Review into stalking and harassment response in North Yorkshire

A review is to be carried out into how stalking and harassment is dealt with in North Yorkshire.

The review aims to help police and partners respond better to such incidents.

It is being funded by £100,000 of government money secured by Zoe Metcalfe, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

The review will be conducted in partnership with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, a charity that aims to reduce the level of violence and aggression in society.

A press release by Ms Metcalfe’s office said:

“It will see a victim-focused assessment of local systems, processes, training and practice carried out to help North Yorkshire Police and partners understand and respond better to stalking and harassment.

 

“Bespoke training will be provided to police officers and staff from partner organisations to become ‘stalking and harassment advocates’ and provide information, support, advice and guidance to their colleagues.”

£700,000 to protect homes 

Me Metcalfe has also secured £700,000 to prevent neighbourhood crime with an extension of her office’s Protect Your Home scheme.

More than 1,000 homes and 90 farms along the borders of Harrogate borough and Craven district will use the funding to prevent burglaries and protect individuals, families and businesses,

Security upgrades include new locks for vulnerable doors, windows, garages and sheds, and alarm systems for farms and small holdings.

Eligible residents will receive a registration pack through the post shortly.

North Yorkshire Police will also purchase additional Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras and upgrade Rural Watch signs in specific locations to detect and deter potential burglars.

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Total funding of £809,095 has been secured for the two schemes from the Home Office Safer Streets Fund, which the government launched in 2020 to reduce and prevent crime.

Preventing neighbourhood crime and addressing violence against women and girls are two of Ms Metcalfe’s priorities as commissioner.

She said the schemes will have “a real, tangible impact on how safe people feel both in and outside their homes”, adding:

“This is the fourth time the commissioner’s office has secured additional Home Office funding to support residents across North Yorkshire and York be safe and feel safe and I am confident that what these two schemes will deliver will make a huge difference to individuals, families and communities.”

Parishes eligible for the Protect Your Home scheme are:

 

 

 

Former Pateley Bridge police station sold for £297,000

The old police station in Pateley Bridge has been sold for £297,000.

Former North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan, announced that the station on King Street would be sold in January 2021.

Officers based at the site have since been moved across the road where they share space with Harrogate Borough Council.

According to the police, the move is expected to save £19,000 per year.

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The commissioner’s office confirmed that the police station was sold last month for £297,000. It had initially been estimated to sell for £142,000.

Details of the buyer have yet to be made public.

The commissioner’s office said the funds will help to pay for policing in North Yorkshire.

A decision notice to sell the building said previously:

“Pateley Bridge station is a large building and is relatively expensive to run.

“Whilst local officers and staff are based there, the building is far too large for the size of team based there.  

“New mobile working technology means officers are spending less time in the station and more time in the community, which has also affected how often the current station is occupied. This will decrease further as new applications are added to the technology.”

Harrogate fire station changes won’t increase risk to life, says commissioner

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has rejected claims that proposed changes to Harrogate’s night time fire service will increase the risk to lives.

Ms Metcalfe is consulting on a three-year plan for fire services in the county in the face of severe financial pressure.

One of the proposals is to reduce the number of fire engines operating overnight at Harrogate and Scarborough fire stations from two to one.

This has been criticised by firefighters and trade unions, who fear it could cost lives.

But in her first interview with the Stray Ferret since she was elected commissioner in November, Ms Metcalfe said she disagreed with this assessment:

“From everything I’ve seen I’m confident that won’t happen. This is a genuine consultation. I would really urge everyone to engage with it.”

Ms Metcalfe’s Risk and Resource Model 2022 to 2025 Consultation, published in May, sets out how the fire service will deploy its resources over the next three years. It puts the emphasis on fire prevention, especially during the day when most fires occur.

The damage caused to the Old Vicarage next to the Parish Church of St Nicholas in West Tanfield.

Firefighters tackling a recent blaze in West Tanfield.

Harrogate and Scarborough currently both have an emergency fire engine and a tactical response fire engine operating 24 hours a day.

