Monday 6 December
I am welcomed into my office by the biggest chocolate cake I have ever seen. And I have seen some cakes in my time. It was my birthday over the weekend and the OPCC staff have produced this cake in celebration. I tuck into a slice, so does everyone else. I wonder how long the cake will last.
The HMIC have finished their inspection of the Leicestershire Police and want a chat with the Chief Officer Team and myself. It turns out to be a presentation lasting nearly 2 hours by the lead inspector. He starts by telling us that nothing he says is definitive and we should not rely on anything in his presentations. Great! Mind you, he seems fairly impressed.
I head towards Melton Mowbray for the “Through the Gate” farmshop to meet newly elected County Cllr Brian Lovegrove. As I drive up the track, I glance into the fields. Funny looking cows they’ve got here. They turn out to be bison. Jolly nice tea and cake, mind you. And Cllr Lovegrove has much to say about rural crime in the Vale of Belvoir that he represents.
In Lincoln I meet with Sarah who runs the secretariat for the East Midlands Criminal Justice Board, of which I am Chair. We discuss the long term strategy, mostly about the fact that there isn’t one. Ditto the lack of a public engagement policy. We will meet again after Christmas to start developing those much-needed strategies to try to improve the service given to the public by the various branches of the criminal justice system. It is clear back logs are too long, processes are cumbersome, victims are affected, police are under the cosh and we all need to collectively need to try to do better. I get the feeling this is largely due to the disruptions caused by the Covid restrictions. It is time to get a grip!
Tuesday 7th December
I am buttonholed by the head of finance. How far into the future do I think that a medium term financial plan should be looking. I reply five years. Apparently, this is the wrong answer.
I then head off to the police station at Beaumont Leys where I spend much of the morning sitting on the front desk with Steve and Iris. It turns out that this talented double act have been working this front desk for over a decade. We share a cuppah, then the doors open and our first customer walks in.
This is a young lady whose car was broken into last night. She reported the incident along with the theft of assorted items including her work laptop. But she has just arrived at work to find the laptop safely on her desk. Can she change her report? Steve gets busy tapping on the computer.
Then a middle-aged lady comes in. She wants to report an assault on her son. His wife has been beating him up for years but he has never reported it as he thinks nobody would believe him. Iris is sympathetic. Why is the lady reporting it now? Because the wife has gone too far this time. She has stabbed the husband in the stomach. Iris asks if medical attention is needed. No, says the lady, she has patched up the stab wound herself. But she wants the assault investigated.
Iris is still taking down details when a man walks in with a lever action, repeating Winchester rifle casually tucked under his arm. As you do. He is followed by a woman with two more rifles. I try not to look worried or, indeed, terrified. Steve keeps admirably calm. It turns out that an elderly relative has passed away and the couple have found these guns in his house. Steve starts to log the guns when the man interrupts. “Hang on,” he says, “We’ll just pop out to the car to get the rest.” We end up with four rifles, eleven pistols and more bullets than you could shake a stick at.
The next person through the door is an anti-climax by comparison. It is a young man who had his bicycle stolen some days earlier. He has had a message to say it has been handed in to the police. Iris bustles off to find it.
Time for me to get back to base to deal with emails and internal OPCC meetings. Iris and Steve have done us proud today. They remind me we have some brilliant people looking after our communities wherever they work and whatever they do.
Wednesday 8th December
The morning is taken up with more internal meetings, then at 1pm I log on to join a Teams meeting – the national launch of the Poverty and Policing Report. I wonder why it has been arranged for 1pm. Don’t civil servants in London eat lunch? I eat some chocolate cake.
PCSO Tony Gallagher arrives in my office at 2pm to discuss a farm crime event he wants to organise in North West Leicestershire. He turns down the offer of some cake, he says that he doesn’t like chocolate. Teresa my PA almost faints in shock.
Then I am off to the Lecture Theatre to present awards for long service to some of our volunteers who visit prisoners in custody to make sure everything is OK. It is thankless work, so those who do this are real stars. I make a short speech, so does ACC Sandal, then I present the awards before we all adjourn to the canteen for a buffet supper.
Through all this, my phone keeps pinging and pinging. Finally I look at it to get the news of new covid restrictions from Downing Street. Not the best end to the day.
Thursday 9th December
The senior managers of the OPCC and I go into a socially distanced huddle to discuss the news of Plan B covid restrictions and what they mean for us. This takes longer than I anticipated.
Then I am on a Teams meeting with the North West Leicestershire Community Safety Partnership. We discuss the People Zone in Thringstone and the ways in which I am intending for People Zones to become much more dynamic and progressive about the way they improve life for those who live there [except the criminals, obviously]. We also discuss PCSO Gallagher’s proposed event. It gets a thumbs up. Good news!
Then I hop on the train to go to London for the National Police Bravery Awards. Our very own PC Owain Jones and PC Stephanie Kingston are up for an award. Their courage in dealing with a potential suicide who had doused herself – and them – in petroI was outstanding. It is an honour to be here to see their bravery acknowledged. As is the way at these events, I have my ear bent by the PCCs for Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire over regional co-operation, am approached by a chap from the College of Policing who I don’t know, and the Policing Minister Kit Malthouse skilfully sidesteps my questions about why the budget settlement is two weeks late being announced.
Friday 3rd December
I arrive in the office to see the last slice of cake disappearing into somebody else’s mouth. It is our office Christmas Jumper Day. I wear a Christmas Jumper. “Have you lost weight?” asks Lizzie, my acting Chief Executive. She must want a pay rise. Or needs glasses. At lunchtime I head off to the Lecture Theatre for the Christian Police Association Christmas Event. A great event all round.
Later on I will be out with the Night Club Patrol in Ashby de la Zouch. It’s really important for me to see first-hand the dangers and challenges our frontline officers and staff face on a daily basis. I wonder when I will see my bed. Details next week…
You can follow Commissioner Rupert Matthews on a daily basis on Twitter - @Rupert_Matthews
