PCC puts your policing questions to the Chief Constable
PCC Giles Orpen-Smellie held Norfolk's Chief Constable Paul Sanford to account for the policing of Norfolk at his latest PCC Accountability Meeting.
The purpose of the PCC’s accountability meeting is for the PCC to exercise his statutory responsibility to hold the Chief Constable to account for the policing of Norfolk. Giles Orpen-Smellie does this as the public’s elected representative and does this against the priorities set out in his Police, Crime and Community Safety Plan for Norfolk and the associated budget. The focus of this meeting was to review the Constabulary’s recent report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) and matters arising from that inspection.
Questions from the public included, joint pedestrian and cycling zones in Norwich
PCC Giles Orpen-Smellie asked on behalf of a resident in Norwich: “Is it no longer any kind of offence to cycle on the pavement? I ask because this is an everyday norm in central Norwich, St George’s Street where those on foot in this pedestrianised street effectively have to keep to the sides to allow bikes and scooters to pass through at speed.”
Gender identity, diversity and inclusion
The PCC said: “I received seven questions from seven different people but they all presented one side of what I recognise as a very sensitive debate and I didn’t want to use this forum to promote the views of purely one side in this debate or indeed in any debate over the other. ‘Does any external agency provide training to Norfolk Constabulary officers and staff relating to gender? Does the Constabulary’s uniform code allow the display of insignia, symbols or flags of political or other lobby groups and could you define hate crime and non-hate crime?’”.
The rest of the agenda focussed on the latest Police Effectiveness Efficient and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection report from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) for Norfolk Constabulary which was published on 14 October.
Norfolk received the following gradings:
Outstanding
Good use of resources
Good
Preventing crime and anti-social behaviour
Managing offenders and suspects
Developing a positive workplace (supporting and protecting the workforce)
Adequate
Investigating crime
Responding to the public
Protecting vulnerable people
Requires improvement
Treating people fairly and with respect
To find out more, a recording of the meeting is now available to watch on our PCC Accountability Meeting webpage. Full details of the questions and answers have also been published.
Information and recording of the meeting
The next PCC Accountability Meeting will take place on Tuesday 31 January 2023 at 10am. The venue will be announced closer to the date.