14/11/2013

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:00:00. > :00:17.Good evening. In Spotlight tonight, a year since

:00:18. > :00:21.they were elected how much impact have the South West's Police and

:00:22. > :00:23.Crime Commissioners had? In a special programme this evening,

:00:24. > :00:26.we'll be assessing their first 12 months in office. We'll hear from

:00:27. > :00:29.victims of crime, police representatives and the

:00:30. > :00:33.Commissioners themselves. Research for the BBC has found that

:00:34. > :00:38.Police and Crime Commissioners are still little`known by many people,

:00:39. > :00:42.one year on from the election. In the South West, turnouts for the

:00:43. > :00:47.elections were low ` between around 15% and 19%. And it's been a

:00:48. > :00:50.turbulent year for our PCCs. In Avon and Somerset, the Chief Constable

:00:51. > :00:54.was removed. In Dorset, there was a row about sponsorship of the police.

:00:55. > :00:57.And in Devon and Cornwall, the commissioner was criticised for his

:00:58. > :01:03.expenses claims, and the cost of running his office. Tony Hogg set

:01:04. > :01:06.out five priorities: Reducing crime, giving victims a stronger voice,

:01:07. > :01:14.listening to the public, providing strong leadership, and investing in

:01:15. > :01:21.policing for the future. Well, Tony Hogg marks himself at "six or seven

:01:22. > :01:25.out of ten" for his first year. In a moment, I'll be talking to him. But

:01:26. > :01:28.first, our home affairs correspondent has been investigating

:01:29. > :01:34.how well Mr Hogg is doing, one year on from taking up the Commissioner's

:01:35. > :01:41.post. If fail`safe scheme in Torbay

:01:42. > :01:47.provides extra security to the venerable. It has been supported, at

:01:48. > :01:51.least in words, by Tony Hogg. Last year, before the police and crime

:01:52. > :01:57.commission elections, we had a debate. Cheney told us that the new

:01:58. > :02:04.Commissioner must work with organisations like hers. So, has he?

:02:05. > :02:09.He is certainly listening. I am pleased about that. We wanted him to

:02:10. > :02:15.do that. He has supported you so far. What does he need to do now? We

:02:16. > :02:20.need committed resources to help us deliver on jobs. So it's the time to

:02:21. > :02:25.come up with the money? Yes, that would be nice. We have community

:02:26. > :02:31.watch offices in police stations across Devon and Cornwall. We would

:02:32. > :02:37.like more, but we need the resources to do that. Volunteering is not

:02:38. > :02:39.always free. Volunteers are, but volunteering is not. Others would

:02:40. > :02:46.also like to see more from Tony Hogg. This former police

:02:47. > :02:52.commissioner told us that he needs to focus on the front line. He needs

:02:53. > :02:57.high visibility. He needs more police and more police community

:02:58. > :03:01.support officers out on the streets. He also needs to respond to

:03:02. > :03:06.people when they want him. That is people both in the cities and in

:03:07. > :03:16.rural areas. They need a policing presence for both confidence and

:03:17. > :03:20.reassurance. Tony Hogg lists the fact that he has maintained policing

:03:21. > :03:33.numbers despite massive funding cuts. It was my most important duty

:03:34. > :03:44.to appoint the chief comes to... Insurance, he has appointed a widely

:03:45. > :03:59.respected chief comes. `` the chief can. He has done a good job. He has

:04:00. > :04:06.criticised people when he should have done, possibly at risk of not

:04:07. > :04:11.including strategic thinking. He has put people into his own office and

:04:12. > :04:19.they need to work closer together to support the PCC. Tony Hogg has

:04:20. > :04:24.suffered controversies. His office is expensive, his expenses have been

:04:25. > :04:28.criticised and surveys indicate he is not widely known by the public

:04:29. > :04:33.despite extensive efforts to engage with the communities and seek new

:04:34. > :04:38.ways to improve policing. One year into his four`year term and mixed

:04:39. > :04:43.views about how Tony Hogg is getting on. What is not in dispute is that

