Download - dROP Police and Crime Plan Response Final
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7/29/2019 dROP Police and Crime Plan Response Final
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DraftP
olicean
dCrim
ePlan
forGlo
ucester
shire
-aresponsefromdROP
As an emerging group of disabled
leaders we feel it necessary to provide
you with our view on your draft Police
and Crime Plan. We very much hope thatthis letter will be the start of something
new - a dialogue between disabled
people and the Police on an equal basis
which is solution based and organised.We essentially welcome your lengthy
report but there are many gaps,especially surrounding disability and we
would like to provide you with our
thoughts and views.
DEAR MARTIN SURL,
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Until now there has been no disability
leadership in Gloucestershire and a
lack of engagement by the Police
which, at best, sees disability as above
and beyond the duties of its officers.YOUR CONSULTATION
PROCESS AND HARD TO
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HISTORIC - You clearly state that by design all police and crime commissioners
have a mandate to 'hold the police to account on behalf of the public' and by
extension will 'change the face of policing' 1. We welcome this as we now have a
clear opportunity to use past content of our lived experience and marry this up with
new crime plan for Gloucestershire. Until now there has been little orno disability leadership in
Gloucestershire. Combine this
with a lack of engagement by the
Police which, at best sees
disability as above and beyond
the duties of its officers and we
have a negative historical context.
This could be seen as a product
of legislation but we see your
leadership as a powerful
expression of a change, a change
that can enable disabled people
equality in safety, movement andaccess to work.
Disabilityhatecrime
hasbeenlargely
invisiblein
GloucestershirePolice
reporting-thismust
change.
YOUR CONSULTATION PROCESS AND HARD TO REACH
GROUPS - In your draft you speak of a future consultation process through
Gloucestershire Association for Voluntary and Community Action (GAVCA) in
which you may be able to utilise a 'focus group' research tool. We must point outthat in your list of specific groups that you identified, you have not listed people
with severe mental illness (SMI) or people with physical disabilities. We are alarmed
at this and point out that without their views you will not have a complete, justifiable
consultation process that is inclusive of all people with disabilities. DISABILITY HATE CRIME -To date there has also been underreporting of
disability hate crime in the county. This is of particular concern to us and this isreflected in our analysis of data provided by the Home Office shown in Figure 1
below.
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Ourskillsandknowledgeofdisabilitywillbringinvaluablesolutionstoproblemsfacedbyyourforce.
You have a perfect opportunity to
match the progress made by
forces in Norfolk and Suffolk and
even excel by Increasing the awareness amongst
your force of Disability Take a lead with the media to
prevent stereotyping of disability
and paint a true picture, for
example, that people with SMI are
more likely to be victims of crime
rather than perpetrators. 2These are only twoexamples of the work thatneeds to be done. We havemany more suggestions andinvite you to meet us towork through them.
dROP (disabled ResponsiveOrganised People) can take an
active role in these elements of
your plan. As a result disabled
people in Gloucestershire will
feel increasingly protected and
there will be a re-establishment of
the Peelian culture that gives
reality to the historic tradition
'that the police are the public and
the public are the police'. 31. Police and Crime Plan 2013-2017 Draft v.6 (7.1.13) Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner forGloucestershire, p62. Norris, A 'Disability Hate Crime snap shot report,, UK Disabled People's Council, (June 2010)3. Police and Crime Plan 2013-2017 Draft v.6 (7.1.13) Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for
Gloucestershire, p84. Key to Figure 1 on page 4: HC = Hate Crime; DHC = Disability Hate Crime
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Norfolk Suffolk Merseyside Northamptonshire5 Leicestershire South Wales Avon and Somerset Wiltshire Dyfed-Powys Staffordshire North Wales West Yorkshire Surrey Nottinghamshire Cumbria West Mercia North Yorkshire5 Durham Cleveland Lancashire Essex Kent Northumbria Dorset Sussex Hampshire London, City of Bedfordshire
Gwent Humberside Warwickshire Derbyshire Thames Valley Hertfordshire Greater Manchester Cheshire Gloucestershire Lincolnshire South Yorkshire West Midlands British Transport Police Cambridgeshire Metropolitan Police Devon and Cornwall
Fig 1: % of HC that is DHC by Police Force Area
0 7.5 15 22.5 30