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Date: 24 November 2022
Time: 6pm to 9.00pm
Venue: Microsoft Teams
Attendees: Natasha Clewley (NC), Phil Dickson-Earle (PD), Myrna Loy (ML), Marcella Taylor-Smith (MT) Natasha Loftus (NL) Steve Bond (SB) Simon Cacioppo (SC) Hayley Miller (HM) Lucia Scozzari (LS) Martin Fraser (MF) Brian Whitehead (BW) Juinad Mughai (JM)
Bedfordshire Police: Karanjit Sanghera (KS), Inspector Mark Pugh (MP) Inspector Marcus Quinn (MQ) Sean Amison (SA)
OPCC Office: Simon Powell (SP)
Abbreviation:
The chair welcomed all to the meeting and informed them that the meeting is being recorded.
The chair introduced NL as a new member of the panel and informed the panel that there are apologies.
The chair informed the panel that the agenda has been amended slightly because the hob scanner demonstration was requested in the previous meeting.
KS asked MQ to introduce himself and start the demonstration of the hob scanner.
MQ informed the panel that he thought he was providing an update regarding biometrics and not demonstrating the scanner to the panel, he did not have a scanner to hand as he was at home.
All have been sent the document.
NC explained to the panel that they were all sent the minutes from the previous meeting and should have read them.
NC asked the panel if they had any questions regarding the previous minutes, however if not the panel can send NC an email for discussion and feedback points.
MP briefed the Panel on recent Stop and Search aspects within Bedfordshire.
The Chair updated the panel that interviews are currently being conducted for Deputy Chair.
One interview was done on 23.11.2022 and another scheduled for the following week.
No concerns raised
KS informed the panel that since the last quarterly Stop and Search Panel there has been several sub-panels which take place on a monthly basis.
9 random stop searches have been performed and out of those 9, 3 were scored on Amber- 4, 2 on Green - 2, 1 on Green- 3 and 1 on Green – 1, and each officer has had feedback based on the scores and the feedback was received well.
SB asked KS if he has amended the approach in which feedback is delivered to the officers by getting them to evaluate the sessions themselves, especially where issues need to be actioned.
KS informed SB he is happy to review the videos with the officers and always gives them the option, however the officers prefer to have the feedback without reviewing the videos themselves.
The subject of this search is a male from XXX.
All advised they do not know the subject.
The grounds recorded by the officer is that the subject was seen on CCTV to be potentially involved in a drugs exchange at the location he was stopped, he was pointed out by CCTV as the potential dealer and the subject matched the description provided by CCTV perfectly.
The officers collar number is 6617.
Discussion took place between panel members.
The subject of the stop and search is XXXX from Luton.
The grounds recorded by the officer is a vehicle was stopped with two male occupants in an area which analysts suggest is a high crime area of Luton.
The vehicle has 12 recent intelligence reports stating that this vehicle has been seen in participating drugs across Luton.
When the vehicle was stopped it had a strong smell of cannabis and the male detained was sweating profusely and appeared nervous at police presence.
Due to these reasons the officer suspected the males were in possession of drugs and were potentially going to supply them due to the suggestion from the reports.
The officers collar number is 6683.
PD explained to the panel that he cannot vote as he was late and did not see the full video.
Discussion took place between panel members.
The subject of the stop and search is a male XXXX from Bedford.
Grounds given by the officer are that CCTV have monitored a group of persons who meet up in the street and go to a stairwell of a carpark and seen by CCTV to be passing and using drugs.
Officers attended the location to find a large group of persons under the stairwell area and based on the information passed have been detained under the section 23 of the misuse of drugs Act 1971.
The panel agreed that the intel was recent and therefore the grounds were reasonable.
Discussion took place between panel members.
The subject of the stop and search is a male from Luton.
Grounds given by the officer are a vehicle has driven past officers, and recent intel from August has suggested that this vehicle has driven around Lucy Farm dealing drugs.
This vehicle has been observed driving around Lucy Farm with no obvious purpose.
The officer pulled the driver over to speak with him and the officer smelled a strong smell of cannabis coming from the driver side.
The officer ran a check of the subject and found that the subject is currently being investigated for possession with intent to supply cannabis.
The officer therefore believed the subject was in possession of drugs for onward supply. The subject was detained under section 23.
KS explained to the panel that the stop search was completed on the 17th of October 2022 and the intel was provided in August 2022.
Discussion took place between panel members.
The panel agreed for KS to email the panel the stop and search statistics due to lack of time and the panel wanting to watch the 4th stop and search video.
MP stated that there were 1019 searches undertaken in this quarter and the majority were for drugs and weapons. 72% of searches resulted in no further action and 12% resulted in arrest and 12% resulted in community resolution which is normally a small fine for cannabis.
By borough, more than 50% of stop searches were conducted in Luton which is a 56% rise.
Stop searches (self-defined ethnicity):
White background - 432 +9.4%
Asian background – 218 +43.4%
Black background - 113 +43.4%
Mixed background - 28 -6.7
Other - 17 +54.5%
Not stated – 211 +31.1%
Stop searches (officer defined ethnicity):
White – 490 +8.2
Asian – 269 = +45%
Black – 171 = +9.6
Chinese – 1 = -50%
Arab – 13 = +160%
Unknown – 75 = +47.1%
N/A
N/A.
NC asked for the stop and search data to be sent to the panel so they can review.
KS thanked the panel for their time and informed that all the feedback will be delivered to the respective persons.