:04:44. > :04:48.the government is talking about more cuts to police funding, meaning that

:04:49. > :04:53.this first year could be one of the more straightforward. Tony Hogg is

:04:54. > :04:59.in the studio with me now. You have given yourself a mark of six or

:05:00. > :05:03.seven out of ten. Based on what? Based on the fact that this is a

:05:04. > :05:11.setting up here. We have found ourselves a very able chief comes,

:05:12. > :05:16.we have put in place a lot of boring stuff, we have started an education

:05:17. > :05:23.programme, we have been very busy with public engagement. If it up to

:05:24. > :05:30.you to mark yourself? Surely those that elected you should do that? I

:05:31. > :05:37.responded to the question that I was asked. I am not complacent at all. I

:05:38. > :05:44.think we have had a fair report from your piece just now and in terms of

:05:45. > :05:49.the first year, a six or so is about right. A gentleman from the pan

:05:50. > :05:52.which has scrutinised your activities has said that perhaps you

:05:53. > :06:00.spread yourself too thinly. You have done too much to make yourself known

:06:01. > :06:07.without delivering fully. I am listening to him. He is a wise...

:06:08. > :06:12.You are listening a lot. What about action? I am supposed to listen a

:06:13. > :06:18.lot. I am not at all ashamed of the huge public engagement activity we

:06:19. > :06:24.have been engaging in. It is so important. The strategic side, we

:06:25. > :06:29.are now looking at the idea is to combat the savings of the future. We

:06:30. > :06:30.will explore those in more detail in a moment because you are staying

:06:31. > :06:34.with us. The Police and Crime Commissioners

:06:35. > :06:38.in the South West are aware that in a rural part of the world, their

:06:39. > :06:41.work needs to reach beyond the towns and cities. Simon Clemison has been

:06:42. > :06:44.to the border of Dorset and Somerset where he's been trying to find out

:06:45. > :06:49.what sort of impact the Commissioners there have had in

:06:50. > :06:52.their first year in office. Drive through Dorset and Somerset

:06:53. > :06:57.and what is striking is just how green it all is. How much crime can

:06:58. > :07:07.they really be beyond the hedgerows? I have come to the Somerset parish

:07:08. > :07:11.of Barwick and savoured. It is true that crime rates are lower in rural

:07:12. > :07:16.areas than urban areas. But that does not mean no crime. Last

:07:17. > :07:20.autumn, people began to be represented in the upper circles of

:07:21. > :07:24.the police by a commissioner for the first time and now the leaves are

:07:25. > :07:38.falling once more. Police and Crime Commissioner 's are meant to be the

:07:39. > :07:42.voice of the people, so here on the borders of two counties, I am about

:07:43. > :07:50.as far away from the big cities where they are. The people who must

:07:51. > :07:55.be unusual, because they all know who they are. Do you think it is

:07:56. > :08:02.important to have a policing crime Commissioner here? No, I don't think

:08:03. > :08:05.so. Here it seems to be fine. There are enough commissioners and

:08:06. > :08:09.superintendents and goodness knows what in the police force without

:08:10. > :08:14.another commissioner. But some are more supportive. It can be quite a

:08:15. > :08:19.concern because you are not in a town where you have got a more

:08:20. > :08:26.prominent police force, perhaps. So the Commissioner is important for

:08:27. > :08:30.that reason? Absolutely, yes. So I crossed the border into Dorset where

:08:31. > :08:34.they thought crime is more of a problem. Last Thursday afternoon

:08:35. > :08:42.there was a car broken into in broad daylight. The police force is not

:08:43. > :08:47.bad but we do not see much of them. They drive by in their vans. Has it

:08:48. > :08:54.gotten better in the last year? Not that I have noticed. But where the

:08:55. > :08:59.countryside is being hit, police are hitting back and we commissioners

:09:00. > :09:02.are winning support. They embraced the fact that there are issues in

:09:03. > :09:07.the rule community. They accept that rural crime is different to that in

:09:08. > :09:12.towns and cities and hopefully, with the first 12 months under their

