This blog is mainly about the governance and future of policing and crime services. (Police & Crime Commissioners feature quite a lot.) But there are also posts about the wider justice system. And because I am town councillor and political activist, local & national issues are covered a little, as well.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Deputy Dawg

This was one of my favourite cartoons when I was a child: I enjoyed the accents and the daft story lines. I was also a little intrigued that a deputy police sheriff had so much time on his hands (although that more sophisticated thought may have come a few years later). You can see an old episode here if you need a small shot of nostalgia.

Anyway.... a while back I got to wondering what the Deputy PCC here in Thames Valley spends his time doing so I inquired. You may find the results of interest. Back in the early part of July, I asked "Please may I have a list of all the meetings and events that the Deputy PCC has attended since he was appointed. These might be internal meetings (OPCC staff and PCC only) or meetings with offices/staff of the constabulary or meetings with external stakeholders (including the public of course)."

I was sent a hard copy list of appointments from 20/12/12 to 4/7/13. I have digitized this list and added my classifications of the various meetings. (I would that at the bottom of the list was a statement which said "The Deputy has regular meetings with the PCC when both are at the Kidlington Office") 



This item as a spreadsheet is available here too. (The pic is not that good.)

Some of the items listed had (am) or (pm) added to them in which case I have listed those as a half day. In all other cases, I have listed it at a whole day. This yields a total of 72 working days out of a potential 136, assuming that dates listed are whole or 'whole half' days. Cllr David Carroll is employed on a 0.6 contract / 22.2 hours per week and is paid £35,000 a year for this (pro rata full time salary would be £58,333). Details of his terms and conditions can be found here in Annex C.

Other things to note are the number of days he is in the office, including his 'Hazlemere Office' which was requested on the 19/12/12. The building is also used by the TVP Hazlemere Neighbourhood Team. The conversion of space for Cllr Carroll to use cost £1,406.

It would appear that the DPCC spent 4 days in his first half year of service engaging with the public whereas he spent 17 days in the 'office'. (These are my classifications of course.) So that is 6% meeting the public and nearly a quarter of his time 'in the office'. There were 14 days for police liaison as well.

What other observations would you make?

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