14/11/2013 Spotlight

Good evening. In Spotlight tonight, a year since

they were elected how much impact have the South West's Police and

Crime Commissioners had? In a special programme this evening,

we'll be assessing their first 12 months in office. We'll hear from

victims of crime, police representatives and the

Commissioners themselves. Research for the BBC has found that

Police and Crime Commissioners are still little`known by many people,

one year on from the election. In the South West, turnouts for the

elections were low ` between around 15% and 19%. And it's been a

turbulent year for our PCCs. In Avon and Somerset, the Chief Constable

was removed. In Dorset, there was a row about sponsorship of the police.

And in Devon and Cornwall, the commissioner was criticised for his

expenses claims, and the cost of running his office. Tony Hogg set

out five priorities: Reducing crime, giving victims a stronger voice,

listening to the public, providing strong leadership, and investing in

policing for the future. Well, Tony Hogg marks himself at "six or seven

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

first, our home affairs correspondent has been investigating

how well Mr Hogg is doing, one year on from taking up the Commissioner's

post. If fail`safe scheme in Torbay

provides extra security to the venerable. It has been supported, at

least in words, by Tony Hogg. Last year, before the police and crime

commission elections, we had a debate. Cheney told us that the new

Commissioner must work with organisations like hers. So, has he?

He is certainly listening. I am pleased about that. We wanted him to

do that. He has supported you so far. What does he need to do now? We

need committed resources to help us deliver on jobs. So it's the time to

come up with the money? Yes, that would be nice. We have community

watch offices in police stations across Devon and Cornwall. We would

like more, but we need the resources to do that. Volunteering is not

always free. Volunteers are, but volunteering is not. Others would

also like to see more from Tony Hogg. This former police

commissioner told us that he needs to focus on the front line. He needs

high visibility. He needs more police and more police community

support officers out on the streets. He also needs to respond to

people when they want him. That is people both in the cities and in

rural areas. They need a policing presence for both confidence and

reassurance. Tony Hogg lists the fact that he has maintained policing

numbers despite massive funding cuts. It was my most important duty

to appoint the chief comes to... Insurance, he has appointed a widely

respected chief comes. `` the chief can. He has done a good job. He has

criticised people when he should have done, possibly at risk of not

including strategic thinking. He has put people into his own office and

they need to work closer together to support the PCC. Tony Hogg has

suffered controversies. His office is expensive, his expenses have been

criticised and surveys indicate he is not widely known by the public

despite extensive efforts to engage with the communities and seek new

ways to improve policing. One year into his four`year term and mixed

views about how Tony Hogg is getting on. What is not in dispute is that

the government is talking about more cuts to police funding, meaning that

this first year could be one of the more straightforward. Tony Hogg is

in the studio with me now. You have given yourself a mark of six or

seven out of ten. Based on what? Based on the fact that this is a

setting up here. We have found ourselves a very able chief comes,

we have put in place a lot of boring stuff, we have started an education

programme, we have been very busy with public engagement. If it up to

you to mark yourself? Surely those that elected you should do that? I

responded to the question that I was asked. I am not complacent at all. I

think we have had a fair report from your piece just now and in terms of

the first year, a six or so is about right. A gentleman from the pan

which has scrutinised your activities has said that perhaps you

spread yourself too thinly. You have done too much to make yourself known

without delivering fully. I am listening to him. He is a wise...