:09:13. > :09:16.belts. This gives them the opportunity to move forward and be

:09:17. > :09:19.effective. I think the interaction with the public any first year has

:09:20. > :09:23.been amazing. I have spoken to tens of thousands people either

:09:24. > :09:31.face`to`face or by e`mail or letter. I have been challenged by different

:09:32. > :09:36.things such as 101, and that would not have happened before because

:09:37. > :09:45.people had nowhere to take it. All the commissioners say that rural

:09:46. > :09:51.crime is on the list. I think it has been embedded through the police

:09:52. > :10:06.service that I want to change things as per those that I balloted under.

:10:07. > :10:10.As we have seen there, a key part of the commissioners role is to visit

:10:11. > :10:18.communities to see what people want from their Commissioner. Last week,

:10:19. > :10:24.one Commissioner was visiting a local community. I met up with the

:10:25. > :10:28.community themselves. Like many towns across the south`west,

:10:29. > :10:32.anti`social behaviour is one of the biggest concerns in Camborne. I took

:10:33. > :10:39.Tony Hogg to meet local trader, Suzanne Mills. What a beautiful

:10:40. > :10:45.shop. She has had her shop windows broken in the past as a result of

:10:46. > :10:52.drunken behaviour and once more familiar police presence. We are at

:10:53. > :10:57.the end of Camborne which is maybe a little rundown and is probably why

:10:58. > :11:01.it has caused a lot of local residents to feel a bit concerned

:11:02. > :11:06.about coming here to shop. If you could wave a wand, what would you

:11:07. > :11:14.like to do to improve the conditions in Camborne? I think to have maybe

:11:15. > :11:21.an old`fashioned image, but the body back on the beat. What I can't do is

:11:22. > :11:27.to say to the chief comes to, put a person that all do this or do that.

:11:28. > :11:30.But it is a grey area because you are hearing from someone who is

:11:31. > :11:34.telling you her customers do not feel safe and would like to see a

:11:35. > :11:40.bobby on the beat. Your job is to represent her but you can't tell him

:11:41. > :11:48.what to do. I can't tell the chief comes to but what he is trying to do

:11:49. > :11:52.is his best as well. It would not be a matter of telling him. It would be

:11:53. > :11:56.a matter of discussion, saying these are the issues I am picking up,

:11:57. > :12:01.please try and buy as your resources in this direction, that direction.

:12:02. > :12:08.Just down the road at one of the local pubs, it is also a familiar

:12:09. > :12:15.story. They all spelt `` spend their money at the supermarket 's first

:12:16. > :12:18.and come out later at night and we find little bottles of our coral in

:12:19. > :12:27.the toilets, but that has not been brought from here. `` little bottles

:12:28. > :12:32.of alcohol. Increasingly, there is a powerful group of Police and Crime

:12:33. > :12:40.Commissioner is at national level who, if they agree, will lobby

:12:41. > :12:46.government to work with supermarkets and publicans and licensees to try

:12:47. > :12:52.to persuade them of a better way. But, in the end, it will come down

:12:53. > :12:56.to laws of the country. Camborne isn't alone in facing problems

:12:57. > :13:02.caused by drinking and anti`social behaviour. Dealing with it is one of

:13:03. > :13:06.Tony Hogg's main priorities. There has been a lot of listening in the

:13:07. > :13:13.last 12 months, but for many, now is the time for action. Tony Hogg is

:13:14. > :13:17.still with us, along with Nigel from the police Federation in Devon and

:13:18. > :13:24.Cornwall. Tony Hogg gave himself six or seven out of ten. What would you

:13:25. > :13:29.give him? I don't get up to me to mark him. It's up to the community.

