and charge rates against suspects.
The Commissioner reiterated her concerns relating to staff wellbeing and the need to improve both the workplace and support to staff. The Commissioner asked for information on local policing and young people and could the force work more closely with the Early Intervention Team. The Force responded and noted that partners need to be more proactive and provide more data and resources.
The development of the Women’s Charter was raised and it was suggested that once completed, a forum with victims could be organised to learn more about expectations and how support networks and safe spaces could be provided. The Commissioner was happy to take that forward as an action in the new year.
The Force then provided an update on the work relating to repeat victimisation relating to rape and serious sexual offences and the work being undertaken to deliver improvements. They noted that performance was back at pre-covid levels and provided detail on the increase relating to repeat victims and that work was being undertaken to better understand the data. They also explained the need to better understand the data relating to demographics. The Commissioner asked for more analysis of the data to help inform discussions with Central Government. The Commissioner then asked if more DA perpetrators were caught and dealt with, would that reduce demand on front line policing. Paul Fell noted that some analysis had been undertaken which could be shared when completed.
Finally, the Force briefed the Commissioner on the performance relating to Positive outcomes and the work being undertaken on increasing the use of out of court disposals. The use of ‘Taking into Consideration’ was highlighted and how that is helping to increase detections. The Commissioner asked the force to provide the OPFCC with data to help support a bid being submitted by the Criminal Justice team.
The Force provided an update on neighbourhood crime and the performance of the Retail Crime Team and the work of the Burglary Team. The Commissioner noted the importance of co-locating such teams and offered to help deliver it going forward. The DCC noted the impact on the work being delivered to combat shoplifting which was supported by the Commissioner. The Force then briefed the Commissioner on the work being delivered in relation to professional training for officers and the Commissioner questioned the issue of ‘professional curiosity’ to improve performance and it was explained that the force have a better understanding and potential solutions to this.
The Commissioner raised the issue of engagement work with the community and the work she had asked the force to undertake to understand the volume and value of the work. The Commissioner felt this would help the public have a better understanding of policing. It was agreed that this action would be followed up.
The Commissioner stated that while she understood the work being undertaken to improve DA investigations she was not at this stage assured that the force understood its aim of what good looked like and asked for this to be looked at outside of the meeting and to for a further progress report in two or three months.
The Commissioner was assured that the force were seeing reduced levels of repeat victimisation across the wider definition of victim based crime, but expressed concerns about why there was a visible upwards trend in relation to rape and serious sexual offences that did not appear to be understood. She requested that the force look to better understand this trend.
The Commissioner was assured in relation to positive outcomes work being undertaken. While concerned about the levels of these she welcomed the additional work in place and being considered to improve this.
- AOB
The Force provided an update to the Commissioner in following the publication of the review into the fatal collision which led to the death of Harry Dunn.