The model proposes both stations have two emergency response vehicles during the day but only one at night. They would lose their tactical response engines altogether.

Ms Metcalfe was accompanied at the interview by Dave Winspear, who is part of the senior management team at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Mr Winspear, who is based in Ripon, said the changes would enhance the current fire service model across the county, adding:

“During the times when we know we are busiest we are providing additional resource into those two towns by bringing in a different type of fire engine.

“It improves the ability to respond to a wide range of incidents.

“We are looking to remove a fire engine in the evening when we are quiet but based on the fact that we have robust arrangements in around the Harrogate and Scarborough area from other fire stations that can respond into that area.”

He added the tactical response engine, which will be lost, had “limited response capability” compared to emergency fire engines.

Harrogate Fire Station, Skipton Road.

Harrogate fire station

Harrogate currently employs 40 firefighters across four watches and five could be affected by the changes. Mr Winspear said they would be offered the chance to be redeployed.

Government cuts £8m a year

The new model for fire services is being drawn up against a bleak financial backdrop.

The government recently axed North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s capital grant, worth about £8m a year.

It means the service could have to borrow up to £31 million over the next five years. Steve Howley, Fire Brigades Union North Yorkshire brigade secretary, has said the service would be left struggling to buy basics.

Ms Metcalfe described the decision to cut the capital grant as “very unfair” at the time it was announced and this week told us she was “working hard for additional funding” to ensure the service didn’t end up in the position outlined by the union.

Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Zoe Metcalfe

Delays answering 101 and 999 calls

Ms Metcalfe, who was born in Ripon, went to school in Harrogate and now lives in Aldborough, also said she was working to reduce delays in answering 101 and 999 calls in the police control room.

Home Office figures last month showed that North Yorkshire police took on average 30 seconds to answer 999 calls — the third worst performance in the country. The calls should be answered within 10 seconds.

“Over the last couple of years there has been a huge increase in the volume of calls, especially 999 and they come first.”

The commissioner’s office has pledged £140,000 to address the issue. When will people noticed a difference?

The force control room should currently employ 146 full-time equivalent employees across communications and dispatch when it is fully staffed.

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There are currently 141. With the commissioner’s additional investment, there will be a revised target of 161.

Ms Metcalfe said a third of calls to police involved mental health issues and it was important to understand the data better and work with other organisations to tackle the issues.

She said her background as a Conservative councillor on Harrogate Borough Council and North Yorkshire County Council meant she was familiar with many of the agencies involved in mental health.

Asked whether she, as a senior Conservative politician, shared Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones’ lack of confidence in Prime Minister Boris Johnson, she said:

“I will leave that to MPs in the parliamentary party.”

You can find out more about the proposed changes and take part in the consultation here.

Councillors raise concern over Harrogate fire station cuts

Councillors have raised concerns over plans to cut the number of fire engines at Harrogate fire station.

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, Zoe Metcalfe, has suggested operating just one fire engine at night as opposed to the current two.

Members of the Harrogate and Knaresborough Area Constituency Committee discussed the proposals, which were unveiled as part of a consultation into changes at the fire service.

The station would continue to be resourced with two fire engines during the day but it would have just one appliance from 10pm to 9am, when fewer incidents usually occur.

The move would also see the station lose its tactical response vehicle, which would be moved to an on-call station elsewhere in the county, and a self-rostering staffing system introduced.

Cllr Robert Windass, who spoke at the constituency committee this morning.

Cllr Robert Windass, who spoke at the constituency committee this morning.

Cllr Robert Windass, who is a former fire fighter, said he welcomed the removal of the tactical response unit which he described as a “total waste of time”.

However, he raised concern over the reduction of crews on a night.

He said:

“My worry is at night time. Night time is when most people die in house fires.

“To have one crew going out, there will be another machine coming from another station. But say it was down at the bottom of Woodfield, the next nearest response vehicle is either going to come from Ripon or from Knaresborough.

“Both of them are part-time, what they call “on-call stations”, where they will get a bleeper going off at home and they would have to go down the fire station before that machine turns a wheel.