You are listening a lot. What about action? I am supposed to listen a

lot. I am not at all ashamed of the huge public engagement activity we

have been engaging in. It is so important. The strategic side, we

are now looking at the idea is to combat the savings of the future. We

will explore those in more detail in a moment because you are staying

with us. The Police and Crime Commissioners

in the South West are aware that in a rural part of the world, their

work needs to reach beyond the towns and cities. Simon Clemison has been

to the border of Dorset and Somerset where he's been trying to find out

what sort of impact the Commissioners there have had in

their first year in office. Drive through Dorset and Somerset

and what is striking is just how green it all is. How much crime can

they really be beyond the hedgerows? I have come to the Somerset parish

of Barwick and savoured. It is true that crime rates are lower in rural

areas than urban areas. But that does not mean no crime. Last

autumn, people began to be represented in the upper circles of

the police by a commissioner for the first time and now the leaves are

falling once more. Police and Crime Commissioner 's are meant to be the

voice of the people, so here on the borders of two counties, I am about

as far away from the big cities where they are. The people who must

be unusual, because they all know who they are. Do you think it is

important to have a policing crime Commissioner here? No, I don't think

so. Here it seems to be fine. There are enough commissioners and

superintendents and goodness knows what in the police force without

another commissioner. But some are more supportive. It can be quite a

concern because you are not in a town where you have got a more

prominent police force, perhaps. So the Commissioner is important for

that reason? Absolutely, yes. So I crossed the border into Dorset where

they thought crime is more of a problem. Last Thursday afternoon

there was a car broken into in broad daylight. The police force is not

bad but we do not see much of them. They drive by in their vans. Has it

gotten better in the last year? Not that I have noticed. But where the

countryside is being hit, police are hitting back and we commissioners

are winning support. They embraced the fact that there are issues in

the rule community. They accept that rural crime is different to that in

towns and cities and hopefully, with the first 12 months under their

belts. This gives them the opportunity to move forward and be

effective. I think the interaction with the public any first year has

been amazing. I have spoken to tens of thousands people either

face`to`face or by e`mail or letter. I have been challenged by different

things such as 101, and that would not have happened before because

people had nowhere to take it. All the commissioners say that rural

crime is on the list. I think it has been embedded through the police

service that I want to change things as per those that I balloted under.

As we have seen there, a key part of the commissioners role is to visit

communities to see what people want from their Commissioner. Last week,

one Commissioner was visiting a local community. I met up with the

community themselves. Like many towns across the south`west,

anti`social behaviour is one of the biggest concerns in Camborne. I took

Tony Hogg to meet local trader, Suzanne Mills. What a beautiful

shop. She has had her shop windows broken in the past as a result of

drunken behaviour and once more familiar police presence. We are at

the end of Camborne which is maybe a little rundown and is probably why

it has caused a lot of local residents to feel a bit concerned

about coming here to shop. If you could wave a wand, what would you

like to do to improve the conditions in Camborne? I think to have maybe

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

to say to the chief comes to, put a person that all do this or do that.

But it is a grey area because you are hearing from someone who is

telling you her customers do not feel safe and would like to see a

bobby on the beat. Your job is to represent her but you can't tell him

what to do. I can't tell the chief comes to but what he is trying to do

is his best as well. It would not be a matter of telling him. It would be

a matter of discussion, saying these are the issues I am picking up,

please try and buy as your resources in this direction, that direction.

Just down the road at one of the local pubs, it is also a familiar

story. They all spelt `` spend their money at the supermarket 's first

and come out later at night and we find little bottles of our coral in

the toilets, but that has not been brought from here. `` little bottles

of alcohol. Increasingly, there is a powerful group of Police and Crime

Commissioner is at national level who, if they agree, will lobby

government to work with supermarkets and publicans and licensees to try

to persuade them of a better way. But, in the end, it will come down

to laws of the country. Camborne isn't alone in facing problems

caused by drinking and anti`social behaviour. Dealing with it is one of

Tony Hogg's main priorities. There has been a lot of listening in the

last 12 months, but for many, now is the time for action. Tony Hogg is

still with us, along with Nigel from the police Federation in Devon and

Cornwall. Tony Hogg gave himself six or seven out of ten. What would you

give him? I don't get up to me to mark him. It's up to the community.

