A new independent panel that will see local people examine and shape the work of policing in Lichfield met for the first time on Wednesday, 21 October.
The Lichfield Safer Neighbourhood Panel was launched under plans by Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Ellis, to shine the spotlight on local policing and make Staffordshire’s Police Service the most open, transparent and ethical in the UK.
The new panel will examine, challenge and shape the work of police at the most local level. It will hold Local Policing Team Commanders to account as well as looking at wider criminal justice and community safety issues in their area.
Panels began meeting in South Staffordshire, Staffordshire Moorlands and Cannock earlier this year with others launching this month in Lichfield and Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Local residents and councillors sit on the panels with magistrates bringing additional expertise. Panels influence local policing and community safety, scrutinise the work done by police in their area, give feedback to communities and examine the impact of community resolutions and restorative justice.
Mr Ellis said: “The new spotlight on local policing performance that Safer Neighbourhood Panels will bring is invaluable in adding to the rigour my office brings to overseeing policing.
“But it’s more than that. I make no apology for believing that truly local policing, and the public playing a part in influencing that policing, is vital. That’s why visible, neighbourhood policing is increasing over coming months and we’re establishing these new panels.”
The Lichfield panel met at Lichfield District Council’s headquarters in Frog Lane which is also to home the Lichfield Police public enquiry desk.
Councillor Doug Pullen, Lichfield District Council’s Cabinet Member for Community, said: “The Lichfield Safer Neighbourhood Panel will meet to discuss the concerns facing the local community around crime and anti-social behaviour. It is hoped that by setting local priorities, policing in the area will better reflect the needs of the local community.”
The panels follow the success of the county-wide Ethics, Transparency and Audit Panel (ETAP) which was established by the PCC in 2013. The ETAP is made up of trained members of the public and monitors different aspects of performance and standards in policing across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. ETAP has received national recognition for its work on the police use of Taser, stop and search and crime recording in Staffordshire.
District, boroughs and Stoke-on-Trent City councils are being offered funding by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) to administer the new Safer Neighbourhood Panels on behalf of the PCC.
Mr Ellis added: “There’s a trilogy here which I set out back in 2013. Firstly, effective ‘very local’ oversight by the public of policing.
“Secondly, substantial increases in funding to local councils to help keep their areas safer as well as £2 million extra for community groups to bid through the People Power Fund and Proceeds of Crime Fund supporting simple ideas making areas and people safer.
“Thirdly, helping Staffordshire’s communities to help police in keeping us all safer by promoting and funding services like Crimestoppers and the reinvigorated Neighbourhood Watch with more user friendly real time info, brand new investment and more support from the Staffordshire Police in coordinating the work.”