“So it’s going to take them quite a few minutes to get to the fire. That concerns me.”

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The committee agreed to invite Ms Metcalfe and the chief fire officer to the next meeting to be quizzed by councillors.

Cllr Chris Aldred said the committee had to get it right before it responds to the consultation.

He said:

“It is so important, as Robert has just stated, that we have a second crew.

“Fires may statistically may not happen that often at night, but as Robert has just said, the ones that do lead to deaths.”

The changes are part of Ms Metcalfe’s Risk and Resource Model 2022-2025, which sets out how the fire service will deploy its people, equipment and resources.

Fire officials told a meeting last month that the proposals would help to save £1.5 million a year from 2025.

Jonathan Foster, interim chief fire officer at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, said that the proposals were about investing in “protection and prevention”.

He said:

“I stress this very much so, this is about reinvestment back into the on-call duty system to improve overall availability and then also to reinvest in protection and prevention activities so that we can protect the people of North Yorkshire and City of York in a much more effective manner.”

Fire Brigades Union ‘seriously concerned’ over cuts to Harrogate service

The North Yorkshire branch of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said it’s seriously concerned over proposed cuts to the service in Harrogate and warned public safety will be put at greater risk.

The warning from the FBU comes after the proposals were made public by Zoe Metcalfe, the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, last month and include halving Harrogate fire station’s overnight capacity. 

The station, on Skipton Road, currently operates two fire engines 24 hours a day. But under new plans, it would have just one appliance from 10pm to 9am when fewer incidents usually occur.

Ms Metcalfe said at the time that she was confident “the right people, right equipment and the right support would continue to be available to everyone”.

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A public consultation was launched last month to gather the community’s views on the proposals.

The union is urging firefighters and the public to have their say, and make their concerns heard over the impact the plans will have on emergency fire cover across the region.

North Yorkshire FBU Brigade Secretary Steve Howley said:

“Firefighters urge that the public reject these proposals and call on people to visit the PFCC’s website to strongly oppose all cuts to emergency response. The PFCC needs to fight for the correct funding from government, not simply mask underfunding by slashing services and providing the public of North Yorkshire with a second-rate emergency response service that will put lives at risk.”

“North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service has been promising these IRMP proposals for the past two years, and time after time we have been given delays and excuses. For a chief fire officer to table cuts of this magnitude to emergency fire response in York, Harrogate and Scarborough just weeks before retiring is quite frankly appalling.

“We need Zoe Metcalfe to stand up for her communities and reject these proposals rather than put their safety at risk.”

Five Harrogate firefighters could lose jobs in plans to reduce service

Five Harrogate firefighters could lose their jobs under plans to halve the number of fire engines operating in the town overnight,

The Stray Ferret revealed yesterday proposals for the station on Skipton Road to operate just one fire engine at night, as opposed to the current two.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe has suggested the move as part of a three-month consultation on proposed changes to fire and rescue services.

The station would continue to be resourced for two fire engines during the day but it would have just one appliance from 10pm to 9am, when fewer incidents usually occur.

The move would also see the station lose its tactical response vehicle, which would be moved to an on-call station elsewhere in the county, and a self-rostering staffing system introduced.

At a commissioner public accountability meeting today, Jonathan Foster, interim chief fire officer at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue, said the reduction in posts would come from either retirements or redeployments.

He said:

“We would look towards the retirement profile, we would look towards redeployment opportunities and we would look also towards the growth opportunities in prevention and protection areas.

“I must also say that this is a progressive approach. There are some really good opportunities for our firefighters to advance into other areas if they chose to. If not, that is fine.

“There are a range of different alternatives there which will help and we will work very closely with representatives bodies to manage this process in the best way that we can.”

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Mr Foster added that the changes were justified as the service’s modelling showed peak times were between 9am and 10pm.

The changes are part of Ms Metcalfe’s Risk and Resource Model 2022-2025, which sets out how the fire service will deploy its people, equipment and resources.

Fire officials told today’s meeting that the proposals would help to save £1.5 million a year from 2025.