My view is, is he value for money? That would be the question. I think

at the moment there is a? . There is a real pressure on funding and their

need to be more police out in the community. Real police officers, not

volunteers or members of the public were cedar uniforms. They want to

see real warranted officers. And yet Tony Hogg, that is the route you are

taking. I am the biggest friend that Nigel has got. In fact, I have

stopped the dissent in police officer numbers and kept the numbers

above what they need to be. Recognising the state the country is

in, strategic work looking ahead with regards to the public sector

and savings, I know I will not be able to increase numbers but I

pledge to try to withhold the numbers we have and make community

policing better. Let's talk about the role of Commissioner Ben. We

have had a lot of e`mails from viewers asking whether you are value

for money. How do you justify the bigger office you have got, more

staff than the old police authority that you replaced. What sort of

value for money are you offering? I am delighted to say that a value for

money report from her Majesty 's Inspectorate of the collaborative ``

constabulary puts as well below the cost of a number of authorities. You

have more staff than Thames Valley police, Essex, Hampshire. Why do you

need so many? If you have used this evening listened to Bernard on radio

Devon earlier, he said that my office now is doing ten times the

work of the old police authority. I am no longer comparing myself to the

old police authority. We have taken on new tasks and we are doing much

better on the tasks that the police authority had. Nigel, do you think

that rank and file officers and the public are getting better service

because of Tony Hogg? Credit must be given because he has stopped at the

fall in officer numbers and he has tried to lobby MPs to increase the

spending and make it sustainable. But that is not enough. The public

want more police in Devon and Cornwall and my officers want the

opportunity to do their job properly. Tony Hogg made the point

that you as a federation employee ten offices full time on Federation

business. Are there ten full`time officers involved in Federation

business? Now, they are not. There are eight or nine locally but they

are so kind as there because of their commissioners. We are sworn

officers and we fall foul of conduct regulations and we need to be

represented. That is why our time is taken up doing that. We saw in the

report in Camborne a moment ago this idea of more obvious policing. You

are not able to tell the chief constable where to put his officers,

but how much more visible are the offices you have managed to keep

onto `` keep hold of? I think the three things that mean a lot to the

community of visibility, closed police stations at the moment and

the ineffectiveness of 101. On the visibility site, if I can uphold

officer numbers and work with the Chief Constable Adrian Lee Charlotte

we understand what the population of Devon and Cornwall want, then we can

do everything we can to get things right. We saw your priorities at the

start of the programme. Bringing crime down. You acknowledge it is

not coming down as much as you would want. Is your strategy therefore not

working and will you review it? I am responsible at the strategic level

for setting the overall requirements and on overall recorded crime I have

set a standard of a drop of ten `` 2%. As a generalisation, that is a

very reasonable fall in crime. It is up to the chief comes to how he

delivers that. But how are you holding him to account? Either for

not failing to `` either for not delivering something therefore not

delivering your strategy? When the statistics came out two weeks ago

and the police line was that these were good news and the figures

terminated in June of this year, I said, knowing the summer effect,

that I was not happy with that. The chief comes to and I had to come to

an agreement about that. I think the public was very glad to see that I

took a different line. Thank you very much indeed, both of you. We

have had lots of comments of course about this role and if you would

like to see what other viewers are saying, please go to our Facebook

page and you can contact us via twitter and our e`mail address.

A man has appeared in court in London on terrorism charges

following his arrest in Cornwall. Police arrested the man in a dawn

raid on a house in Newquay. Eleanor Parkinson reports.