:13:30. > :13:39.My view is, is he value for money? That would be the question. I think

:13:40. > :13:47.at the moment there is a? . There is a real pressure on funding and their

:13:48. > :13:52.need to be more police out in the community. Real police officers, not

:13:53. > :13:57.volunteers or members of the public were cedar uniforms. They want to

:13:58. > :14:05.see real warranted officers. And yet Tony Hogg, that is the route you are

:14:06. > :14:09.taking. I am the biggest friend that Nigel has got. In fact, I have

:14:10. > :14:23.stopped the dissent in police officer numbers and kept the numbers

:14:24. > :14:30.above what they need to be. Recognising the state the country is

:14:31. > :14:34.in, strategic work looking ahead with regards to the public sector

:14:35. > :14:38.and savings, I know I will not be able to increase numbers but I

:14:39. > :14:42.pledge to try to withhold the numbers we have and make community

:14:43. > :14:46.policing better. Let's talk about the role of Commissioner Ben. We

:14:47. > :14:50.have had a lot of e`mails from viewers asking whether you are value

:14:51. > :14:55.for money. How do you justify the bigger office you have got, more

:14:56. > :14:59.staff than the old police authority that you replaced. What sort of

:15:00. > :15:05.value for money are you offering? I am delighted to say that a value for

:15:06. > :15:12.money report from her Majesty 's Inspectorate of the collaborative ``

:15:13. > :15:18.constabulary puts as well below the cost of a number of authorities. You

:15:19. > :15:24.have more staff than Thames Valley police, Essex, Hampshire. Why do you

:15:25. > :15:31.need so many? If you have used this evening listened to Bernard on radio

:15:32. > :15:35.Devon earlier, he said that my office now is doing ten times the

:15:36. > :15:41.work of the old police authority. I am no longer comparing myself to the

:15:42. > :15:45.old police authority. We have taken on new tasks and we are doing much

:15:46. > :15:53.better on the tasks that the police authority had. Nigel, do you think

:15:54. > :15:58.that rank and file officers and the public are getting better service

:15:59. > :16:03.because of Tony Hogg? Credit must be given because he has stopped at the

:16:04. > :16:08.fall in officer numbers and he has tried to lobby MPs to increase the

:16:09. > :16:17.spending and make it sustainable. But that is not enough. The public

:16:18. > :16:20.want more police in Devon and Cornwall and my officers want the

:16:21. > :16:28.opportunity to do their job properly. Tony Hogg made the point

:16:29. > :16:33.that you as a federation employee ten offices full time on Federation

:16:34. > :16:39.business. Are there ten full`time officers involved in Federation

:16:40. > :16:47.business? Now, they are not. There are eight or nine locally but they

:16:48. > :16:56.are so kind as there because of their commissioners. We are sworn

:16:57. > :16:59.officers and we fall foul of conduct regulations and we need to be

:17:00. > :17:04.represented. That is why our time is taken up doing that. We saw in the

:17:05. > :17:10.report in Camborne a moment ago this idea of more obvious policing. You

:17:11. > :17:18.are not able to tell the chief constable where to put his officers,

:17:19. > :17:27.but how much more visible are the offices you have managed to keep

:17:28. > :17:32.onto `` keep hold of? I think the three things that mean a lot to the

:17:33. > :17:36.community of visibility, closed police stations at the moment and

:17:37. > :17:43.the ineffectiveness of 101. On the visibility site, if I can uphold

:17:44. > :17:45.officer numbers and work with the Chief Constable Adrian Lee Charlotte

:17:46. > :17:53.we understand what the population of Devon and Cornwall want, then we can

:17:54. > :17:59.do everything we can to get things right. We saw your priorities at the

:18:00. > :18:03.start of the programme. Bringing crime down. You acknowledge it is

:18:04. > :18:09.not coming down as much as you would want. Is your strategy therefore not

:18:10. > :18:13.working and will you review it? I am responsible at the strategic level

:18:14. > :18:17.for setting the overall requirements and on overall recorded crime I have

:18:18. > :18:24.set a standard of a drop of ten `` 2%. As a generalisation, that is a

:18:25. > :18:28.very reasonable fall in crime. It is up to the chief comes to how he

:18:29. > :18:36.delivers that. But how are you holding him to account? Either for

:18:37. > :18:43.not failing to `` either for not delivering something therefore not