Mr Foster said:

“I stress this very much so, this is about reinvestment back into the on-call duty system to improve overall availability and then also to reinvest in protection and prevention activities so that we can protect the people of North Yorkshire and City of York in a much more effective manner.”

 

Harrogate set to have just one fire engine at night

Harrogate fire station’s overnight capacity looks set to be halved under new proposals.

The station, on Skipton Road, currently operates two fire engines 24 hours a day. But under plans put forward today, it would have just one appliance from 10pm to 9am when fewer incidents usually occur.

North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe has suggested the move as part of a three-month consultation on proposed changes to fire and rescue services, which she launched today.

Ms Metcalfe wants to get rid of the station’s tactical response vehicle and have two emergency appliances instead. But only one emergency appliance would operate at non-peak hours overnight.

If approved, the move could result in some Harrogate firefighters facing redeployment elsewhere in the county.

Zoe Metcalfe, North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

Ms Metcalfe’s new Risk and Resource Model 2022-2025, which sets out how the fire service would deploy its people, equipment and resource, comes against a worrying financial backdrop.

‘Struggling to buy the basics’

Three months ago the Fire Brigades Union warned North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service was “struggling to buy the basics” and in need of a £25 million loan.

Ms Metcalfe, who will discuss her proposals at her monthly public accountability meeting tomorrow, said in a statement:

“The role of a fire and rescue service has changed and continues to change, with only 26% of our incidents last year relating to a fire emergency.

“We want to ensure we are addressing our current and future challenges and that we have the capacity to prevent and protect to stop incidents happening in the first place and prevent harm before it can take place, while also having the capacity to respond to emergencies when they do take place. We are confident these proposals would do that.

“Inevitably, there are some areas where the setup of the service would change but I’m confident the right people, right equipment and the right support would continue to be available to everyone.”

fire service cuts

The proposed change in Harrogate.

Ms Metcalfe’s office said in a statement today that there was a higher demand for services during daytime hours than at night, and the proposed change in Harrogate would offer “increased ability to respond during daytime hours, as well as boost resilience more widely”.

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However, it declined to answer questions from the Stray Ferret about how many firefighters faced redeployment, saying Ms Metcalfe would address questions in tomorrow’s meeting.

Ms Metcalfe will hold 12 events in North Yorkshire to discuss the proposals, including one in Harrogate, as well as running an online questionnaire.

Chief fire officer Jon Foster said:

“The risk and resource model would support the transformation of our fire and rescue service and enable a greater focus on prevention that is underlined by our assessment of community risk. It would also facilitate increased investment in our on-call service.”

The Stray Ferret has approached the Fire Brigades Union for comment.

Masham Police House to be sold as officers relocate to fire station

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner looks set to sell Masham Police House as a community asset.

Known locally as “the old police house”, the building was initially used to house the local police constable.

However, since 2003 it has been leased to Mashamshire Community Office, a charity that provides community services, such as tourist information, the community library and arts and crafts.

Commissioner Zoe Metcalfe has revealed the plans as part of a move to relocate police to Masham Fire Station.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“Co-locating services at Masham Fire Station aligns our police and fire service in this area, making effective use of our estate to ultimately maximise investment in frontline services as detailed in my police and crime plan.

“North Yorkshire Police will continue to have a place of touchdown for local officers when needed, and they will continue as usual to work out of Ripon and Pateley Bridge police stations.

“Mashamshire Community Office is a fantastic local asset which has been providing benefit to the public for nearly two decades. I recognise this value on the community and I hope our sale will afford them the opportunity to purchase the property, with a supportive timeline and value agreed for this process.”

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Mashamshire Community Office will now have the opportunity to raise funds to purchase the police house prior to the building being put up for sale.

The commissioner expects to sell the property next year.

Paul Theakston, chair of trustees at Mashamshire Community Office, said:

“We are very grateful for the opportunity to purchase the old police house, from which the community office has been delivering an ever-expanding range of services into our community for the past twenty years.

“Actually, owning the building will secure our position literally at the heart of the community and ensure that we will be able to provide community services long into the future.”

