n e Pla Crimre d e anstershi Polic uce raftor Glo D f - a response from dROP

DEAR MARTIN SURL,

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 that this 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.

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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 plan for Gloucestershire. new crime Until now there has been little or no disability leadership in Gloucestershire. Combine this Until now there has been no disability with a lack of engagement by the leadership in Gloucestershire and a Police which, at best sees lack of engagement by the Police disability as above and beyond which, at best, sees disability as above the duties of its officers and we and beyond the duties of its officers. have a negative historical context. This could be seen as a product YOUR CONSULTATION of legislation but we see your PROCESS AND HARD TO leadership as a powerful e crime expression of a change, a change Disability hat rgely la that can enable disabled people has been le in invisib e Police equality in safety, movement and s ir Gloucester-hhis must access to work. reporting t e.

chang

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 out that 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 is reflected in our analysis of data provided by the Home Office shown in Figure 1 below. Page 2 of 4


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. 2

Our skill knowleds and disability ge of wil invaluabl bring solutions le problems facto your forc ed by e.

These are only two examples of the work that needs to be done. We have many more suggestions and invite you to meet us to work through them.

dROP (disabled Responsive

Organised 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'. 3

1. Police and Crime Plan 2013-2017 Draft v.6 (7.1.13) Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, p6 2. 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, p8 4. Key to Figure 1 on page 4: HC = Hate Crime; DHC = Disability Hate Crime

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Fig 1: % of HC that is DHC by Police Force Area

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

7.5

15

22.5

30

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