The man was detained after a surge of his flat in this building. The

other flats contain people not related to him in any way. The

police say a pre`dash`mac preplanned operation took place yesterday

morning. This investigation has been going on for some time, so it was

not related to immediate concerns for public safety, but at 7:30am we

made an arrest. Police have named the man as a 46`year`old French

Algerian. Neighbours I spoke to this morning said he kept himself to

himself and he has lived it for about six months. He was driven to

London this morning and appeared before Westminster magistrates this

afternoon, charged with having information useful to a terrorist

and transferring terrorist information electronically. He is

due before the Old Bailey next week. A teacher who blackmailed teenage

girls into sending him sexual pictures of themselves has been

jailed at Exeter Crown Court for six years. 37`year`old Zahid Akram, who

was living in Exeter, targeted the victims after befriending them on

social networking sites. Tomorrow's the big day ` Children in

Need 2013 and every day this week we've been looking at the difference

the money you raise makes to the lives of children here in the South

West. Over the next two nights, we'll be

hearing about the work of Children's Hospice South West. Dennis and his

family go to Little Harbour for respite care. His mum, Keely, tells

his story. It's my safe haven, my sanctuary, my

sanity. Where would I be without it? I would not know how to get to the

days. Dennis is my sixth child. You do not think he will be the one to

have a poorly child. He was born at 26 weeks. He then went on to have a

bleed on the brain which caused by the catalysts. He then got

septicaemia. He has ended up with severe brain damage. Alongside that,

we have now got the onset of him suturing because he gets cluster

seizures meaning that he can seizure 20 or 30 times. Have to call

ambulances many times and the other children are in the house. It is

very scary for them. Rupert will hide under the dining table until

the ambulance has left. They both need my attention but I cannot tell

myself into. You get to the point where you think, why? I sound so

horrible but sometimes you wake up feeling there was no light at the

end of the tunnel. It is places like this that come into their own and

they help and rescue people like me. I could many a time have just given

up and said, I just can't do it any more, but I come down here and they

are all willing to listen and not pass judgement. Without this, I

would not know what I was doing. He gets to do things that I do not have

the time to do sometimes. I cannot take him into a swimming pool, so

here, with the hot tub, I can get quality time with him, with music on

and I just look at him and cried. I look at my beautiful baby boy and

have him so close, it is skin to skin in there and he is weightless.

I can hold him so tight and I look into his little eyes and think, what

is he thinking? Then the sibling team can bring in the other

children, so we can go in as a family. I can't take them swimming

properly, so they miss out. They have had to take a step back for

Dennis. People say it must be hard for you, but no one knows until you

go through it how much time, effort, how much it hits that your heart. To

be able to get up every day and give the child what it needs, to allow it

to thrive and have a life. That is what this place is all about.

Well, that's what it's all about and if you're fundraising again this

year, there's still time to get tickets to go along to the Party for

Pudsey at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall tomorrow night. Just

go to [email protected] ` say how many of you are going along and

we'll send you the tickets. Time now for a look at the weather.

If you are out raising money for children in need, the weather will

be relatively kind, but you will need to wrap up very warm. We have

cold days coming up. For tomorrow, less windy and bite and dry. We

should get away with a reasonable day tomorrow. Temperatures similar

to today. There is cloud coming into the more western parts of the UK

today, but the high pressure is with us in one form or another. This is

the middle of the day tomorrow and then by the time `` the same time on

Saturday, it is still there although much weaker. You can see cloud

coming out of Ireland and drifting into Cornwall, but further east we

have had a lot of fine weather and sunshine. Earlier today in Newquay,

we did have some fine weather but the strength of the wind has whipped

up PCs. The waves rippling the coasts of Cornwall and Devon at the

moment. Those seeds will gradually calmed down later on tonight and

tomorrow. Surfing conditions perhaps a bit better tomorrow. Quite a lot

of clout to start with overnight, but with the wind is falling

lighter, it will turn frosty. Tomorrow, most of us will wake up

with a reasonable start to the day. The exception might be west

Cornwall, but for all of us tomorrow I think it is a right, dry day with

some sunshine and temperatures similar to today. Through the day,

we will see a bit more in the way of cloud across the western parts of

Cornwall and, further east we will also see some frost.

That brings us to tomorrow evening where we have Pepsi out and about.

`` we have Pudsey out and about. It looks like it will be a good

evening. Please wrap up warm though as there will be a cold feel to the

air by the end of the night. For the weekend outlook, we should have dry,

cloudy and misty weather, with next week even colder still. Have a good

evening. That is all from us tonight but tomorrow we will be building up

to the big fundraising evening for Children in Need. In the meantime,

good night.