Agenda item

(Director of Communities) to consider the attached draft CSP annual report for 2014-15.

The Safer Communities Manager, Caroline Wiggins took the Committee through the draft Community Safety Partnership Annual report for 2014-2015. She noted that this had only been presented to the CSP that morning.

The Community Safety Partnership (CSP) was made up of representatives from Essex Police, Essex Fire and Rescue Service, Community Rehabilitation Service, Epping Forest District Council, Voluntary Action Epping Forest and the Magistracy.  They meet on a quarterly basis to oversee the range of work undertaken and were responsible for undertaking an annual review of current crime and disorder issues.

Their main source of funding was from the Essex Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and although this has reduced, they have still managed to function efficiently and effectively.

Over the year they had assessed the following issues as local priorities:

·         Domestic Abuse;

·         Assault/violent crime;

·         Anti-social behaviour; and

·         Burglary in a dwelling.

They did some of the best work in Essex on domestic abuse by care and support of victims. They ran a sanctuary scheme with Community Safety, Essex Police and Essex County Fire & Rescue Service to provide enhanced security to very high risk victims that do not wish to move, making them feel safer at home. They also run ‘J9’ training courses across West Essex to deal with the preventative side of domestic abuse. Their work on Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) continues to be a priority area. They have an ASB investigator who is trained in mediation and is also the EFDC Restorative Justice Ambassador to the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner. This was a new initiative to identify emerging problem families and provide support and mediation before problems escalate.

In 2013 with funding from the PCC, EFDC’s community safety team purchased 5 cameras allowing the installation of a self contained CCTV system (camera, monitor and recorder).  These were offered to local residents on a loan basis with an option to purchase at cost price. They would be used to assist across a broad range of matters including gathering evidence in support of allegations of Anti-social Behaviour or deterring bogus callers.

Burglary from dwellings continued to be a priority crime due to the close proximity to the London Metropolitan area and the excellent transport links through the district. This allows travelling criminals to enter and leave by a number of different means.

EFDC manages an area (crime) analyst, funded by the CSP who was dedicated to support the partnership activities. If this Committee so wished, she could come and address them on the work she does.

AGREED that the area crime analyst be invited to a future meeting to give a rundown on the work she undertook.

During the year Epping Forest CSP and Braintree CSP along with Victim Support funded a six month Young Persons Independent Sexual Violence Advisor post to carry out targeted work with young people who have been the victims of sexual abuse or have been sexually exploited. On 1^st April 2015 Epping Forest and Braintree CSPs and the office of the PCC agreed to joint fund the post for a further year.

Councillor Sartin noted that the CSP was doing a fantastic job in the district; it was unfortunate that more people were not aware of this. The Safer Communities Manager agreed they should be promoting them more, even if only by putting something in the member’s bulletin. Councillor Sartin agreed if only just to show we were not wasting the money.

Councillor Avey said that there was a public perception that there was a lot of crime in the district, may be by publicising the work of the CSP it would help redress the balance. The Safer Communities Manager noted that we did suffer from criminals coming in from London, using hire cars to bring people in; sometimes flying them into London and then bussing them out. Councillor Waller added that over 70% of our crime was committed by people from outside our area. Councillor Avey said that the proposed closure of Police Stations would add to the disquiet.

Councillor Surtees asked what the council’s involvement with restorative justice was and what about the more serious offender. The Safer Communities Manager noted that they had recently attended a meeting about this and agreed that because of cuts this would be more challenging for officers in the future. Councillor Surtees agreed that this would put an increasing burden on services provided by EFDC. There was an increasing need to pick up slack left by other agencies and it could not be done cheaply. This was a bleak situation.

Councillor Patel asked about sharing information with the Parish and Town Councils, as it was a big frustration not knowing what was happening on their patch. He was told that this was improving and they were doing a lot of work with the various Town/Parish clerks encouraging them to raise issues with us. There was a need to encourage more communication with the clerks. This annual report could go out to them for information.

Councillor Neville asked how they promoted the Neighbourhood Watch. He was told that this was handled by the County Council, although we did help.

Councillor Surtees said that the Town and Parish Councils needed more timely information. Councillor Waller said they also needed to keep the public informed; he would like to champion the use of public information pillars, set up in public spaces. These could be used to post relevant notices and messages for public information. They would need local councils to take part in using them and would also need planning permission to put them up. The Safer Communities Manager said that they were looking into the funding for this.

Councillor Bassett noted that there was a lot of concern around rural areas, with the closure of Police Stations and the resulting fall in response times. Blatant daylight thefts were now taking place. Did we have some way of sending text alert messages to inform people of the neighbourhood watch that there were problems in their area? He was told that officers would find out if there was such a thing. Councillor Neville said that these messages were at the discretion of the Police officer on the beat.

Councillor Patel asked if there was any secure by design advice. He was told that one of the safety team, Mr Gardener, was trained in this and went around advising owners of properties at risk.

Councillor Surtees noted that there was an absence of support mentioned and as a priest he had noticed this. Could not the police use a network of trusted persons that can send in high priority reports to them? The Health and Wellbeing Manager said that EFDC was one of the best areas for volunteers and have about eight volunteer youth cadets, but there are also volunteers for the fire service called community agents. This could all get confusing.

The chairman noted that the meeting had covered a lot of ground on this report and they were happy to note and agree the draft report.

RESOLVED:

That the 2014-2015 Annual Report of the Community Safety Partnership was noted and agreed.