Here’s a round-up of some of the stories from the recent meeting of the South Wales Police & Crime Panel.
The Police & Crime Panel scrutinise the Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales Police, Alun Michael (Lab) – who was re-elected in May for a third successive term.
The Police & Crime Panel is hosted by Merthyr Tydfil Council and Bridgend’s representative is Cllr. Richard Young (Lab, Pendre) – who’s also the current Chair.
“Unprecedented demand on 999 calls”; police “cut people some slack” for mass gatherings
In a written update to the Panel (pdf), the Commissioner highlighted the extraordinary pressure 999 call handlers have been under over the summer.
July 2021 saw the highest number of 999 calls to South Wales Police ever recorded in a single month (24,265) as well as 42,000 non-emergency calls (almost one call a minute).
“I want to stress that great efforts are being made to strengthen the (call handling) team to cope with the unprecedented demand and to ask that those who can use alternative ways of contacting the police to do so, protecting the 101 service for those for whom it is the only option.”
– South Wales Police & Crime Commissioner, Alun Michael
The continued Covid-19 pandemic also featured heavily in the update. The Commissioner said the police had “cut the public some slack” in responding to certain incidents such as mass drinking on the Senedd steps in Cardiff and Black Lives Matter protests (that claim would almost certainly be disputed).
The general principle was that it would be left to the judgement of police on the ground how to handle the situations, balancing the need to observe public health rules with a right to protest.
The Commissioner added that he was “delighted” that the Welsh Government will fund an additional 100 PCSOs across Wales, which he says will help boost the police’s frontline presence in local communities.
More work needed on race relations and community engagement
An annual report on the Panel’s scrutiny activities highlighted several areas where additional work was required by South Wales Police (pdf).
Some of the key issues identified by the panel during 2020-21 include:
- Stop and search powers and use of force/taser were increasingly used on black and minority ethnic people disproportionately to white people.
- Stop and searches weren’t being fully recorded by bodycams.
- Black and minority ethnic communities continue to be under-represented within South Wales Police, but there was praise for the programme to recruit new officers and staff from under-represented communities.
- There has been a decline in public confidence in policing in the South Wales Force area according to a recent Crime Survey of England and Wales.
- Improvements can be made to the sanitary and religious needs of people held in police custody – though overall custody standards are “excellent”.
- Automated facial recognition technology should continue to be tested for possible bias.
