Agenda item - Community Safety Monitoring Report

Agenda item

Community Safety Monitoring Report

Report No: OAS/WS/19/001

 

The Chair of the Western Suffolk Community Safety Partnership, Councillor Joanna Spicer has been invited to the meeting to present the report to the Committee.

 

Minutes:

[Councillor Paul Hopfensperger arrived at 5.50pm, during the consideration of this item].

 

It was the duty of the Committee, as the Council’s Crime and Disorder Committee designated under the Police and Justice Act 2006, to scrutinise the work of the Partnership.

 

The Committee received Report No: OAS/WS/19/001, presented by the Chair of the Western Suffolk Community Safety Partnership, Councillor Joanna Spicer, and the Council’s Cabinet Member for Families and Communities, Councillor Robert Everitt. 

 

The report set out the background to the partnership and the statutory bodies involved which Councillor Joanna Spicer expanded on, as well as updating Members on the community safety activity in West Suffolk, including the Western Suffolk Community Safety Partnership (WSCSP) for 2018-2019.

 

Over the past year the WSCSP had continued to meet and discharge its statutory duties by carrying out an annual assessment of crime and disorder in the area, continuing to deliver the three year plan and action plan to reflect the priorities of the partnership, and carrying out Domestic Homicide Reviews.

 

Attached at Appendix A to the report, was the WSCSP Plan 2019-2022, which was required to reflect the Suffolk Police and Crime Plan published by the Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

In May 2018, the WSCSP considered its priorities for 2018-2019.  Based on the outcomes of partnership discussions and a strategic assessment of crime, the following priorities were identified as the focus of the WSCSP:

 

-        County Lines;

-        Violence against women and girls (including men and boys);

-        Domestic homicide reviews;

-        Hate crime; and

-        Prevent

 

Councillor Robert Everitt, the Council’s Cabinet Member for Families and Communities then drew relevant issues to Members’ attention from the report, in particular providing an overview on each of the five areas set out above. 

 

The Chairman then invited Councillor Margaret Marks, Ward Member for Haverhill West to address the Committee in respect of this item.  She thanked the Committee for allowing her to speak, and informed members she had attended a County Lines training event, and questioned how this would be rolled out to community groups.  She also suggested that it would be useful for the St Johns Ambulance to receive training on county lines, as well as sending out general information to all town/parish councils as not everyone understood what county lines meant. 

 

In response to Councillor Marks’ question, members were informed that county lines had been ongoing for over 18 months, and the Partnership was engaging with the voluntary sector on this.  Work was being carried out in encouraging the public and members to report any incidents they saw relating to county lines via the 101 police non-emergency telephone number, the police’s website or crime stoppers. Training and awareness was a priority for the Partnership, and was being provided firstly in schools and to all frontline staff within the Partnership.  An introduction about county lines had also been provided at a recent Parish Conference. 

 

Councillor Spicer expanded on county lines by explaining this was a serious issue, which linked into other crimes.  The Partnership had the Western Suffolk tactical action plan in place and partners of the WSCSP were working through the objectives and prioritising actions within it.  This work would remain a priority for the WSCSP.      

 

The Committee scrutinised the report in detail and asked questions, to which comprehensive responses were provided.  In particular discussions were held on the following.

 

1)   Modern day slavery:  Members noted that the report did not go into detail, and asked that officers provide a written response setting out more detail.

 

2)   Target hardening: Members sought clarification on numbers and success rates.  Members were informed, that where appropriate the council would support people to stay in their own homes, if it was safe to do so.  In response to numbers, officers agreed to provide a written response.

 

3)   Teen chill:  This was a successful project and the Partnership was working with Abbeycroft Leisure to promote the project in other areas of West Suffolk, and was looking at youth provision in its wider sense. 

 

In response to a question raised regarding how many people had been charged in relation to county lines drug dealing in Western Suffolk, officers agreed to request an up to date written response on figures from Suffolk Police.

 

In response to a question raised regarding accessing data and analysis, members were informed that the Partnership continually works to ensure that they had access to all relevant partner information.  Suffolk County Council provided the Partnership with data analysis.  A recent step forward was that the NHS were now recording and sharing information on knife incidents presented at Accident and Emergency. 

 

In response to a question raised regarding the importance of creating safe environments and forums to engage with young people, and encouraging parents to become more involved, officers outlined the work that the Partnership was carrying out in schools, which included children, parents and school governors.

Members raised concerns regarding the police not attending town/parish council meetings to gather intelligence, and suggested producing a document setting out how information raised at town/parish meetings, should then be forwarded to the relevant organisation for actioning.  In response, officers agreed to look into producing information which could be made available to town/parish councils.

 

Discussions were also held on domestic abuse; the reduction in police officers and Safer Neighbourhood Teams; Police funding in Suffolk; low level anti-social behaviour and how it might develop into serious crimes; the use of councillor locality budgets to engage with youth groups; and the importance of evaluating data and how the WSCSP could benchmark progress.

 

There being no decision required, the Committee noted the contents of the report, subject to comments made during the meeting to the Chair of the Western Suffolk Community Safety Partnership and officers.

Supporting documents:

 

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