The Assistant Director Environment and Sport will submit a report (Document “W”) which gives details of the Bradford District Safer and Stronger Communities Partnership Performance Report for Quarter One April – June 2016 and the revised Bradford District Safer and Stronger Communities Plan 2016-19.

 

Recommended –

 

That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Committee considers and comments on the iQuanta data and progress reports set out in this report.

 

The Assistant Director Environment and Sport submitted a report (Document “W”) which gave details of the Bradford District Safer and Stronger Communities Partnership Performance Report for Quarter One April – June 2016 and the revised Bradford District Safer and Stronger Communities Plan 2016-19.

 

A Superintendent from West Yorkshire Police responsible for an initiative to tackle perceived bad driving in the district named ‘Operation Streerside’ was present at the meeting to give an overview of the initiative and respond to Member’s question.  During a detailed PowerPoint presentation the following aspects of the initiative were highlighted:

 

Chronology of headlines:

 

·        STOP THE DANGER DRIVERS: Police admit driving standards in Bradford are a cause for concern.

 

·        STOP THE DANGER DRIVERS: Councillor backs T&A campaign as police hunt hit-and-run driver who fled scene of three car crash.

 

·        Heaton campaigners unveil new road safety banner and back T&A campaign.

 

·        STOP THE DANGER DRIVERS: Police in Bradford mount covert patrols to catch motoring menaces.

 

·        Police and Crime Commissioner backs the T&A's campaign to stop dangerous driving.

 

·        Bradford Police draw up list of areas with worst driving as they back Telegraph & Argus campaign.

 

·        Major police crackdown on Bradford's danger drivers starts - and 21 motorists are caught on first day.

 

Method: Studies show Killed or Seriously Injured collisions mainly result from:

 

·        Not wearing seatbelt (anyone)

·        Inappropriate speed

·        Drink / Drug driving

·        Using mobile phone whilst driving

 

Seatbelts:The sort of driver who does not wear a seatbelt is twice as likely to have a collision in the first place.  Then, on having the collision – they are twice as likely to die.

 

Inappropriate speed (not just exceeding a limit) is responsible for:

 

10% of all injury Road Traffic Accidents

13% of all serious Road Traffic Collisions’

24% of all fatal RTC’s

 

In 2014 – 1775 deaths.  282 involved exceeding the speed limit, another 126 involved travelling too fast for the conditions

 

If we focus on the “fatal four”, we can have significant effect on KSI prevention.

 

Operation Steerside – action taken:

 

·        Analysis of previous incidents gave top 5 areas.

·        Dedicated patrols within these areas with officers targeting “Fatal 4”.

·        Engage with the press (route to public) and social media to inform and educate via anecdotal stories.  Photos speak a thousand words.

·        Officers tasked with patrol in identified areas together with live time intel sent from dedicated phone voicemail, reports to police and officer knowledge of areas.

·        Utilising equipment as trained (IE. Speed gun, fingerprint device, in-car CCTV)

·        Officers are briefed on goals of the operation and expectations placed on them working it (number of offenders dealt with).  Expectation of minimum of 10 processes per shift.

·        Where possible obtain photos for use with social media and press.

 

 

Operation Steerside – results Feb-Oct 2016:

 

o   Speed – 1894 incidents

o   Phone – 544 incidents

o   Seatbelt – 1835 incidents

o   Other – 659 incidents

o   Insurance – 437 incidents

o   Total – 5372 incidents

o   Vehicle seized – 447 incidents

 

Operation Steerside – results:

 

·        Total actions taken             3,318

·        Speed                                 1,164

·        Phone                                  318

·        Seatbelt                               1,168

·        Other                                    420

·        Insurance                             248

·        Vehicles seized                  264

 

Public feedback on the initiative:

 

·        “I am pleased….and feel safer when driving in the area now, as I was becoming less happy to drive around Bradford. Thank you.”

·        “It's about time this was done… I've seen the difference.  Keep up the good work, and that is something I thought I would never say about the driving in Bradford.”

·        “….I have to say that I was amazed how little traffic there seemed to be.  Totally different to what I normally see. The standard was nowhere near as bad as it usually is….Could it be this initiative is actually working? I hope so”.

 

 

Moving on Steerside 2, 3:

 

·        Do YOU have any recordings* that we can use in the initiative?:

Bradford police now have a dedicated email address: 

bd.steerside@westyorkshire.pnn.police.uk 

For dash cam recordings; pass on information about illegal drivers or cars and tell us about areas where you think we need to patrol

Steerside 3- Dedicated days of Multi-Agency Action over next few months.

 

During the discussion Members asked a number of questions.  The questions together with the responses are detailed below:

 

In relation to a question on how the initiative will continue after the funding comes to an end, the Superintendent from West Yorkshire Police explained that it was the forces intention to amalgamate the work done in Operation Steerside into mainstream policing, as well as ensuring that the media spotlight was maintained.

 

A Member expressed concerns that action was not always taken in relation to people using a mobile phone whilst driving.  In response the Superintendent acknowledged that further work was being done with all police officers to ensure that action was always taken when a violation occurred.

 

A Member raised an issue around parking on pavements and how it was now perceived as normal behaviour.  In response the Superintendent explained that the Police were trying to tackle this issue in conjunction with the Council Warden Service who were responsible for enforcing parking violations.  The Assistant Director Neighbourhoods and Customer Services added that all Council Wardens had received appropriate training regarding parking enforcement and that an ANPR vehicle was also being utilised to deal with parking problems outside schools.

 

A Member commended the work done during Operation Steerside to tackle poor driving and suggested that the issue had to be kept alive and that more work was needed in respect of driver training.

 

In relation to the wider report, a Member commented that a considerable amount of police work was focussed around the city centre at the expense of other areas of the district.  She also questioned what policies existed in relation to the arrest policy around cannabis use and drug dealing.

 

In addition, a Member raised a query around how incidents of burglary were classified and recorded and that some clarity was needed in this area.

 

In relation to the issue of hate crime, the Assistant Director acknowledged that given the low level of reporting that more work was needed to address this, and he cited the work being within certain communities around cultural barriers that may exist which inhibited people from reporting hate crime.

 

A Member commented that in the context of the low level reporting of hate crime, that resources could be diverted to tackle other crimes.  However another Member stressed that hate crime should be given due regard and tackled.  The Assistant Director acknowledged that there was anecdotal evidence about an increase in this type of crime  that it was therefore important to act on this information.

 

Resolved –

 

(1)       That this Committee recognised the success of Operation           Steerside and request that officers write to the Police and Crime   Commissioner to continue funding for this project.

 

(2)       That this Committee requests that the arrest policy for drug        dealing and drug use be presented to this Committee.

 

ACTION:       Assistant Director Neighbourhoods and Customer Services       

                                                                        (Rebecca Trueman - 01274 431364)