30 November 2022

Providing visible and local policing is at the heart of the policing model and remains a priority for Kent Police. Engagement is a fundamental part of neighbourhood policing and it is vital that the Force are responsive to the needs of the different communities by continuing to adapt and ensure the channels of communication are accessible for all.  Each of the 13 Districts is served by their own dedicated Local Policing Teams and Community Safety Units. CSUs focus on prevention, deterrence and community engagement, working in partnership to problem solve local issues, particularly where there is vulnerability and community-based crime and ASB. There are now an additional 28 school officers working across 68 schools in the county.

 

School Officers

 

The School Officers Team receive extensive child centred Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to reflect the specialisms around rapport building, engagement tactics, early intervention identification and partnership working. The rapport building and familiarity of Schools Officers with young people in their schools has directly led to disclosures including child abuse and county lines which have enabled Schools Officers to implement safeguarding protocols. The officers have played a key part in the success of the introduction and support specifically from Op Encompass which is a police operation whereby schools are informed of all domestic abuse incidents and other serious crimes that have occurred at a child’s residence to support schools in safeguarding children.

 

Throughout the summer period, although schools were not open, the Schools Team continued in their Child Centred functions, supporting other teams to work with young people and partners to reduce crime and ASB within communities.  Recent work has included a programme of Safer Summer deployments across Kent, working with Police teams and partners where young people could be drawn into committing ASB.  The teams have been visible and accessible travelling on school transport to engage with children, whilst also addressing ASB on the network. As part of Safer Summer, the School’s Officers supported the high street officers in reducing town centre business crime and ASB.

 

There has been a clear focus on prevention and deterrence in the last three months, with multiple deployments into GRIP hotspots, targeting gangs and arresting them to provide disruption with a focussed deterrent around a young street group that was mapped through School’s Officer intelligence.   Teams have been patrolling on East District beaches to identify and prevent alcohol related risky behaviours and have focussed on high footfall areas frequented by foreign students to educate, reassure, and prevent hate crime.  A separate police operation saw support to a CSU to address CSE, also supporting LPT over the summer to assist in ASB repeat locations and increased call demand, whilst also assisting with repeat missing young people.   Work has also been ongoing recently to educate young people around inappropriate use of fireworks and respectful Halloween, with the teams supporting local officers in managing the increased demand.

 

The School Officers Team, currently made up of 29 Officers covering 106 Schools has very recently been redeployed to meet the immediate pressure on the force, improving the capability of the FCIR while maintaining the critical mass on LPT.  A small team will provide a single point of contact and triage for all schools to maintain the excellent relationships built to date.  The team will signpost or resource to schools where appropriate. Working with the FCIR, posted officers maybe requested to undertake a schools visit to manage demand. This will be agreed in advance with FCIR duty planners where demand allows.

 

Mental Health and Section 136 (s.136) Detentions

There continues to be a sustained focus to improve the partnership response to people in crisis ensuring they receive a first-class service from the relevant agency at the point of contact.  Kent Police has improved the collection and use of data, to deliver enhanced training, ensuring the appropriate intervention is made when dealing with people in crisis. This work has resulted in better outcomes for vulnerable people by the reduced use of police s.136 powers of detention.

The table below shows the volume of s.136 detentions since the Force started recording. September and October 2022 were the lowest months on record since 2015. The average number of detentions in 19/20, 20/21 and 21/22 was 170, 145, 94.5 respectively. Since driving the new approach with a focus on data, scrutiny, training, and closer partnership working, we have seen a continuous improvement in s.136 use and currently have an average of 78 detentions a month.  This financial year and calendar year are expected to be the lowest ever recorded, bringing Kent Police in line with other forces nationally.  Having made the culture change in how the Force use s.136 our partners have capacity to commission services to support Kent Police with investment in both staff and technology to the 836-triage line.

Working closely with the ICB and KMPT we are now supporting wider community initiatives which will alleviate demand on policing.  We are currently working on the new NHS 111 option 2 line for people in crisis due to launch in March, urgent assessment teams responding in four hours, community houses for urgent referral and safe havens supported with clinical staff in key locations to divert demand from A&E and policing.

 

F/Y Total Sec 136 detentions
	FY 11/12	FY 12/13	FY 13/14	FY 14/15	FY 15/16	FY 16/17	FY 17/18	FY 18/19	FY 19/20	FY 20/21	FY 21/22	FY 22/23
Apr	93	96	87	73	80	96	117	146	161	113	99	87
May	117	105	103	102	84	138	144	143	205	160	125	108
Jun	111	100	132	91	94	107	129	144	149	150	128	69
Jul	104	78	134	107	94	120	147	158	200	189	117	80
Aug	122	90	113	103	99	116	151	166	194	201	112	73
Sep	97	98	117	91	84	120	146	146	196	157	96	64
Oct	91	94	102	94	66	100	125	152	200	150	89	64
Nov	104	72	89	76	110	88	109	137	170	125	84
Dec	92	93	65	66	116	97	97	128	136	114	74
Jan	100	75	79	67	84	114	118	155	146	110	76
Feb	94	88	74	58	85	117	101	147	155	144	67
Mar	97	112	91	73	93	117	148	152	138	132	67
Total	1222	1101	1186	1001	1089	1330	1532	1775	2050	1745	1134

 

Special Constabulary

 

The Special Constabulary reduced in number over this reporting period, mainly due to several Special Constables (SC) joining the regular force. At the end of October, total numbers of SCs stood at 255, with 108 of those independent. During the period August to October 2022 SCs contributed 23,973 hours of policing and carried out various events and operations, including take over days and community safety work on all Divisions, including an operation to assist with the organisation of property across the county, which contributed to a huge improvement.

 

During and throughout the period, a Police Operation was agreed and implemented which is a programme to assist achievement of PC uplift by streamlining suitable SCs into the regular force. To date, 12 officers have been accepted into the regular force, with another 16 in process. Close, effective working between Citizens In Policing and central recruitment proved a benefit in setting up and beginning the Operation.

 

At the end of October, Kent hosted the Volunteer Law Enforcement Officers Alliance annual conference. This was the first time the event had been held outside of the USA and 76 delegates from all over the world gathered in Kent for training and presentations over a 4 day period, showcasing UK policing and specifically how Kent delivers its volunteer officer programme. Feedback has been exclusively positive both in relation to the delivery of the conference, and the content. 38 officers, including 24 Kent Special Constables and 3 Specials from British Transport Police assisted with delivery of the event, either by running a session, driving delegates to tours or offering transport.  Next year the conference moves to Las Vegas.

 

Police Support Volunteers (PSV)

 

The number of volunteers is steadily increasing after a reduction of numbers during and post pandemic.  The Force are seeing a more diverse role being created based on the Zenith plan, the changes to police stations and the staff working within them.  We now have over 105 PSVs working with Kent Police.

 

Community Policing Volunteers (CPVs)

 

This is the fastest growing strand of volunteering with over 70 CPVs in 9 different roles with more waiting to join.  We have over 50 volunteers deployed and completing operational hours with the remainder undergoing their training. There are 18 Canine CPVs in the unit and they assisted greatly at the recent Open Day and other public engagement events and community work. Their work sees them liaising with partner agencies regarding investigations, enquiries, assisting with enforcement, community and internal organisational welfare support.

 

There are now 19 Aviation CPVs supporting Kent Police and communities by providing incident related aerial reconnaissance and reporting (Op Brock). They also attended the Open Day and received very positive community feedback. The 6 PCSO CPVs have also been working hard supporting communities by providing engagement and reassurance in line with CSU activities and through Force Neighbourhood Policing priorities. They attended the Open Day and multiple community events, with thanks received from community leads and good work reports received for incidents attended in support of regular officers and PCSOs.

 

There are currently 3 Joint Response Unit (JRU) CPVs in Kent who, in the past 6 months, have provided response based medical and law enforcement and community reassurance to communities across the county. Other strands of CPV include 9 Security CPVs and 14 Equine CPVs with a future strand of Coastal CPV to be progressed imminently. Many future CPVs are waiting in the recruitment, vetting and training channels.

 

Community Speedwatch

 

There has been an increase in active schemes with an average of 3,500 letters being sent out each month over the last 6 month period to speeding drivers. There has been tangible benefits and positive feedback received regarding the PC attachment to Speedwatch and this has now led to the post being made permanent, helping to keep Kent roads safe with the intention of encouraging drivers to slow down. So far this year our volunteers have detected 28302 vehicles exceeding the limit with 9097 letters being sent to drivers – 111 addresses attended where officers speak to the driver for 4 incidents of speeding and 44 occasions where drivers have exceeded the limit on 5 or more occasions. There have been 81 vehicles detected as SORN and 695 as untaxed with details passed to DVLA.

 

Force Crime and Incident Response.

 

The public rightly has an expectation that they will be able to contact Kent Police when they need to in a variety of ways that work for them, whether that be to report an emergency, report a crime, seek advice, offer information, or express an opinion. When they do make that contact, they expect to receive a timely and appropriate response.  The Force encourages individuals and diverse communities to engage and make contact with confidence, by making its services accessible, appropriate, easy to use and safe. It continues to effectively handle 999 and 101 calls, but also maintain other methods of contact, such as online and through personal interaction, to ensure it is open to all and can respond to user needs and situations.  Communication is key and the Force recognises the importance of adapting and being flexible and developing modes of communication to suit all.

 

999 call totals:	August 2022	Sept 2022	Oct 2022
Calls Received	35,634	31,316	34,280
Calls Answered	35,221	30,947	33,604
Calls Not Answered	413	369	676
% Not Answered	1.16%	1.18%	1.97%
Average Queuing Time	17s	21s	27s
Average Talk Time	4m 56s	4m 58s	5m 18s

 

Over the reporting period August to October 2022, the attrition for emergency calls has remained in a relatively stable position, seeing some small fluctuations inn October. The overall financial year calls attrition is 1.37% which remains within the aspirational national benchmark of 2%. Call queuing times have also fluctuated since the previous reporting period, with an average of 20 seconds and talk time has remained stable at 4 minutes 55 seconds. Despite the increase in 999 calls, public satisfaction has not been significantly impacted and there has been no increase in dissatisfaction complaints coming through to the command.

 

Overall, the volume of emergency calls continues to rise in line with national trend. Despite this, and due to the threat, risk and harm within these calls, the primary focus of the command is to protect emergency call handling, 999 call performance has remained stable, with all non-answered calls being recovered daily.

 

101 call totals:	Aug 2022	Sept 2022	Oct 2022
Calls Received	28,524	27,418	25,277
Calls Answered	19,406	15,743	11,811
Calls Not Answered	9118	11,675	13,466
% Not Answered	31.97%	42.58%	53.27%
Average Queuing Time	5m 49s	10m 6s	15m 29s
Average Talk Time	8m 34s	9m 6s	10m 20s

 

The volume of non-emergency 101 calls received during this period remains high but continues to decrease year on year.  However, the totality of non-emergency contact demand is growing considerably when taking digital contact into account, which is not reflected in the 101 data. The command has refreshed messaging to encourage the public who are able to use digital channel choices and the Interactive Voice Response has been further refined to be able to be phased in response to demand. Where there are significant increases in 999 demand the Force Incident Manager can authorise messaging for a time limited period in line with demand that directs non-emergency calls to digital where possible. This supports the strategic aim and responsibility of protecting our ability to answer emergency calls while providing an effective service to the public.

The percentage of unanswered non-emergency calls remains challenging and saw significant peaks in October mirrored with spikes in 999 emergency calls, against a context of ongoing current resourcing challenges. The overall financial year to date position has deteriorated from 33.49% to 38.77% non-emergency call attrition and call queuing times have increased to 9m 26s.  A plan is being devised to combat the issue and resources will be allocated imminently to assist with the pressures the FCR are experiencing presently.

Digital Contact

Digital Contact:	Aug 2022	Sept 2022	Oct  2022
Number of Digital Contacts into FCIR	11,924	11,451	13,876

 

Overall, digital demand into the FCIR has again continued to increase significantly over the past 3 months. This is positive as it offers an enhanced service to the public given their ability to select and self-serve via a digital channel of their choice 24 hours a day providing an effective and customer focussed service.

Online Crime Reporting (OCR)

OCR totals:	Aug 2022	Sept 2022	Oct  2022
Number of 'Report a Crime' Submissions	3,786	3,994	4,832

 

Online crime reporting was relatively stable but has seen a larger spike in October; this mirrors a rise in digital contact. Again, this is a positive increase allowing channel choice at the most convenient time for victims of crime.

Live Chat

Live Chat totals:	Aug 2022	Sept 2022	Oct 2022
Live Chat volumes	6,513	5,987	7,035

 

Live Chat is now well embedded as a contact choice and again continues to grow in terms of demand. It allows a flexibility of service by the Command enabling the effective use of any home workers in addition to those in the building. Given that most operators are managing up to 6 Live Chats at the same time, there are obvious efficiencies in service delivery, whilst providing an effective and customer-focussed quality service to the public at a time of their choosing through their preferred channel.

 

Investigation Management Unit (IMU)

IMU & Crime totals:	Aug 2022	Sept 2022	Oct  2022
Recorded Crime	15,652	14,971	14,008
Cancelled Crime	582	416	435
% of Total	3.6%	2.7%	3.0%

 

Recorded crime peaked in the summer and is decreasing now. This is an average increase of 235 per month compared to the previous reporting period in 2022. Cancelled crime remains stable overall with an average of 3.1% over the 3-month period, showing minor reduction of 0.17%.

Current and Future State

• In line with all forces nationally, 999 calls in Kent are continuing to increase. This is recognised by the NPCC lead, ACC Todd and by BT who are similarly challenged with meeting public demand, particularly at peak periods.
• Emergency call handling remains the priority recognising the threat, harm and risk that sits within these call types.
• Recruitment continues to be a significant challenge but joint work between the command and central HR is now delivering a sustained higher yield of new joiners. August saw a course of 23 who now operational and an October course of 28 new starters which will assist to make in-roads into the current vacancy rate.
• Chief Officers have allocated a further 35 police officers from the Force to be posted into the command for the next 6 months to assist with 101 calls; these will become effective from mid-November 2022. These will then form part of a planned strategic reserve of 100 officers who can assist the FCR, ideally through duty planning, to manage demand peaks.
• Retention options are being considered under the FCIR transformation project in order to achieve workforce stability given the growing numbers being recruited, in order to maintain skills and experience and provide a high-quality service to the public.
• A programme of strategic transformation has been directed and agreed by T/CC Smith which is now under way. It will build a command that seeks to provide a first-class service, that can meet multi-channel future requirements, including the exponentially growing digital demand and a move to Coldharbour as part of the Zenith programme.
• Options are being scoped for investment into IMU to support initial crime investigation and appropriate resolution. This supports the force’s continued focus on improving its quality of investigation and providing a quality service to all victims of crime.
• A CDI Audit that mirrors the HMICFRS approach has recently taken place with excellent results (95.5%). Many Forces have difficulty in recording incidents of ASB, particularly where people are specifically targeted.  Kent’s performance has been achieved without additional Op Promise spend, demonstrating that the previous investment made has been used to learn lessons, improve and get it right first time at the front end.  The audit demonstrates that the FCIR are now routinely recognising the risk and recording it where appropriate.  The audit shows there is not over recording in order to achieve these results, demonstrated by mistakenly over recorded crime being less than 1%.