:18:44. > :18:47.delivering your strategy? When the statistics came out two weeks ago

:18:48. > :18:52.and the police line was that these were good news and the figures

:18:53. > :18:57.terminated in June of this year, I said, knowing the summer effect,

:18:58. > :19:03.that I was not happy with that. The chief comes to and I had to come to

:19:04. > :19:06.an agreement about that. I think the public was very glad to see that I

:19:07. > :19:12.took a different line. Thank you very much indeed, both of you. We

:19:13. > :19:16.have had lots of comments of course about this role and if you would

:19:17. > :19:20.like to see what other viewers are saying, please go to our Facebook

:19:21. > :19:31.page and you can contact us via twitter and our e`mail address.

:19:32. > :19:36.A man has appeared in court in London on terrorism charges

:19:37. > :19:40.following his arrest in Cornwall. Police arrested the man in a dawn

:19:41. > :19:46.raid on a house in Newquay. Eleanor Parkinson reports.

:19:47. > :19:51.The man was detained after a surge of his flat in this building. The

:19:52. > :19:58.other flats contain people not related to him in any way. The

:19:59. > :20:01.police say a pre`dash`mac preplanned operation took place yesterday

:20:02. > :20:09.morning. This investigation has been going on for some time, so it was

:20:10. > :20:16.not related to immediate concerns for public safety, but at 7:30am we

:20:17. > :20:23.made an arrest. Police have named the man as a 46`year`old French

:20:24. > :20:26.Algerian. Neighbours I spoke to this morning said he kept himself to

:20:27. > :20:32.himself and he has lived it for about six months. He was driven to

:20:33. > :20:36.London this morning and appeared before Westminster magistrates this

:20:37. > :20:42.afternoon, charged with having information useful to a terrorist

:20:43. > :20:47.and transferring terrorist information electronically. He is

:20:48. > :20:50.due before the Old Bailey next week. A teacher who blackmailed teenage

:20:51. > :20:53.girls into sending him sexual pictures of themselves has been

:20:54. > :20:58.jailed at Exeter Crown Court for six years. 37`year`old Zahid Akram, who

:20:59. > :21:09.was living in Exeter, targeted the victims after befriending them on

:21:10. > :21:13.social networking sites. Tomorrow's the big day ` Children in

:21:14. > :21:16.Need 2013 and every day this week we've been looking at the difference

:21:17. > :21:18.the money you raise makes to the lives of children here in the South

:21:19. > :21:22.West. Over the next two nights, we'll be

:21:23. > :21:25.hearing about the work of Children's Hospice South West. Dennis and his

:21:26. > :21:29.family go to Little Harbour for respite care. His mum, Keely, tells

:21:30. > :21:35.his story. It's my safe haven, my sanctuary, my

:21:36. > :21:42.sanity. Where would I be without it? I would not know how to get to the

:21:43. > :21:48.days. Dennis is my sixth child. You do not think he will be the one to

:21:49. > :21:53.have a poorly child. He was born at 26 weeks. He then went on to have a

:21:54. > :21:58.bleed on the brain which caused by the catalysts. He then got

:21:59. > :22:04.septicaemia. He has ended up with severe brain damage. Alongside that,

:22:05. > :22:09.we have now got the onset of him suturing because he gets cluster

:22:10. > :22:16.seizures meaning that he can seizure 20 or 30 times. Have to call

:22:17. > :22:20.ambulances many times and the other children are in the house. It is

:22:21. > :22:29.very scary for them. Rupert will hide under the dining table until

:22:30. > :22:34.the ambulance has left. They both need my attention but I cannot tell

:22:35. > :22:40.myself into. You get to the point where you think, why? I sound so

:22:41. > :22:44.horrible but sometimes you wake up feeling there was no light at the

:22:45. > :22:51.end of the tunnel. It is places like this that come into their own and

:22:52. > :22:56.they help and rescue people like me. I could many a time have just given

:22:57. > :23:00.up and said, I just can't do it any more, but I come down here and they

:23:01. > :23:07.are all willing to listen and not pass judgement. Without this, I

:23:08. > :23:12.would not know what I was doing. He gets to do things that I do not have

:23:13. > :23:16.the time to do sometimes. I cannot take him into a swimming pool, so

:23:17. > :23:23.here, with the hot tub, I can get quality time with him, with music on

:23:24. > :23:30.and I just look at him and cried. I look at my beautiful baby boy and

:23:31. > :23:35.have him so close, it is skin to skin in there and he is weightless.

:23:36. > :23:39.I can hold him so tight and I look into his little eyes and think, what

:23:40. > :23:44.is he thinking? Then the sibling team can bring in the other

:23:45. > :23:52.children, so we can go in as a family. I can't take them swimming

:23:53. > :23:56.properly, so they miss out. They have had to take a step back for

:23:57. > :24:01.Dennis. People say it must be hard for you, but no one knows until you

:24:02. > :24:09.go through it how much time, effort, how much it hits that your heart. To

:24:10. > :24:14.be able to get up every day and give the child what it needs, to allow it

:24:15. > :24:22.to thrive and have a life. That is what this place is all about.

:24:23. > :24:25.Well, that's what it's all about and if you're fundraising again this

:24:26. > :24:29.year, there's still time to get tickets to go along to the Party for

:24:30. > :24:32.Pudsey at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall tomorrow night. Just

:24:33. > :24:41.go to pudseytickets@bbc.co.uk ` say how many of you are going along and

:24:42. > :24:47.we'll send you the tickets. Time now for a look at the weather.

:24:48. > :24:52.If you are out raising money for children in need, the weather will

:24:53. > :24:58.be relatively kind, but you will need to wrap up very warm. We have

:24:59. > :25:01.cold days coming up. For tomorrow, less windy and bite and dry. We

:25:02. > :25:09.should get away with a reasonable day tomorrow. Temperatures similar

:25:10. > :25:14.to today. There is cloud coming into the more western parts of the UK

:25:15. > :25:18.today, but the high pressure is with us in one form or another. This is

:25:19. > :25:23.the middle of the day tomorrow and then by the time `` the same time on

:25:24. > :25:28.Saturday, it is still there although much weaker. You can see cloud

:25:29. > :25:32.coming out of Ireland and drifting into Cornwall, but further east we

:25:33. > :25:37.have had a lot of fine weather and sunshine. Earlier today in Newquay,

:25:38. > :25:44.we did have some fine weather but the strength of the wind has whipped

:25:45. > :25:48.up PCs. The waves rippling the coasts of Cornwall and Devon at the

:25:49. > :25:54.moment. Those seeds will gradually calmed down later on tonight and

:25:55. > :25:59.tomorrow. Surfing conditions perhaps a bit better tomorrow. Quite a lot

:26:00. > :26:08.of clout to start with overnight, but with the wind is falling

:26:09. > :26:12.lighter, it will turn frosty. Tomorrow, most of us will wake up

:26:13. > :26:15.with a reasonable start to the day. The exception might be west

:26:16. > :26:20.Cornwall, but for all of us tomorrow I think it is a right, dry day with

:26:21. > :26:27.some sunshine and temperatures similar to today. Through the day,

:26:28. > :26:33.we will see a bit more in the way of cloud across the western parts of

:26:34. > :27:01.Cornwall and, further east we will also see some frost.

:27:02. > :27:11.That brings us to tomorrow evening where we have Pepsi out and about.

:27:12. > :27:16.`` we have Pudsey out and about. It looks like it will be a good

:27:17. > :27:21.evening. Please wrap up warm though as there will be a cold feel to the

:27:22. > :27:27.air by the end of the night. For the weekend outlook, we should have dry,

:27:28. > :27:36.cloudy and misty weather, with next week even colder still. Have a good

:27:37. > :27:39.evening. That is all from us tonight but tomorrow we will be building up

:27:40. > :27:42.to the big fundraising evening for Children in Need. In the meantime,

:27:43. > :27:45.good night.