Jonathan Dyson set to be North Yorkshire’s new chief fire officer

North Yorkshire’s Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has selected her preferred candidate to be the county’s chief fire officer.

Zoe Metcalfe has chosen Jonathan Dyson for the role. Mr Dyson is currently the interim deputy chief fire officer at North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Jon Foster, who is the current interim chief fire officer, will retire from the service after 38 years.

Mr Dyson started his career in South Yorkshire, where he held roles as head of training and head of service delivery.

He joined the North Yorkshire service in 2020 as director of assurance, leading and delivering organisational change, and was appointed interim deputy chief fire officer last year.

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Mr Dyson will be recommended to the North Yorkshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel for appointment.

Ms Metcalfe said:

“I’m delighted to choose Jonathan Dyson as my preferred candidate for the role of chief fire officer, who I believe will be excellent at leading the service into the future and continue to keep people safe and feeling safe in North Yorkshire and York.

“Having worked within our service for the past two years, and most recently as interim deputy chief fire officer, Jonathan is someone who knows our community, has the respect of his colleagues, and is committed to creating an even stronger and more sustainable service.

“I look forward to Jonathan’s suitability being approved at the upcoming Police, Fire and Crime Panel’s confirmation hearing later this month, and from there working with him to deliver a modern, inclusive, responsive, and respected organisation that protects people and property, and saves lives.”

Mr Dyson said:

“I feel truly honoured to be the preferred candidate for the role of chief fire officer and privileged to continue serving the public of North Yorkshire and York. I will build on the outstanding contribution Jon Foster has made on behalf of the Service, and I wish him the very best on his next venture.

“I want to ensure North Yorkshire remains one of the safest places in the country to live, work, or visit. My desire is to continue building an inclusive, sustainable organisation by transforming our service delivery. A key priority is to develop our partnerships, ensuring our staff, volunteers and partners feel valued and able to be their very best for our communities.”

Police took child protection report ‘personally’, says deputy chief constable

North Yorkshire Police’s deputy chief constable has said officers took personally a critical report into the force’s investigation of child protection cases.

Last week, a report by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services found that the force does not prioritise safeguarding and child protection highly enough.

It said standards of investigation in relation to child protection were poor and arrangements were not “consistently providing either the quality of service or a good enough response”.

Mabs Hussain, deputy chief constable of the force, told a Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner public accountability meeting today that police fully accepted the findings and were keen to improve.

When asked by commissioner Zoe Metcalfe how the criticism in the report impacted on officers, Mr Hussain said:

“Firstly, there was a clear disappointment across the organisation when we received the report. Not because HMIC said what they said about us as a force, but because they have highlighted areas for improvement and flagged areas of concern.

“Nobody who comes to work for North Yorkshire Police comes to work to do a bad job. We have got loads of great people in the organisation.

“We take it personally the fact that we may be letting children down. It’s always quite emotional to our staff and I think it is fair to say when the report first landed there was a huge amount of disappointment that we let children down.”

Mr Hussain added that senior leaders and frontline officers “wanted to know what they could do to make things better”.

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Meanwhile, Ms Metcalfe said she had been assured that issues identified in the report are being addressed.

She told the meeting:

“It is important to note that the report does say that there is evidence that improvements were underway in November 2021 when the inspection took place and I have been assured by the chief constable that these are being continued at pace and that many of the issues identified are being addressed.”

Lisa Winward, chief constable at the police, reiterated her apology to those that felt let down by the findings in the report.

Critical report

The report said in some cases “highly vulnerable” children went missing from children’s homes, but officers would record those incidents as “cause for concern” rather than missing — which meant officers did not look for them.

Inspectors, who conducted the assessment from November 1 to 12 last year, examined 73 cases where children had been at risk. The report said:

“We assessed the force’s child protection practice as good in 13 cases, requiring improvement in 34 cases, and as inadequate in 26 cases. This shows the force needs to do more to give a consistently good service for all children.”

HMIC made a number of recommendations to the force, which included: